Dropzone

Dropzone
Cover of the NES port released in 1992
Developer(s)	Arena Graphics
Publisher(s)	U.S. Gold Mindscape
Designer(s)	Archer MacLean
Platform(s)	Atari 8-bit (original) C64, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, Game Boy Color, NES
Release	1984
Genre(s)	Scrolling shooter
Mode(s)	Single-player

Dropzone is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Archer Maclean (under the name Arena Graphics) and published in 1984 by U.S. Gold. It was released for the Atari 8-bit family and Commodore 64, then later ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Game Gear and Game Boy Color. It was Maclean's first commercial game.

Dropzone is similar in style to the arcade game Defender and borrows many elements, including the same font style, alien depictions, and title screen depictions.

On the surface of Jupiter's moon, Io, a human scientific research base is under attack by aliens. The player dons a jetpack armed with a laser, a cloaking device and three smart bombs, to rescue the scientists and return them to the base.

The gameplay is much in the style of Defender, as well as Stargate, Scramble and even Robotron: 2084. Players control the hero trying to rescue the scientists on a horizontally side-scrolling game field. Players must elude or engage various aliens—some slow, others faster—and return the scientists to the base's eponymous dropzone. The aliens capture scientists walking along the ground. The player must shoot the enemy aliens and catch the falling scientists. Sometimes the aliens will carry lethal androids instead, which must be avoided.