Choplifter!

aka: Choplifter
Moby ID: 8127
Buy on Atari 7800
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Description official descriptions

Choplifter! is a side-scrolling action/arcade game that puts the player in command of an attack chopper. The mission: Go behind enemy lines and rescue up to 64 hostages. However, the chopper can only carry 16 passengers at a time, so several rescue attempts must be made to rescue everyone. Be careful, though, because tanks and enemy aircraft will try to stop you - and they won't stop shooting while the rescuing of hostages is going on

Originally released for Apple II home computers, Choplifter! was later ported to the arcades in a rare instance of a home version receiving a later arcade release.

However while the basic gameplay stayed the same, alterations to the original version were made.

  • The game now consists of four different levels. The original's desert level has been redesigned, and three new settings (sea, caves and city rooftops) have been added.
  • Each level contains only a total of 24 hostages to rescue. The player has to rescue at least 20 hostages to complete a level. Also, the chopper can now only carry 8 passengers at a time.
  • A fuel system was added. A unit of fuel gets refilled for each hostage returned safely.
  • A scoring system was added.
  • New stationary ground-to-air missiles enemy units have been added.

The Famicom and Sega Master System versions are based on this Arcade version. The Sega Master System has six levels (three of the levels repeating just with different backgrounds; no city rooftops level), gets rid of the fuel system, and requires 40 out of the 48 hostages to be rescued to complete a level (the chopper can now carry 16 passengers just like in the original version).

Spellings

  • チョップリフター - Japanese spelling

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Screenshots

Promos

Credits (Apple II version)

Created by
Cover Art Illustrator

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 78% (based on 23 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 113 ratings with 6 reviews)

Great translation of the arcade version of Choplifter.

The Good
It combined classic side scrolling shooting with search and rescue. You could also switch your perspective to drop bombs on enemies coming at you from the bottom of the screen. You felt like a hero when you successfully rescued a group of POW's and they waved to you as they got out of the chopper.

The Bad
The 4th level is just too hard. Navigating the caves is near impossible even without the enemy fire. If you can complete the 4th level you are a master game player :)

The Bottom Line
Your mission is to rescue POW's caught behind enemy lines. You fly your chopper into enemy territory, blast open the enemy camps to release the prisoners. Then carefully land and rescue the POW's. You must be careful when you have a chopper loaded with POW's because one hit and they all go down in flames. You must return the POW's to your home base.

SEGA Master System · by gametrader (208) · 2003

Your average version of Choplifter!, but with some nice touches

The Good
Choplifter! is an addictive action game by Broderbund Software, the same company responsible for a dozen Carmen Sandiego games. Some people argue that Dan Gorlin, the programmer of the game, was influenced by the Iranian Hostage Crisis a year earlier where Iranians took Americans hostage inside an US embassy. The programmer himself denies this, and understandably so. While there are indeed hostages, they are not US diplomats, and they are hidden away in cottages that need to be emptied, all the while dealing with enemies such as tank

I first played Choplifter! on the Apple II at school, and we were awarded a game if we were good little boys and girls. The game was later ported to other systems, with varying degrees of success. The VIC-20 version was published by Creative Software, who were also responsible for publishing other addictive Brøderbund titles such as Apple Panic and Serpentine.

I think Creative did a great job at this conversion, and they have added some nice touches to the game. You don't have to bomb cottages first, then set your chopper down so that they can get on board. You just set it down and they will come out straight away. Having played other versions of the game, I didn't know this so I spent a bit of time figuring this out. I like the warning sound the game makes just seconds before a jet appears on screen. There is actually an enemy unique to this version: what looks like a grenade with a propeller following you wherever you go. This enemy adds challenge to the game, and the only way you can get past it is to destroy it.

I was impressed by the visuals, starting from the title screen where a bubble writes each character on the screen, and when you press the fire button, a 3D object forms the circle and text inside the circle appears. During the game, the enemies are well designed and have good animations, especially the explosions. Unlike other conversions, everything is in one color. The way you can press [Return] to change the color of the sprites/text is pretty neat, and you can hold down the key if you want to enjoy a light show. Personally, I like everything white, since it is easy on your eyes.

The sound effects are quite basic, but this is how games were like back in the day. There is no fancy background music like in future versions of the game. The majority of sound effects come from your own chopper. I also like the high beep it produces when an hostage gets on board the chopper.

Choplifter! is the type of game that can be replayed, to see if you can get more hostages than you did in the last game you played. I managed to rescue 57 hostages. There are actually 64 hostages in total, so there is always room for improvement.

The Bad
The only thing missing from the game is the ending. If you manage to rescue all 64 hostages, the title screen appears again. Some type of “Congratulations” would not have hurt.

The Bottom Line
Choplifter! was a huge hit at the time that it spawned numerous sequels and unofficial clones for systems that never had an official conversion. The VIC-20 version, along with the Commodre 64 and Apple II versions, is what I like to call The First Editions. These versions were developed in the early Eighties and had quite basic gameplay. Strangely unlike most computer games, this one was later converted to arcade, which in turn, was converted to the next-gen systems. These versions had nice background music and fantastic backdrops.

There is no definite version of the game, and whatever system you had back in the Eighties, you can be sure that Choplifter! was available for it.

VIC-20 · by Katakis | カタキス (43092) · 2015

One of the best arcade games, but very demanding

The Good
While you must destroy and kill in self-defence, this game is about rescuing i.e saving lives and I think one feels more like a medic than an airforce pilot(your little pilot wears a red shirt, while the little POWs wear blue). It requires a lot of precision to control the chopper, dodge the enemy, land to take on passengers and avoid shooting POWs. Sega's arcade remake of Dan Gorlin's original has great haunting music giving the gameplay a sense of desperation (I'm not sure if the composer has been confirmed, but my guess is that it was Hiroshi Miyauchi-Kawaguchi for its resemblance to HangOn's music). I like the four stages i.e the scenes/backgrounds, first the desert, the ocean, then forest/cavern and finally the city with it's futuristic look.

The Bad
A lot of arcade games demand time, money and effort, just to past the first stage, but Choplifter is one of the most demanding. One thing I particularly didn't like was that when your chopper is shot down and lands on top of an anti-aircraft gun, the gun isn't destroyed, which I think is rather stingy of the developers. A more decent development team might have given the player a little consolation for being shot down.

The Bottom Line
A great game to watch and listen to, exciting to play, but draining. In the present day, there would be no shame in playing a home ported version and maybe using save states or altering the difficulty level.

Arcade · by Andrew Fisher (697) · 2018

[ View all 6 player reviews ]

Trivia

1001 Video Games

Choplifter appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Arcade version

After Choplifter! was released for the Apple II, it was not only ported to numerous other computer and console systems, but also converted by Sega into a coin-op arcade game. This makes Choplifter! one of the few 1980s games to start on a home system and later appear in arcades, instead of the other way around. According to Dan Gorlin he did not really have anything to do with this version as Sega created their own design and artwork for the game. He was nevertheless impressed with the result although would have preferred an analogue controller.

[Source: Retro Gamer Magazine, Load 51]

Cancelled PC version

Game creator Dan Gorlin began work on a PC version of Choplifter! during the 1990s, but says it was never completed due to "industry problems."

[Source: Retro Gamer Magazine, Load 51]

Development

Choplifter! began as a 3D game in early development, but was later converted into a 2D side-scroller when creator Dan Gorlin realized the limitations of contemporary hardware.

[Source: Retro Gamer Magazine, Load 51]

Influence

Game creator Dan Gorlin cites both the Iranian hostage crisis and the arcade game Defender as major influences on Choplifter!'s design.

[Source: Retro Gamer Magazine, Load 51]

Legacy

Choplifter designer Dan Gorlin on the surprising influence of his game on the industry:

A lot of professionals in the game business now tell me that Choplifter was big influence on them. It kinda freaks me out; like inventing dynamite or something.

(From the book *High Score!* by Rusel DeMaria and Johnny L. Wilson, p.125.)

Scenario

While they both spawned strings of sequels to lead series of their own, Choplifter and Lode Runner can be considered to share not just human sprite animation, but a "game world" along with Will Wright's Raid on Bungeling Bay, all three games (all published by Brøderbund) eventually featuring the militaristic denizens of the Bungeling Empire as the primary antagonists.

Information also contributed by Garcia and Pseudo_Intellectual

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by PCGamer77.

SG-1000 added by djindio. Arcade added by Michael Cassidy. Sharp X1, PC-6001 added by Infernos. Apple II added by KnockStump. Coleco Adam added by Hipolito Pichardo. Atari 5200, Atari 7800 added by RKL. Atari 8-bit added by Martin Smith. PC-88, FM-7 added by Terok Nor. Thomson TO, VIC-20 added by Игги Друге. MSX added by koffiepad.

Additional contributors: Freeman, formercontrib, Patrick Bregger, FatherJack, 64er.

Game added January 8, 2003. Last modified March 8, 2024.