Choplifter Home brew

[Foxsolo2000]

Found an interesting homebrew on youtube and thought I would share it. Wonder how close it woud have been to the original idea?

 

 

[TrekMD]

Wow, that looks like a really nice take on the game!

[Supergun]

Impressive. Most impressive.

[+x=usr(1536)]

Unfortunately, the video is now showing as unavailable. Pity, because just from what I could see of the preview still it looked impressive.

[Nukey Shay]

The vid is still there. Kinda lacks the frantic pace of the original, tho (only 1 enemy, 1 hostage at a time). And screen flipping vs. the original scrolling makes it a different game altogether IMO.

[Quon]

It is different to the original in many aspects, mainly I would imagine due to the 2600 limitations, but it has the essence there to make it a Choplifter, and a pretty good looking version in its own right!!

[atarifan88]

With the recent homebrew releases of Scramble & Super Cobra Arcade, I think it's possible a version closer to the original Choplifter could be done. Nukey is right. This is a different game all together.

[Inky]

Was there evidence that the rumored 2600 Choplifter prototype ever got any programming done?

[Rom Hunter]

Was there evidence that the rumored 2600 Choplifter prototype ever got any programming done?

Nope.

 

[Foxsolo2000]

Was there evidence that the rumored 2600 Choplifter prototype ever got any programming done?

I was told otherwise but unfortunatley I cannot find the email sent to me. It was from a guy was seen often on this site but sadly I cannot remember his name. It was apparently shown at a games show but that was all I was told. One question I would ask Nukey is in his opinion been like the homebrew would the one Atari planned been a single screen action game or could the 2600 handled the side scrolling of the original?

[Supergun]

Was there evidence that the rumored 2600 Choplifter prototype ever got any programming done?

 

Nope.

 

No! Of course not! Never!

 

[Rom Hunter]

 

 

 

No! Of course not! Never!

 

atari_brag.jpeg

Could be anything.

 

[Mr SQL]

With the recent homebrew releases of Scramble & Super Cobra Arcade, I think it's possible a version closer to the original Choplifter could be done. Nukey is right. This is a different game all together.

 

This is a really cool game! It probably is a pager like Pitfall because it was done in batari BASIC where scrolling is not an out of the box feature.

 

A classic scrolling version of ChopLifter could be written in Flashback BASIC or SuperCharger BASIC because they are designed to scroll.

 

For anyone inspired to try here are three examples of 10 line BASIC games to learn from - take apart all three and put them back together and you could find yourself writing a classic ChopLifter port!

[Nukey Shay]

One question I would ask Nukey is in his opinion been like the homebrew would the one Atari planned been a single screen action game or could the 2600 handled the side scrolling of the original?

If I understand your question correctly...undoubtedly. Scrolling playfields have been done earlier than that. Though trying to pack in all the elements could have made it a flickering mess even in concept. So a homebrew could try to scale things back a little...think of Chopper Command vs. Defender: very similar in concept, yet one features a LOT less flicker.

 

If you are asking what I think the concept MAY have been like:

Only the buildings scroll in the active playfield. Only one of those at a time via PF is not a dealbreaker. A scrolling multicolor horizon drawn above the gameplay area helps feed the illusion without impacting the actual gameplay area. The ground itself does not require scrolling. Above the buildings, A jet or mine is drawn using one of the sprites. The player's chopper is the other one. Below the ground surface, horizontally-moving tanks are drawn. Both of the sprites could be used here for two tanks to attack simultaneously. On the ground surface, both missile sprites (using varied HM/widths for detail) depict the running hostages. 2 @60hz, 4 @ 30hz, 6 @ 20hz, etc. More than 6 using this method would definitely be an eyesore, tho. These missile sprites could be reused above the hostages to depict flames coming from the building's hole. All projectiles (player and tank shots, as well as jet missiles/bombs) could be done with the remaining ball sprite.

[Atari PAC-MAN Fan]

Look at the colors! It looks like it's trying to be more like the Atari 7800 version or even the SMS version. It is kinda sad how there's only 1 enemy and hostage onscreen at a time. IMO, I wish it used a more simple color pallet found on the Atari 8-Bit version.

 

 

Is the rom available for download anywhere?

[Foxsolo2000]

If I understand your question correctly...undoubtedly. Scrolling playfields have been done earlier than that. Though trying to pack in all the elements could have made it a flickering mess even in concept. So a homebrew could try to scale things back a little...think of Chopper Command vs. Defender: very similar in concept, yet one features a LOT less flicker.

 

If you are asking what I think the concept MAY have been like:

Only the buildings scroll in the active playfield. Only one of those at a time via PF is not a dealbreaker. A scrolling multicolor horizon drawn above the gameplay area helps feed the illusion without impacting the actual gameplay area. The ground itself does not require scrolling. Above the buildings, A jet or mine is drawn using one of the sprites. The player's chopper is the other one. Below the ground surface, horizontally-moving tanks are drawn. Both of the sprites could be used here for two tanks to attack simultaneously. On the ground surface, both missile sprites (using varied HM/widths for detail) depict the running hostages. 2 @60hz, 4 @ 30hz, 6 @ 20hz, etc. More than 6 using this method would definitely be an eyesore, tho. These missile sprites could be reused above the hostages to depict flames coming from the building's hole. All projectiles (player and tank shots, as well as jet missiles/bombs) could be done with the remaining ball sprite.

Thank you Nukey. That expalined a lot and was a great benefit to me.

[KevinMos3]

My first impression was that they were going for more of an arcade/SMS type version of Choplifter. Anyway, it looks really interesting with the different screens and backgrounds. Kinda reminds me of Air Rescue on the SMS, with the ladder lowering to rescue the doods.