Choplifter

Choplifter
Atari 5200 box cover
Developer(s)	Dan Gorlin
Publisher(s)	Brøderbund Ariolasoft (for European Commodore 64 version) Atari, Inc. (Atari 5200 version) Atari Corp. (Atari 7800 and XEGS versions) Sega (1985 arcade version)
Designer(s)	Dan Gorlin
Platform(s)	Apple II (original) Arcade, Atari 5200, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, VIC-20, MSX, NES, Sega Master System, Fujitsu FM-7
Release	May 1982
Genre(s)	Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)	Single-player

Choplifter (stylized as Choplifter!) is a 1982 Apple II game developed by Dan Gorlin and published by Brøderbund. It was ported to Atari 5200, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, Commodore VIC-20, and MSX. Graphically enhanced versions for the Atari 7800 and Atari XEGS were published in 1988 by Atari.

In 1985, Sega released a coin-operated arcade game remake, which in turn was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System and Sega Master System in 1986. Choplifter is one of the few games that first appeared on a home system and was ported to the arcade.

In Choplifter, the player assumes the role of a combat helicopter pilot. The player attempts to save hostages being held in prisoner of war camps in territory ruled by the evil Bungeling Empire. The player must collect the hostages and transport them safely to the nearby friendly base, all the while fighting off hostile tanks and other enemy combatants. According to the backstory, the helicopter parts were smuggled into the country described as "mail sorting equipment."

Although the Iran hostage crisis ended the year before the game was released, Gorlin has stated "the tie-in with current events was something that never really crossed my mind until we published."

The helicopter (named "Hawk-Z" in the Master System version manual) can face three directions: left, right, or forward (facing the player). It may shoot at enemies in any of these directions and need not fly in the same direction it is facing. The forward-facing mode is used primarily to shoot tanks. Care must also be taken to both protect the hostages from enemy fire and not accidentally shoot them oneself.