Dan Gorlin‘s classic 2D action game, Choplifter, originated on the Apple II in 1982, courtesy of Brøderbund.

At the time Choplifter was something of a revelation (like many of Gorlin‘s early games). It’s a side-scrolling helicopter rescue game with smooth controls, good inertia on the chopper movement, and challenging gameplay. The aim being: to fly right to left, avoiding tanks on the ground, jets and UFOs in the air, and picking up stranded comrades on ground. Once picked-up, you then have to fly them back to base.

Sega released an enhanced arcade remake in 1985, making Choplifter one of the first video games (if not the first), to make it from home computers into arcades. A series of enhanced conversions were also made by Brøderbund in the mid Eighties.

More: Choplifter on Wikipedia