Most popular video games eventually end up on platforms other than the one for which they were initially created. Obviously, there are exceptions. You wouldn’t have seen a Super Mario Bros title on a Sega console, just like you weren’t going to see the blue hedgehog on a Nintendo machine. But third-party developers often took games available on one system and either developed them alongside other platforms or ported them afterward, with varying levels of success. And when computer and console games crossed, the results were often a wildly erratic mixed bag.
In this series, we’ll take a game that was ported to different platforms, pick five, and look at what went right, what maybe went wrong, and how they’re all related. First off, the classic Dan Gorlin game, Choplifter. We’ll be looking at the original Apple II, the Commodore 64 conversion, the arcade port, the Sega Master System version, and, finally, the Atari 7800 release.
Choplifter Apple II Screenshot
Apple II
Dan Gorlin developed Choplifter for the Apple II home computer system, with Brøderbund releasing the game in 1982. While action games of the time were often focused on how quickly the player could destroy everything on the screen, Choplifter instead focused on a more deliberate rescue operation, with destruction a result of defense rather than offense. The gameplay loop was deceptively simple: take off from your base, release the POWs from one of the four buildings on the level, and rescue as many as possible by picking them up and flying them back to your base, all the while eluding enemy vehicles.
The game was a remarkable achievement, with smooth graphics and animation, and a real feeling of gravity and inertia that you must come to terms with as you maneuver your chopper around the game field. Attempts to rescue POWs will be hampered by, among other things, tanks and jets, either trying to shoot you down or take out the POWs as they run from the busted barracks, scrambling to climb aboard the waiting helicopter. Don’t land too hard, or you’ll crash, killing everyone you’re carrying. Make sure you don’t land on any of the waiting POWs, or they end up in the kill column, as well. Your reward for getting them safely to your base? The grateful, cheery waves of the little fellas as they disembark your chopper.
As Apple tried to position the Apple II as more than just a business and educational machine, games like Choplifter helped cement it as a solid entertainment platform.
Choplifter Commodore 64 Screenshot
Commodore 64
A year after the game’s release on the Apple II, the Commodore 64, the new successor to Commodore’s successful VIC-20 home computer, received its very own version of Choplifter.
The game remained largely unchanged from the original. The gameplay loop was the same, as were the obstacles to success. The game underwent a few changes in presentation, including updates to the HUD at the top of the screen and a slightly darker color palette that better aligned with the Commodore 64’s available hues. The essential graphic elements were remarkably similar to those of the Apple II game, as were the animation and smooth gameplay. The feeling of gravity and inertia had been successfully translated, as well. From a gameplay standpoint, you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between the two.
The success of this port made Choplifter on the Commodore 64 a standard-bearer for quality games on the system for many years.
Choplifter Arcade Screenshot
Arcade
In 1985, Sega decided to bring Choplifter to the arcades. Instead of a straight port of the game, they redesigned it to take advantage of the more advanced hardware available to arcade games at the time and to appeal to the arcade gaming audience. Gamers would be looking for bright, colorful graphics with more detail than the original computer presentation.
The gameplay remained largely unchanged. You take off, fly to the left, dodging enemies, in search of the buildings housing the POWs you must rescue. Pick them up, survive the flight back to your base, and drop off the survivors. In addition to the enemy vehicles from the original version, there are now missile launchers and anti-aircraft guns to deal with, making each trip that much more treacherous. Another change from the original is that the number of successful rescues has been reduced to saving only 20 of 32. This, along with a fuel limit, helped increase the game’s pace while remaining challenging enough to keep the quarters flowing.
The backgrounds were detailed and used parallax scrolling to give the playfield a sense of depth. Instead of the single level of the original game, the arcade version of Choplifter took place on four different levels: the original desert level, a level at sea, a level in a cavern, and lastly a level on top of buildings. This, along with the redesigned vehicle graphics, helped it to stand out from the original and made it a true arcade classic.
Choplifter Sega Master System Screenshot
Sega Master System
When Sega brought Choplifter to their 8-bit NES competitor, the Master System, they chose to port their arcade version rather than the original computer game, as Coleco had done in 1984 for their ColecoVision system.
The decision to port the arcade version makes the Master System version more of an action game than the originals, in line with the arcade game. You face the same adversities as in the arcade game, but in an effort to increase the gameplay value of the home conversion, the POW rescue requirements are increased to 40. The graphics, while very similar to the arcade, are somewhat scaled back in color, detail, and background parallax levels. But they were (and still are) impressive for an 8-bit system.
The one thing that keeps this from being a truly epic conversion is something that plagues many Sega Master System games, especially action titles with many on-screen characters: sprite flicker. As the number of sprites on a horizontal plane increases, the sprite flicker increases as the system attempts to draw everything in place. When you are dealing with a large number of POWs roaming around on-screen, along with your chopper and possible enemies, it can get very distracting and can lead to some slowdown.
But, even this doesn’t detract from the fact that Choplifter on the Sega Master System is an excellent port, and one of the better arcade ports on the platform.
Choplifter Atari 7800 Screenshot
Atari 7800
Looking at it, you would be forgiven for assuming that the Atari 7800 version of Choplifter was another port of Sega’s arcade game. On the surface, the graphics seem more similar to the arcade version than to the original game. But this 1987 release is actually a port of the original computer game.
You are rescuing up to 64 POWs from four buildings of 16 scattered across the level, all the while on the lookout for enemies attempting to destroy you and your rescues.
The most obvious change is the graphic design. While not as detailed as the Sega Master System port of the arcade game, they are much more colorful and detailed than the Apple II original. It doesn’t play nearly as smoothly as the original or even the arcade version, but it is an important late release for a system that didn’t see many games before it was unceremoniously retired by Atari.
Bonus: Sega SG-1000
Though it didn’t see release outside Japan, a conversion of Choplifter was developed for Sega’s SG-1000 console (the predecessor to the Master System). Released in 1985, a few months short of Sega’s arcade version, it is essentially a slightly more complex version of the computer game. The graphics are very similar, with the monocolor chopper, minimalistic playfield design, and smooth animation. However, instead of the single level, it adds two more level types: a level that takes place at sea, where you rescue the POWs from lighthouse-looking buildings, and a cavern level similar to the level in the arcade and Master System versions.
Overall, the game plays quite nicely. It is too bad that we in the West didn’t get a chance to experience it. Choplifter for the SG-1000 would have been a great bridge between the computer classic and the arcade reimagining.
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