Who Remembers This Underground Helicopter Game?

[geo255]

I spent some long hours playing a game on my friend's Atari 800:

 

A vertical-scrolling game where you fly a little (small sprite) helicopter down into some underground tunnels. Eventually the tunnels start flooding with water, and you have to get back up and out in time.

 

Anyone else remember what this game was called?

 

[glurk]

This sounds vaguely familiar to me, but all that even comes to mind are "Fort Apocalypse" and "H.E.R.O."  And I don't think you mean either of those.  So sorry, for being no help at all, haha 

 

[oo7]

6 hours ago, geo255 said:

I spent some long hours playing a game on my friend's Atari 800:

 

A vertical-scrolling game where you fly a little (small sprite) helicopter down into some underground tunnels. Eventually the tunnels start flooding with water, and you have to get back up and out in time.

 

Anyone else remember what this game was called?

 

Sounds like caverns of mars in a way but that isnt a helicopter and the fly back up is no water

[Gunstar]

My guess is also Fort Apocalypse, but I'm pretty sure I finished the game back in the day and don't recall any flooding...

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-fort-apocalypse_2054.html

[Kr0tki]

The only one with a helicopter, tunnels and water that comes to my mind is "Buried Bucks" aka. "Chopper Hunt".

[xrbrevin]

@Kr0tki called it - i knew the game but couldnt remember the name!

[Mclaneinc]

Yup, spot on, I could see the game in my head but not the title.

[+bf2k+]

Sounds like ROTO... an Analog game by Mike Stortz. Except I don't remember any water but then I generally don't play any games anyway.  Mike Stortz was a buddy who I have lost touch with when he moved away.

[Goochman]

Buried Bucks - I spent hours playing this game.  Fun and I always found it cool how the water was handled and the explosions.  Strafing the ground was a blast

[oo7]

5 hours ago, Kr0tki said:

The only one with a helicopter, tunnels and water that comes to my mind is "Buried Bucks" aka. "Chopper Hunt".

Buried Buck$ 1982 and Chopper Hunt 1984 are very similar but also slightly different

 

[geo255]

OK, thank you for all the great ideas! I googled them up, but we haven't found the right game yet.

 

Let me try drawing a crude mock up from my 40-year-old memories...

 

 

My image here shows the whole playfield, but in actual play only about ⅓ of this is shown as the screen scrolls (vertically only I think).

 

The helicopter sprite was very small, like I've shown. The top blade was animated, with a left & right motion.

 

I can't remember if the flooding was water or lava.  It would slowly fill upwards from the bottom as a means of time pressure to complete your task (whatever that task was). There was some kind of "shhhhhhhhhh" sound when the flooding as happening.

 

Any other ideas?

Edited September 13, 2021 by geo255
more details

[invisible kid]

Zeppelin?

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-zeppelin_5923.html

[Preppie]

Never played it but a quick search brought up Chopper Rescue by MicroProse???:

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-chopper-rescue_1049.html

[.mad.]

LAVA RUN.

Lava Run.xex

Edited September 13, 2021 by .mad.
add another game

[geo255]

(The internets tell me that 2nd image .mad. posted is called "O'Riley's Mine". https://www.myabandonware.com/game/o-riley-s-mine-5n7)

 

But, nope... none of these are quite right

 

The helicopter looked very much like the one in Lava Run - except I remember it being white, and the tunnels more like O'Riley's Mine.

 

It was a kind of slow-moving, almost peaceful game.

 

I'm thinking it must have been pretty obscure!

[oo7]

2 hours ago, geo255 said:

(The internets tell me that 2nd image .mad. posted is called "O'Riley's Mine". https://www.myabandonware.com/game/o-riley-s-mine-5n7)

 

But, nope... none of these are quite right

 

The helicopter looked very much like the one in Lava Run - except I remember it being white, and the tunnels more like O'Riley's Mine.

 

It was a kind of slow-moving, almost peaceful game.

 

I'm thinking it must have been pretty obscure!

For some reason that rings a bell… might be rare liky the cymbal games 20 collection rare

[invisible kid]

It's unlikely it's this, but to leave no stone unturned:

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-hero_2439.html

 

I hope you/we find it, I'd like to check it out.

[devwebcl]

Krazy Kopter?

 

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-krazy-kopter_2842.html

[_The Doctor__]

Chopper Rescue/ Air Raid I

but I don't think water rises up to get you

[800XLNZ]

Another contender:

 

 

RescueMission.xfd

[oo7]

Everyone is forgetting two aspects.

 

 

Vertical

 

Water rising

 

[Bill Loguidice]

I used to play the C-64 version of Chopper Hunt all of the time as a kid. It was not without its flaws, though, so I would have liked to have seen the compelling concept explored in a bit of a more refined production (even though Chopper Hunt was itself a refined Buried Buck$).

[Bill Loguidice]

52 minutes ago, oo7 said:

Everyone is forgetting two aspects.

 

 

Vertical

 

Water rising

 

Is it possible it was a type-in (especially with the "slow pace" you describe) or do you think it was a commercial release? It would be odd to have a vertically-oriented game on a home computer at the time. 

[geo255]

12 minutes ago, Bill Loguidice said:

Is it possible it was a type-in (especially with the "slow pace" you describe) or do you think it was a commercial release? It would be odd to have a vertically-oriented game on a home computer at the time. 

Yes, maybe an amateur game downloaded from a BBS. I wrote some of those, and the lesser ones are now lost - having never made the leap from BBS to the internet.

 

With two-way vertical scrolling I wouldn't think it was a type-in BASIC game.

 

Thanks everyone for all the ideas, though!

[Wrathchild]

http://www.atarimania.com/game-atari-400-800-xl-xe-fire-and-flood_30997.html