I wish more Atari 2600 reviews covered the variations offered the difficulty switches. In Chopper Command the switches alter your gun into a cool laser, which was my weapon of choice for this game.
Hey maybe that cartridge of Chopper Command was mine! it sorta has my name on it, jk, it’s not. I actually don’t even go by my first name lol, but who ever out there in this world named Bert & wrote there name on the cartridge is now on an episode of THE NO SWEAR GAMER 😎 hopefully he’s eating at PapaJohn’s
I'm watching footage of old Atari games to figure out how I could recreate them in PICO-8. As a kid there were always improvements I wanted to make in the games I played. Maybe now I'll be able to do that! Maybe limited ammo for the chopper but you could reload by landing in front of a truck. The thing is you don't get the bonus points for that truck at the end. That would give the player some risk/reward decisions to make.
I remember playing this as a twelve year old in 1982. It seemed to be a Defender variation as he describes. I distinctly remember that copyright display at the end of the game..."Activision 1982". Activision seemed to be slightly better graphics. The last game we played on the Atari 2600 was Activision's Robot Tank. Man we thought that was Awesome with the changing weather conditions! Fast forward to today's Arma3, and I think we reached the graphics apex.
Hmm. Thought this was going to be a positive review. I'd been watching a lot of bad games lately. Still, I can see the point that it's a Defender knock-off that gets boring quickly. I'd rather play P.B.'s The Empire Strikes Back, which seems similar. I wanted to get Stargate (a.k.a. Defender II) a couple years ago, which supposedly solved the problems with Defender for Atari.
I remember, if you flicked one of the switches on the back of the deck of the Atari, the machine gun would switch to a laser.
Yup I played this on my 7800 with the switch
When my family owned the Atari 2600 my father selected this game. This and Pac-Man were good times.
I wish more Atari 2600 reviews covered the variations offered the difficulty switches. In Chopper Command the switches alter your gun into a cool laser, which was my weapon of choice for this game.
I'm surprised you didn't flip the difficulty switch to give yourself the blue laser
Me and my Dad would play this after school. Great memories
Thank you Phil!
Atari 2600 Game by Game Podcast Honored to help!
Hey maybe that cartridge of Chopper Command was mine! it sorta has my name on it, jk, it’s not. I actually don’t even go by my first name lol, but who ever out there in this world named Bert & wrote there name on the cartridge is now on an episode of THE NO SWEAR GAMER 😎 hopefully he’s eating at PapaJohn’s
Nice review! I forgot I used to own this game as a kid till I saw the footage. Ah memories!
Thank You!
I'm watching footage of old Atari games to figure out how I could recreate them in PICO-8. As a kid there were always improvements I wanted to make in the games I played. Maybe now I'll be able to do that!
Maybe limited ammo for the chopper but you could reload by landing in front of a truck. The thing is you don't get the bonus points for that truck at the end. That would give the player some risk/reward decisions to make.
Weird, my chopper command says "Ernie"
atarileaf I knew one had to be out there somewhere!
atarileaf Get them together!!!
Funny when you say that the sides are Papa John's and the evil Dominos! :) Avoid the Noid, indeed.
Great review! I just started playing this game. So far I've been able to get a high score of 49500.
Nice. My best score is 127,800
forums.atari.io/index.php/topic/1884-chopper-command-atari-2600/
So would you rate the game higher today, now that you've become good enough at it to last more than 3-4 minutes?
I prefer defender, although it flickers. Because it’s spaceships!
This is not Defender. Not even close.
I remember playing this as a twelve year old in 1982. It seemed to be a Defender variation as he describes. I distinctly remember that copyright display at the end of the game..."Activision 1982". Activision seemed to be slightly better graphics. The last game we played on the Atari 2600 was Activision's Robot Tank. Man we thought that was Awesome with the changing weather conditions! Fast forward to today's Arma3, and I think we reached the graphics apex.
Who had one of those friends that didn't realise you're protecting the envoy and was trying to work out how to bomb the trucks?
This one is for Bert.
What about Pizza Hut?
I was almost always better at any game than my brother, but there were two exceptions, chopper command and sea quest!
*ACTDEFENDER*
I agree the game gets too hard too fast but I still would rank it in the top 100 (as of 9/20).
Hmm. Thought this was going to be a positive review. I'd been watching a lot of bad games lately. Still, I can see the point that it's a Defender knock-off that gets boring quickly. I'd rather play P.B.'s The Empire Strikes Back, which seems similar. I wanted to get Stargate (a.k.a. Defender II) a couple years ago, which supposedly solved the problems with Defender for Atari.
Dominos is superior. The Noid lives in the trucks.
Papa John's pizza is garbage, it tastes like plastic and grease melted on cardboard...