In my review of Scramble I said that I was able to put away Parker's Super Cobra now that Scramble was released.
Now that Champ Games have released Super Cobra Arcade, does that mean Scramble will suffer the same fate? Well, no. Both games are excellent and worthy of large amounts of my gaming time.
Super Cobra Arcade is pretty much everything I hoped for, from the excellent graphics (the chopper itself looks great) and sound to the smooth controls. Flicker is really well handled and most of the time I don't even notice it. I don't know the arcade version that well, but I assume most if not all the enemies are included. There is certainly far more variety than in Scramble and the difficulty is pitched perfectly.
So, Scramble or Super Cobra Arcade? Answer: Both!
5/5 for this incredible game.
Invade the Base and Carry Away the Booty!
Pilot your helicopter across 10,000 miles of challenging terrain!
Vaporize enemy depots and collect precious fuel to complete your mission.
Armed with cannons and bombs, strafe ground targets and take out airborne enemies.
Tanks, guided missiles, falling mines, spinning drones and homing meteors assault you at every turn.
Invade the enemy base and carry away the booty!
Objective
Super Cobra Arcade is a classic arcade game in which the player must navigate their helicopter across a side-scrolling terrain through eleven unique stages. Each stage has its own challenges and obstacles, including tanks, targets, rockets, guided missiles, falling mines, fuel tanks, flying saucers and meteors. The player must avoid or destroy these hazards while maintaining the ship's limited fuel supply. The objective is to reach the end stage, invade the enemy's base and carry away the booty while trying to earn a high score.
Super Cobra Arcade was crafted by John W. Champeau of Champ Games, whose previous Atari 2600 endeavors include Conquest of Mars, Lady Bug, and Scramble.
How To Play
To play Super Cobra, use the joystick to navigate your ship over the terrain while avoiding the enemy attacks. Press the fire button to launch missiles and drop bombs (gamepads use button B to fire missiles and button C to drop bombs). Points are scored for traveling a certain distance and destroying enemy installations. Additional fuel is gained by destroying the fuel tanks. A player starts with 3 helicopters; a bonus chopper is awarded at 10,000 points and every 50,000 points. The game ends when all helicopters have been destroyed.
Good luck!
Game Options
- Novice, Standard, Advanced, and Expert Modes
- Two-button support with Genesis-compatible Gamepad
- Built-in Pause Feature
- Single Shot or Burst Shot Modes
- High-Score Tables stored in AtariVox/SaveKey (if present)
Super Cobra Poster
Nathan Strum's beautiful artwork for Super Cobra Arcade is featured on a 10" x 14" poster and including free with the game!
AtariVox Support
If you have an AtariVox or SaveKey plugged into joystick port 2, up to 10 high scores are saved for each skill level. The current skill level is also saved. To reset the high score table for the current skill level, while on the Score Ranking screen press and hold RESET, then press SELECT. All scores are reset to 10,000 points.
Additional Information
Super Cobra Arcade is a Melody-enhanced game that takes full advantage of the CDF mode in the Melody. Super Cobra Arcade includes game cartridge, beautifully illustrated 8-page manual, and a 10" x 14" poster featuring the Super Cobra Arcade box artwork! Available in NTSC and PAL60 television formats--please select above. If you do not select an option, you will receive an NTSC cartridge by default.
Get a Super Cobra Arcade Box!
If you'd like a boxed copy of Super Cobra Arcade, please select "Box Upgrade: Yes" at the top of the page before adding Super Cobra Arcade to your cart. Our boxes are professionally printed and include a box insert to hold your Super Cobra Arcade cartridge in place. We want you to play our games, so we have not sealed or shrinkwrapped the boxes in any way, allowing you easy access to the game cartridge and manual.
These boxes are the same size as boxes Atari produced for their games "back in the day". They look great sitting on a shelf with your other boxed homebrew games, or alongside games from the classic Atari 2600 library. We only have a limited number of boxes for each game, and there is no guarantee they will become available again once our supplies are exhausted. Click on the images to the right to see larger photos of the box.
| Number of Players | 1 |
| Controller | Joystick or Genesis-compatible Gamepad |
| Cartridge Size | 32K CDF |
| Code and Design | John W. Champeau |
| Level Generation & Code | Thomas Jentzsch, Darrell Spice, Jr. |
| Graphics and Level Design | Nathan Strum |
| Music and Sound Effects | Michael Haas |
| Label, Box, and Manual Design | Nathan Strum |
| Manual Text | Nathan Strum |
I may just copy and paste this review for both Super Cobra and Draconian. I won't go into specifics about gameplay but both are equally incredible games. They are my first homebrews and it seems I have started with the very best of the best. I am so blown away by the quality and slick professionalism of both games. From the packaging, the gameplay, graphics and sound, everything is top notch. I know some of it is due to the tech of the melody cart but that shouldn't take away from what an incredible job everyone that was involved in these games has done. If you love shooters, Super Cobra and Draconian are must haves. So glad I bought these games and you will be too.
I do recall Parker Brothers making a version of SuperCobra for the Atari 2600 as well as other gaming machines of that time. I have a copy of it in my house. However, this looks like how you guys took Atari Pac-Man, and made it better with Atari Pac-Man 4K for the 2600, which I also bought.
If you like Scramble you'll like this too. But this is much more than Scramble with a helicopter. The levels and terrain are different, and there are a bunch of new enemies (artillery, tanks, guided missiles, mines, etc.) In some ways it's harder than Scramble but that's offset by checkpoints so you don't have to restart a level if you get hit, and there are continues.
Only complaint, and this applies to a lot of new titles, is that's it's only currently available with a box. The box looks great but I'm not a box collector. I'd rather just spend $30 on a loose cart than $50 for a complete box.
Only complaint, and this applies to a lot of new titles, is that's it's only currently available with a box. The box looks great but I'm not a box collector. I'd rather just spend $30 on a loose cart than $50 for a complete box.
Incredibly advanced, so much fun to play! I was shocked by the previous port of Scramble, but Super Cobra Arcade is a real improvement.
Upgrade to the latest version of Stella to play the free ROM.
Upgrade to the latest version of Stella to play the free ROM.
Super game. Combination of good graphics, great playability and nice scrolling. Especially games with good scrolling can not be seen often on the Atari2600. Here it was well done!!!
This is an amazing game which expands and improves on Scramble in every way, with tons of great options, difficulty settings, and high score save options. The attention to detail, the yearning to keep this game arcade accurate has all paid off with a terrific port. It plays and feels like you are playing the arcade version.
I love all the attention to detail that was placed into Super Cobra Arcade. A few such examples are the starfield simulation, animated explosions, animated score table, great sound effects, Easter eggs, colors mirroring the arcade, rockets change colors after launching, and difficulty ramp ups. The word "Atariage" displays on the base stage rather than "Konami" and John Champeau even threw In the word "Champ" in reference to his company.
Full video review here: https://youtu.be/Dlre_IFXtA4
Highly recommended.
I love all the attention to detail that was placed into Super Cobra Arcade. A few such examples are the starfield simulation, animated explosions, animated score table, great sound effects, Easter eggs, colors mirroring the arcade, rockets change colors after launching, and difficulty ramp ups. The word "Atariage" displays on the base stage rather than "Konami" and John Champeau even threw In the word "Champ" in reference to his company.
Full video review here: https://youtu.be/Dlre_IFXtA4
Highly recommended.
Another Champ Games masterpiece. Expanding on the amazing port of Scramble from last year, this game is longer than its predecessor and just as fun. Shoot and bomb your way thru multiple zones just like the arcade. You will be amazed that you are playing this on a 2600.
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