Choplifter

Choplifter is a 1982 Apple II game developed by Dan Gorlin and published by Brøderbund. It was ported to other home computers and, in 1985, Sega released a coin-operated arcade game version. While many arcade games have been ported to home computers and consumer consoles, Choplifter was one of the few games (Lode Runner is another) to take the reverse route: first appearing on a home system and being ported to the arcade.

Overview

In Choplifter, the player assumes the role of a combat helicopter pilot. The player attempts to save hostages being held in prisoner of war camps in territory ruled by the evil Bungeling Empire. The player must collect the hostages and transport them safely to the nearby friendly base, all the while fighting off hostile tanks and other enemy combatants. According to the backstory, the helicopter parts were smuggled into the country described as "mail sorting equipment."

The scenario is presumably loosely based upon the American attempt at a helicopter rescue during the Iran hostage crisis, which ended the year before the game was released.

Description

The helicopter can face three directions: left, right, or forward, facing the player. It may shoot at enemies in any of these directions and need not fly in the same direction it is facing. The forward-facing mode is used primarily to shoot tanks. Care must also be taken to both protect the hostages from enemy fire and not accidentally shoot them oneself.

The player rescues the prisoners by first shooting one of the hostage buildings to release them, landing to allow the prisoners to board the sortie, and returning them to the player's starting point. Only one building's worth of passengers can be carried at a time, so several trips must be made. When the sortie is full, no more hostages will attempt to board; they will wave the helicopter off and wait (hopefully) for its return. Usually, each trip back is more risky than the previous one since the enemy is alerted and has deployed a counter-attack.

If the player lands directly on top of a hostage, the hostage will be killed. In the Apple II and Atari 7800 versions, hostages will also die if the vehicle is not landed correctly (it is slightly tilted), being crushed as they attempt to board the chopper. While grounded, the helicopter may be attacked by enemy tanks, which it can shoot at only by returning to the air.

Platforms

Choplifter was ported to many other home systems of the era. These versions were ports of the original Apple II game, not the later arcade version. These systems include the Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Commodore VIC-20, MSX, and Texas Instruments TI-99/4A.

In 1986, ports of the arcade version back to home versions were developed for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System. Not surprisingly, the arcade version and its ports are more colorful and intense than the Apple II version. It boasts more environments (desert, sea, caves and city) as opposed to the Apple's single desert environment. The arcade version is listed in the Killer List of Videogames Top 100 and one of the four best games in 1985.

Version differences

In the original game, play continues until all three helicopters are destroyed or all prisoners are rescued or killed. There is no scoring system other than the number of hostages still being held, those killed, and those rescued. The best possible result is all hostages rescued. In the arcade version, a point system is used, giving points for enemies killed and hostages rescued. Furthermore, the original version has 16 hostages per building while the arcade version only has eight. In order to move from one level to the next, the player must rescue at least 20 hostages (40 in the Sega Master System version). The arcade version also forces the player to restart a level if too many hostages are killed, but does not restore any helicopters lost.

The original game provides a safe zone around the player's launch area where the player was largely free from attack. A fence indicates the border between friendly and enemy territory. While the fence is still present in the arcade version, enemy jets will pursue the player's helicopter all the way to his landing pad.

In the original game, a new enemy is added with each trip the player makes. First, they have only to face tanks which are limited to attacking only when the helicopter has landed. The next trip introduces jet fighters which shoot missiles at the helicopter in the air and bomb it when its on the ground. The last enemy added are "air mines" which attempt to collide with the player's helicopter and on the fourth trip gain the ability to shoot. The arcade game has a larger variety of enemies which vary more according to each level's landscape rather than the number of trips the player has made. The most significant of these are anti-aircraft guns which make the arcade version much harder than the original. It retains the tanks and jet fighters, but does not include air mines which follow the player's helicopter.

Legacy

This game was fairly successful and popular, spawning two sequels: Choplifter II for the Nintendo Game Boy and Choplifter III for the Super Nintendo. On the Commodore 64 and the MSX, games related to Choplifter were Lode Runner and Raid on Bungeling Bay, all three games featuring the fictional Bungeling Empire.

External links

Choplifter | Choplifter