Choplifter (stylized as Choplifter!) is military themed scrolling shooter developed by Dan Gorlin for the Apple II and published by Broderbund in 1982. It was ported to the Atari 8-bit family the same year and also to the VIC-20, Commodore 64, Atari 5200 (released in February 1984), ColecoVision, MSX, and Thomson computers. In 1985, Sega released a coin-operated arcade remake, which in turn was ported to the Master System and Famicom in 1986. Choplifter is one of the few games that first appeared on a home system and was ported to the arcades. Graphically enhanced versions for the Atari 8-bit family and Atari 7800 were also published in 1988 by Atari Corporation. Gameplay In Choplifter, the player assumes the role of a combat helicopter pilot. The player attempts to save hostages being held in barracks in territory ruled by the evil Bungeling Empire. The player must collect the hostages (described in the backstory as "delegates to the United Nations Conference on Peace and Child Rearing") and transport them safely to the nearby U.S. Postal Service building, all the while fighting off hostile tanks and other enemy combatants. According to the backstory, the helicopter parts were smuggled into the country, disguised as a "mail-sorting machine". The helicopter 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. The player must be careful to protect the hostages from enemy fire as well as avoid hitting the hostages with his own fire. The player rescues the prisoners by first shooting one of the hostage buildings to release them, landing to allow the prisoners to board the sortie, and returning them to the player's starting point. Each of the four buildings holds 16 hostages, and only 16 passengers can be carried at a time, so several trips must be made. When the chopper is full, no more hostages will attempt to board; they will wave the helicopter off and wait for its return. Usually, each trip back is riskier than the last, since the enemy is alerted and has deployed a counter-attack. If the player lands directly on top of a hostage, or completely blocks the building exit, the hostages will be killed. In the Apple II and Atari 7800 versions, hostages also