''Chopper Hunt'' is a side-view

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

written by Tom Hudson and published by

Imagic Imagic ( ) was an American video game developer and publisher that created games initially for the Atari 2600. Founded in 1981 by corporate alumni of Atari, Inc. and Mattel, its best-selling titles were ''Atlantis'', ''Cosmic Ark'', and ''Demo ...

in 1984 for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

and

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in the Guinness ...

. It was one of the last games from

before the company went out of business. The Atari 8-bit original was previously released by ANALOG Software as ''Buried Bucks'' in 1982. In both games, the player files a helicopter that uses bombs to unearth buried items.

Gameplay

Development

ANALOG Software, the game publishing label of Atari 8-bit magazine ''

ANALOG Computing ''ANALOG Computing'' (an acronym for Atari Newsletter And Lots Of Games) was an American computer magazine devoted to the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. It was published from 1981 until 1989. In addition to reviews and tutorials, ''ANAL ...

'', published ''Buried Bucks'' in 1982. The name is stylized as ''Buried Buck$''. Programmer Tom Hudson documented the expanding explosion effect used in the game as an article in ''ANALOG Computing'', including the assembly language source code. The same effect was used in another game for the magazine, ''Planetary Defense''. Hudson later told ''Atari Explorer'' that ''Buried Bucks'' was his first Atari 8-bit game and called it "pretty simplistic." The 1984 Imagic release changed the name to ''Chopper Hunt'' and made some alterations to the visuals. A Commodore 64 port was published simultaneously.

Reception

As part of a "Five Great Games for the Atari" article in 1983,

John J. Anderson John J. Anderson or J.J. Anderson (November 8, 1956 – October 17, 1989) was a writer and editor covering computers and technology. The New Jersey native was Executive Editor of '' Computer Shopper'' and ''Atari Explorer''. At the time of his ...

reviewed ''Buried Bucks'': "once in a while a package appears that takes a unique premise and develops it into a new game that bears little resemblance to anything that has come before." Later he commented, "The level of graphics and sound in the program is utterly professional." In a 1985 review in ''

Antic Alphanumeric Television Interface Controller (ANTIC) is an LSI ASIC dedicated to generating 2D computer graphics to be shown on a television screen or computer display. Under the direction of Jay Miner, the chip was designed in 1977-1978 by ...

'', Jack Powell wrote, "''Chopper Hunt'' would make a very nice public domain game," and "If you plunk down your hard-earned money for this outdated arcade game, you are helping to prove that

Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He wa ...

is right."

References

External links

''Chopper Hunt''
at Atari Mania
''Chopper Hunt''
at Gamebase 64 *{{internet archive game, a8b_Chopper_Hunt_1984_Imagic_US_k_file 1984 video games Atari 8-bit family games Commodore 64 games Helicopter video games Imagic games Shoot 'em ups Video games developed in the United States Single-player video games