It was slow and underpowered and couldn’t climb or turn with the Zero and Oscars but the pilots came through and killed many enemy planes with the F4F wildcat until better planes came into play.On the other hand, the Wildcat dived better than the Zero, was better armed, and could take far more punishment and still return home.
Was there any particular reason that the Japanese only put a machine gun or two in a lot of their planes? (leaving out the cannon equipped models...)
Did they go for more ammo storage instead? Less weight, greater range?