Game:

Choplifter III (1993)

Duration: 35:52

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Here is the full playthrough of done live on IGTV. Due to space limitations on my Harddrive at the time, I wasn't able to store more than an hour of gameplay, so this is only the final 2 stages. It seems the PAL and NTSC versions switched round the order of some stages. I'm unsure if the final stages in this version are the same as the NTSC one?

Follow me on instagram @CabinSNES_fever to join me live or via my reviews and uploads to witness me take down all the games currently in my SNES collection, following on from having already beaten all 234 licenced UK releases for the NES. I only use original carts, no cheats & no Save States.

-Originally developed for 8-bit home computers, Choplifter was nice balance of arcade & strategy at a time when far too many 'air-battle' type games insisted on pushing realism, often at the expense of fun. Since its only console release came on Master System, it went completely unnoticed in the US. However undoubtedly a system highlight in the genre along with the excellent 'Air Rescue', fans elsewhere grew.

Trading Sega for Nintendo, the sequel saw release exclusively on Gameboy, again to much praise. Seeing as Choplifter 3 is the first to see release on a Nintendo home console, it's perhaps not surprising it slipped by relatively unnoticed, as highlighted in my live streams by the fact no one seemed to recognise the game (with the exception of @ajrobertson78 👏).

If you haven't played the game, I would certainly recommend it, especially if your already a fan of the '(Desert) Strike' games.

The premise of each level is to return a quota of hostages to safety within your life count. Hostages tend to placed in areas heavily guarded by enemy ground defences. Its futile to try a rescue without clearing the area first. Whilst your armed with infinite cannons, you can also aquire a diverse payload from supply drops, which offer very different offensive advantages, demanding strategy to your attack. Hostages behave infuriatingly suicidal, insisting on running directly beneath you during gunfights often resulting in friendly fire! You can cope with a few losses, but lose too many and your forced to restart the stage!

With no time limit or fuel limitations, a more careful approach is the best strategy especially as its recommended to save extra lives & special payloads for the many difficult Boss fights throughout.

For some unknown reason Ocean swapped around the stages from the US version, making Sector 4, 3 Sector 3, 2 and Sector 2, 4? I've not noticed any change in gameplay so perhaps they just thought the challenge was better balanced? I actually tend to agree.

A fun action/strategy experience with plenty to offer for an affordable price 👍

CHAPTERS
00:00 Level 4 Sector 3
13:21 Level 4 Sector 4
30:47 FINAL BOSS

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