Paratrooper
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Paratrooper
(1982 on
VIC-20, 1983 on
Commodore 64,
ZX Spectrum)
Description official description
Paratrooper is a single screen arcade action game where the player controls a stationary machine gun turret trying to shoot down all incoming enemies. The turret has unlimited ammo but a limited angle of fire (up to 90 degrees left and right). Each shot also costs one point, so the player must be conservative with ammunition when going for high scores.
At first, helicopters start appearing from both sides of the screen's upper part. Paratroopers are jumping down from those helicopters; if four or more of them touch the ground, they will form a human ladder, climb up to the turret, and destroy it. To avoid that, the player has to shoot either the paratroopers themselves or their parachutes - for different effects but the same results.
After the player has withstood several waves of helicopters, bomber planes start appearing. These planes shoot bombs directly at the turret, which do not miss and destroy it right away. To counter that, the player can either eliminate the plane before it has the chance to drop the bomb, or destroy the bomb itself in mid-air. Shooting bombs scores the most points (50).
Surviving this stage effectively puts the game on an indefinite loop, with more helicopter and bomber plane stages alternating with increased difficulty. There are no continues and the player has to start over if the turret was destroyed.
Groups +
Screenshots
Credits (PC Booter version)
| Programming |
Reviews
Critics
Average score: 56% (based on 1 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.1 out of 5 (based on 14 ratings with 3 reviews)
The Good
There was a 'booter' version of this (for the c64), which I played. I remember playing it for long periods of time (when I was around five years old) and thinking it was the coolest thing since sliced bread.
The Bad
However. I played it again about a year ago for nostalgia's sake and it wasn't as awsome. The enemies approached to rapidly, and the controls were too inadequete, and I always died within five minutes. Maybe I just lost the joystick mastery of my youth playing all those silly adventure games.
The Bottom Line
A fun diversion. But short on longjevity.
PC Booter · by rs2000 (13) · 2001
The Good
I never liked this game. There were two games called Paratrooper on the HD of my 286 and this was the one I never liked. (The one I liked was a GW-Basic game where you tried to land the paratrooper on platforms of different sizes.)
The Bad
I didn't like the fact that they could have made the game WAY better - the Commodore 64 Paratrooper game I used to play for some reason didn't use any more colors than CGA had, and the C=64 certainly didn't have the memory or speed of an IBM PC of those days, but I still enjoyed the Commodore version a lot more. The graphics in Paratrooper (PC) are really small and generally lame, the game doesn't offer very much in the way of options (on the C=64 you could choose between a stationary and a moving machine gun, rapid or single action fire, etc), and the controls aren't very endearing: I don't see why you shouldn't be able to stop the muzzle from moving except by shooting - the AA guns I've used certainly didn't require you to fire in order to do that.
The Bottom Line
This is not a classic game. It has bad presentation and unrewarding gameplay. Many people would think this constitutes a classic, but I think it just means it's a waste of disk space, even if you have a 30 gig HD!
PC Booter · by Late (77) · 2001
The Good
This game reminds me a very old Atari game by the name of Atlantis, but since it's been ages since I played it, I might be wrong.
Basically the game is very addictive and challenging, with hours of gameplay -- until it finally gets to you, then you shelf it, and once every now and then you rediscover it and relive the classic.
The Bad
The graphics are very amateur (even for a CGA game), and the game is too repetitive and after a while it simply annoys you.
The Bottom Line
A true classic, one of those games you simply have to experience.
PC Booter · by Tomer Gabel (4538) · 1999
Trivia
Version Confusion
Was much more popular on 8-bit platforms, most notably the Apple IIe. As a result, most people (wrongly) assume a PC version doesn't exist.
Bach Me Up!
At the start of the game, there's a version of the famous Toccata and Fugue in D minor (BWV 565) by Bach, although it's only a short excerpt.
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Paratrooper's wikipedia page
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Donny K..
Additional contributors: Nélio, JMM.
Game added August 10, 1999. Last modified August 14, 2023.