Fortunately, there are video clips of Choplifter III to make up for the loss. Check one of them out here:

It’s a little more complicated than the original Choplifter but is essentially the same in terms of gameplay and mechanics.

Post from: EveryJoe

What? Choplifter III? Where?

For those who are totally unfamiliar with what seems like a Rorschach inkblot test, it is a screenshot from Choplifter, a 1982 Apple II game developed by Dan Gorlin and published by Broderbund. Yes, this image triggered a memory, of playing Choplifter almost 16 hours a day on my old Apple IIc back in the early 80s, and enjoying every minute of it.

In my mind, it belongs up there with other classics like Karateka, Lode Runner, Taipan, and Hard Hat Mack.

Here’s a short overview of Choplifter’s gameplay:

In Choplifter, the player takes on the role of a combat helicopter pilot (yes, that blob of green in the middle of the image above is actually a helicopter). The player attempts to save hostages being held as prisoners of war in territories ruled by the evil Bungeling Empire. The player must collect these hostages and transport them to his base. Of course, the player needs to do these while battling tanks and other enemies.

Not as exciting as today’s collection of air rescue sims, I know, but in the 80s it was the best. It’s really not because of the graphics, but the challenge … now, that was something. Going into enemy territory, busting out the hostages and transporting them to safety aren’t easy, I tell you. Well, actually, that’s the easy part. Getting your chopper to move the way you want to, that’s the real challenge.

Haha! Sorry, sorry. Just a little snippet of memory triggered by Choplifter again. What’s it about? Well, it’s about a ten-year-old boy trying his darned best to keep a virtual helicopter aloft using a two-pound joystick while dodging rockets and machine gun fire.

Sigh. There must be an online version of the game somewhere. Methinks it’s time to look for one. Meantime, why don’t you guys take a gander at Choplifter in all its Apple II glory in this video:

Post from: EveryJoe

Choplifter: Hey, hostages, need a lift?

What? You’ve never heard of Lode Runner? Well, that’s kinda impossible, but for those who aren’t kidding when they say that they’ve never even seen stick man running around brick platforms, climbing stairs and collecting mounds of what seems to be gold dust, here’s a little backgrounder for you:

Lode Runner is a 1983 platform game, first published by Broderbund. It’s one of the first games to include a level editor, a feature that allows players to create their own levels for the game. This feature bolstered the game’s popularity, as magazines such as Computer Gaming World held contests to see who could build the best level.

The prototype of what later became Lode Runner was a game developed by Douglas Smith of Renton, Washington, who at the time was an architecture student at the University of Washington. This prototype, called (ironically!) Kong, was written for a Prime Computer 550 minicomputer limited to one building on the UW campus. Shortly thereafter, Kong was ported to VAX minicomputers, as there were more terminals available on campus. The game was programmed in Fortran and used ASCII character graphics. When Kong was ported to the VAX, some Pascal sections were mixed into the original Fortran code.

In a weekend (around September 1982), Smith was able to build a crude, playable version in 6502 assembly language on an Apple II+ and renamed the game Miner. Through the end of the year, Smith refined that version, which was black-and-white with no joystick support. He submitted a rough version to Broderbund around 1982 and received a one-line rejection letter in response to the effect of “Sorry, your game doesn’t fit into our product line; please feel free to submit future products.”

Smith then borrowed money to purchase a color monitor and joystick and continued to improve the game. Around Christmas of 1982, he submitted the game, now renamed Lode Runner, to four publishers and quickly received offers from all four: Sierra, Sirius, Synergistic, and Broderbund.

And the rest, as they say, is history. I still play Lode Runner, although I must admit that I’m not as good as I used to be, especially when I had been playing the game on my old Apple IIc.

The gameplay is simple. The player controls a, sigh, stick figure who must collect all the gold in a level while avoiding robots (oh, those stick figures going after the good stick figure were robots?). After collecting all the gold, the player must travel to the top of the screen to reach the next level. There are 150 levels in the game which progressively challenge the players’ problem-solving skills and reaction times.

At this point, let me just shut up and make you watch a video of the game:

Post from: EveryJoe

Lode Runner belongs up there with Mario, Sonic and Donkey Kong

I mentioned that Karateka had all the elements of a good video game, including humor. Well, if you consider the hero getting creamed by the supposedly helpless princess funny, that is.

In my search for a video clip of this little bit, where the hero approaches Princess Mariko in a fighting stance and gets a good kick in the face, I’ve found a different video. But it’s close … very close. And it’s a bit funny, too. Take a look:

Post from: EveryJoe

Karateka: The dude gets his revenge

Little did Mechner know, back when he designed the game while attending Yale University, that Karateka would capture the hearts, minds, and imagination of an entire generation of video game players. I should know, I am one of them.

For those who have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, here’s a brief backgrounder:

The game begins with an impressive animation of the fortress of the evil Akuma, the antagonist in Karateka. Akuma is holding the lovely Princess Mariko. The player must defeat the guards of the castle and eventually face Akuma himself in order to rescue the princess.

Combat consists of side views of two combatants at a time, just like a platform game. The hero and his foe fight it out, trading punches and kicks. Both the hero and his enemy can throw three different punches and kicks, each at a different height—high, which hits the head, mid, which delivers blows to the body, and low, which targets the legs. In the original Apple II version, the height of the blows are controlled with either the joystick, where the type of blow, punch or kick is specified with one of the two joystick buttons, or the keyboard, where each height of punch or kick has its own key.

The player only has one life, but in lieu of lives, the player has health points. Receiving blows from the enemy lowers these points, but they can be recovered by resting (not attacking or being struck). The enemy’s health points are also visible to the player. When all health points are exhausted, the hero or foe is defeated (it is never made clear whether the vanquished adversary is killed or merely knocked unconscious).

Typical of games from this era, and because the game was so short, Karateka did not have a save game feature.

Karateka also contains an element of humor. At the successful conclusion of the game, when the hero finally vanquishes Akuma, he is reunited with Mariko as he frees her from her prison cell. Before approaching Mariko, the hero must drop his fighting stance and run into her arms. If you fail to do this and continue approaching Mariko in fighting stance (which I did the first time I finished the game), she’ll beat the crap out of the hero with one kick. This little feature, however, doesn’t manifest in the Nintendo Entertainment System version of the game.

What makes Karateka really immersive is the use of character gestures and musical cues to evoke tension. Watch this video from the NES version of the game to find out what I mean:

Post from: EveryJoe

Karateka: The epitome of a good video game

First off, it’s important to remind you, dear readers, who Carmen San Diego is. This is especially important for those who haven’t even come across the fiendish Carmen in their video gaming lives (poor you).

Well, Carmen San Diego isn’t an actual person. The name actually refers to a media franchise of edutainment (there’s that word again) computer games, television programs, books and other media featuring a thieving villainess of the same name. Here’s a more thorough description from Wikipedia:

The basic premise of the franchise has the player getting into the role of an agent for the ACME Detective Agency, which attempts to thwart and capture V.I.L.E. ringleader and former ACME agent Carmen San Diego. The series initially focused on teaching geography and history, though it later branched out into mathematics, English and other subjects.

Originally distributed in the United States and Canada, most of the computer games are now available to international audiences. With the exception of Carmen San Diego: Junior Detective Edition, all the games in the series are aimed at preteens although the geography and history games are often difficult enough for adults since much of the trivia learned is not widely known. Many entries in the series contain elements of various genres, including mystery, comedy, science fiction, spy-fi and fantasy.

You gotta love this game. I know, I know … edutainment software usually sucks, but Carmen San Diego is a break from the mold. Before reviving my addiction for this game, the last time I played it was, hmmm, almost two decades ago. Yes, the game, or rather the franchise, is that old.

The first of the series, Where in the World is Carmen San Diego, was released way back in 1985 for the Apple II computer. Hooray for Apple II users like me! The game was later ported to other systems, thanks to the efforts of developer Brøderbund.

Here’s a list for Carmen San Diego fanatics who wish to look up one of their childhood’s fondest games:

More Carmen San Diego in a later post.

Post from: EveryJoe

Where in the World is Carmen San Diego? Apparently, everywhere

Playing Ancient Art of War, a battlefield simulator developed by Evryware and published by (gasp!) Broderbund in 1984, again gave me a refreshing break from the weekly wars I wage in the arenas of my current genre—MMORPGs. Come to think of it, this granddaddy of real-time strategy games has also lent me new insights on battlefield strategy that most (game) strategists call Rock-Paper-Scissors Unit Balance, with one unit trumping another.

In the case of Ancient Art of War, it’s much simpler than today’s generation of units, which number in the dozens and include tanks, jets, submarines and what-have-yous. It’s so simple that you only have three unit types: Archers, Barbarians and Knights. Following our Rock-Paper-Scissors analogy for this game, barbarians can trample over archers, knights can easily slay barbarians, and archers can put holes in knights faster than you can say pincushion.

At the start of Ancient Art of War, you can select from a list of campaigns to play. I recommend starting off with these campaigns if you’re new to this old game. The campaigns include skirmishes and capture the flag-type missions. From there, you’ll see other options like training, supply lines and food allocation.

Of course, what’s a good strategy without good AI (artificial intelligence). The difficulty level for the AI is depicted through historical (military) figures, from Geronimo to Napoleon, from Genghis Khan to Sun Tzu. Obviously, Sun Tzu stands for the most difficult AI level considering he revolutionized the way generals think with his teachings.

Unlike today’s crop of strategy games (both real-time and turn-based), however, Ancient Art of War is devoid of economic management, except maybe for food provision and supply line. Mining, gathering of resources, and construction are non-existent in this game.

Let me warn you also, especially if you want to play the game, that the graphics and the sound are not spectacular. In fact, they suck. But they were quite, uhmm, advanced in the 80s. So don’t expect something like Starcraft or Command and Conquer graphics and sound to come leaping out of your monitor and subwoofer.

For a more detailed review of the game (and, shhh, a download link to the real deal), click this link. Sorry for making you leave, but I have to get back to the game and throttle Sun Tzu’s ancient butt again.

Post from: EveryJoe

Ancient Art of War: Sun Tzu has met his match