Let’s Compare ( Choplifter )

Video Locations:

Arcade 0:23
Commodore VIC-20 2:07
Apple 2 3:50
Atari 5200 5:35
MSX 7:17
Commodore 64 9:01
Sega SG-1000 10:45
Colecovision 12:28
Atari XE/XL/400/800 14:12
DOS (AIRLIFT RESCUE) 15:55
Atari 7800 17:39
Nintendo Famicom 19:22
Sega Master System 21:05
Cred 22:34

Description Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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 remake, which in turn received several home ports of its own. 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.

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.”

Although the Iran hostage crisis ended the year before the game was released, Gorlin has stated “the tie-in with current events was something that never really crossed my mind until we published.”

Description

The helicopter (named “Hawk-Z” in the Master System version manual) 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. Each building holds 16 hostages, and 16 passengers can be carried at a time, so several trips must be made. When the chopper 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, or completely blocks the building exit, the hostage(s) 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. Also, the enemy scrambles jet fighters which can attack the vehicle in the air with air-to-air missiles or on the ground with bombs.