Choplifter! - MAME software

Atari 5200 cart. published 40 years ago:

Choplifter! © 1984 Atari, Incorporated.

Get ready for the most heroic adventure imaginable! Sixty-four frightened United Nations diplomats are being held hostage behind enemy lines, and it's up to you to rescue them. In the dead of night, you pilot your smuggled helicopter from the isolated post office serving as rescue-mission headquarters, past defending tanks, jets, and guided missiles. You pick up as many people as your chopper will hold and carry them to freedom. Keep a sharp eye out, though -- the enemy, a nation of lunatics called Bungelings, will be there at every turn to thwart you!

The hostages are being held in barraks inside enemy territory. Use your joystick to pilot your chopper. Press either top fire button to blast at oncoming enemy targets. Press either bottom fire button to turn your helicopter forward to shoot tanks, or to turn your chopper completely around.

Some of the barracks have been blown open by enemy fire -- you can see the hostages scrambling to be saved, waving frantically for your attention. Use your joystick to set down your chopper and pick them up. Once aboard, it's your job to pilot them safely back to rescue- mission headquarters and drop them off.

Your mission consists of a total of three sorties to save as many hostages as you can. Of course, the people of the world are depending on you to rescue them all. The game ends when you lose your third helicopter, or the 64 hostages are saved or lost to the enemy.

TECHNICAL
Model CX5253

TIPS AND TRICKS

• Don't land on the hostages -- it's a deadly maneuver.
• Guided enemy missiles can attack you on your side of the barrier; tanks and jets can't.
• You can only pick up those hostages that have been freed from the locked barracks. One way to help them escape, is to position your chopper in front of a barrack and wait for a tank to fire a shot towards you. In many instances the tank will blow a hole in the side of the barrack and the hostages will come running out.
• The hostages are extremely frightened and need assistance in getting out of the helicopter. Make sure you land directly on the cement landing pad next to the post office, or they'll refuse to get out.

STAFF
Designer: Dan Gorlin

CONTRIBUTE
Edit this entry: https://www.arcade-history.com/?&page=detail&id=50034&o=2