Arcade Choplifter that was redone by Sega is still sooo much fun

[parallaxscroll]

I'm still having a great deal of fun with Sega's arcade remake of Choplifter. The audiovisuals and gameplay are so satisfying.

To this day I feel it's the best Choplifter game ever made.

The Master System version was based on it and while it's very good, the coin-op version is even better. Sega's 8-bit System 1 & 2 boards, on which Choplifter ran, were pretty powerful for their day and there's no doubt in my mind it would've taken the power of the 16-bit home console, Megadrive/Genesis, to acomplish a near perfect port of the 8-bit arcade.

I cannot help but to imagine a further remake done on the System 16 board (ala Fantasy Zone II DX). That would've been even more sweet!

If you haven't played the arcade, even if you have the SMS version, I highly suggest you fire it up in MAME.

[Koa Zo]

I've played the Sega MyCard release of Choplifter for countless hours.
Very very fun game!

[parallaxscroll]

Here's part of IGN's article Rescue Me: The History of Choplifter (http://www.ign.com/articles/2008/11/21/rescue-me-the-history-of-choplifter)



Completing the Vision

In 1985, SEGA decided to license a couple popular Western games for new arcade adaptations. The two targets chosen were Pitfall II and Choplifter (SEGA dropped the exclamation mark from the title, and it never made it back). There was something genuinely compelling about remaking a game like Choplifter. The formula was downright addictive, and yet there was so much left to do. SEGA was given full control to do with the game as they pleased, and they got to work beefing up nearly every aspect of the helicopter shooter.

SEGA's interpretation was faithful to the core gameplay. Apart from changing the load from 16 to eight and adding a fuel gauge to keep players moving, the basic mechanics hadn't changed a bit. More importantly, the levels were complicated quite a bit, with four unique stages with their own gauntlets of enemy installations and natural hazards. The first stage was still largely modeled after the original; the second was a series of battleships, followed by a treacherous cave mission, and finally a trip through a futuristic San Francisco full of terrorists with jetpacks. Of course, these new locales brought with them a new, more detailed look, a dramatic military-tinged score, and some much needed variety, bringing the game up to the arcade standards of the day. The layered parallax scrolling made for a particularly eye-catching addition, helping the game to stand out from its 8-bit peers.


SEGA's version is still definitive.


The approach proved to be the right one. SEGA managed to balance the spirit of the original with the needs of the arcade market, and the result is considered by most to be the definitive version of Choplifter. It was a much more intense, action-oriented affair, and it looped indefinitely for challenging scoreplay, but it offered huge bonuses for preventing deaths, making each life seem important, as Gorlin always wanted to. Squeaky digitized voices cried for help and screamed in pain to further accent their humanity. Even three years after the original release, the physics-based controls and rescue mission theme helped the game to break out from the ever-hardening genre mold.



And this is really cool: Choplifter with the theme music from the Airwolf television series (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpIG2zmB71s) :D

[8-Bit Archeology]

And this is really cool: Choplifter with the theme music from the Airwolf television series (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpIG2zmB71s) :D

HAHA XD. I love the quote at the end of the video.

"Every pixel in this episode was intentionally harmed, nuked, shot. blown up and destroyed. I take full and personal responsobility for their destruction with extreme prejudice. I didnt even ask for a Humane Society Rep. Cry me a river for all those poor pixels... They should'nt have gotten in my way..."

Priceless.

I have Choplifter for the SMS, I really want to try the arcade now.

[parallaxscroll]

HAHA XD. I love the quote at the end of the video.

"Every pixel in this episode was intentionally harmed, nuked, shot. blown up and destroyed. I take full and personal responsobility for their destruction with extreme prejudice. I didnt even ask for a Humane Society Rep. Cry me a river for all those poor pixels... They should'nt have gotten in my way..."

Priceless.

I have Choplifter for the SMS, I really want to try the arcade now.

Didn't notice that before, love it.


When you find the arcade version for MAME, the bootleg ver. is the one that works, but you'll still need the parent ROM of course.

[Tanooki]

I'm in total agreement and I'm not even a huge fan of these types of game, but chop lifter I'll go back to. Has anyone ever tried out the chop lifter 3 on the SNES as it is nuts but fun with some crazy weapons and structures to take down.

[parallaxscroll]

I tried SNES Choplifter III some years ago but only played for maybe 1/2 hour. I really need to give it another go.

I'd like to try Choplifter HD one of these days on PC, 360 or PS3.

I highly, highly recommend Glory Days 2 for DS. It's not really a Choplifter clone but it does have Choplifter elements, yet so much more. Probably my favorite DS game.

It is actually the sequel to Super Army War (Glory Days in Europe) on GBA.
Like Super Army War / Glory Days, Glory Days 2 is a mix of Wings of Fury, with light RTS elements and a dash of Choplifter mixed in. All done with wonderful multi scrolling parallax backgrounds.

http://image.gamespotcdn.net/gamespot/images/box/3/4/3/925343_61555_back.jpg



http://dsmedia.ign.com/ds/image/object/839/839291/glorydays2_dsbox.jpg

http://pics.mobygames.com/images/covers/large/1229793310-00.jpg

http://img.qj.net/uploads/articles_module/66108/ds_30_qjpreviewth.jpg

[Superman]

I like just about any version of Choplifter. Growing up with the NES, I could play Choplifter at the arcade and then come home and still have fun with the NES version, which was pretty basic.

When I started collecting for the SMS and got Choplifter, I was surprised how good it was compared to the other versions!