C64 Chopper Command Mini-Review!!
On August 21, 2019, a Commodore 64 version of the Atari 2600 Classic, Chopper Command was released for free download. It was developed by Antonio Savona, who you will recognize from the “Planet Golf” and more recently “L’abbaye Des Morts” video game releases for the Commodore 64. The graphics are credited to Steven Day, music by Saul Cross and the sound effects are credited to Flemming Martins. Again the game is free and the source code is slated to be released soon on Github.
The first thing you notice when the game starts up is the amazing image put together by Steven Day or Ste’86, of a chopper flying into the sunset above the clouds. The games name is proudly displayed along with the colorful Activision logo. With a controller plugged into port two, pressing the button will advance you to the newly developed title screen again with a larger version of the Activision logo and paying homage to Bob Whitehead along with crediting C64 developers.
The title screen displays until you press the fire button on your joystick to start a new game. Gameplay can be paused by pressing the spacebar. I asked Antonio if there are any other options such as two-player mode and he confirmed there is not, although there was a two-player option in earlier builds.
When the game starts you are presented with the “Get Ready” phrase and you will immediately notice the smooth scrolling parallax view. The improved graphics on the Commodore 64 now include clouds in addition to the mountains in the horizon scrolling by.
For those unaware, this is a horizontally scrolling shoot’em up. Chopper Command is essentially a clone of the popular Williams arcade game, Defender. You control a chopper that flies horizontally and allows you to shoot enemy ships while you protect your convoy of supply trucks below on the surface. Be sure not to veer to low as you can crash into the trucks. The enemies can firebombs that shoot simultaneously up and down at the same time. As with the Atari 2600 version, this game also includes a map showing all of the enemy positions which they refer to in the manual as a “long-range scanner”. The game allows you to continuously hold down the button for rapid-fire action.
Scoring: Reading from the manual:
4. Scoring. Each time you shoot down an enemy helicopter, you earn 100
points. For every enemy jet you shoot down, you will be credited with
200 points. Should you wipe out an entire wave of hostile aircraft,
you will receive a bonus calculated by multiplying the number of trucks
remaining in the convoy times the wave number achieved (one through
ten) times 100.5. You have helicopter reserves. You start the game with three
choppers in your fleet. For every 10,000 points you score, an extra
helicopter will be added to your squadron, up to a maximum of six. The
number of extra choppers appears under the score.
I got in touch with Antonio and I asked him what his inspiration was for this port. He said:
Initially, I didn’t have any plans to specifically convert chopper command and I was working on some “larger” projects, such as the guy in a vest and ninja blue but felt like I needed a break. I mentioned to Steven Day I felt like doing something quick and he suggested CC, which I had never played before. He said he would do the graphics and I totally jumped on it because STE’86 is a legend and I would have coded anything he wanted me too 🙂
I also asked if this game was intended as a one-off, or should we expect to see some more Atari ports in the future? He replied:
It was meant to be a one-off, but I enjoyed coding something this simple and self-contained, so I’m already thinking of the next one. Or should I say Steven is thinking 🙂
He added:
We planned this as a fake unreleased conversion from 1984. I coded it in the style of Activision games of that period. Same for Steven and Saul.
Anyhow, I love this game and it really took me by surprise when I first heard they were working on it. I Love the graphics, especially the intro chopper scene and the improved parallax scrolling. I appreciate how they included a title screen giving credit to Bob Whitehead and Activision. And it’s just plain fun.
The link for the download will be in the video description. The download even includes an updated copy of the manual.
You can follow Antonio over at his twitter account. Thanks for watching…
Youtube Description:
This is my quick review of Chopper Command for the Commodore 64 by Antonio Savona!
Download link:
https://csdb.dk/release/?id=180944
Antonio Savona Twitter:
https://twitter.com/tonysavon
Youtube Original Post Date: 08/23/2019
