Choplifter II (Game Boy)

Choplifter II is a military-themed side-scrolling search and rescue Game Boy game by Beam Software. Players are called to fly an “AH 90 Commanche” chopper over war zones, jungles, and through tight cave tunnels with the objective of rescuing hostages from an unnamed enemy.

The chopper is kitted out with bombs, missiles, and a flame thrower, as well as the ability to become temporarily invisible—likely a loose inspiration of the real (but flopped) Comanche stealth helicopters designed for the U.S military.

Choplifter II features five zones each with three levels and a set number of hostages to rescue. Bonus points are rewarded if more or all hostages are rescued. A score board proudly displays the top players’ achievements, or friends can compete against one another in 2-player mode. Interestingly, the multiplayer mode doesn’t utilise a game link cable to connect two Game Boys. It is rather organised around players taking turns by physically passing the Game Boy between one another after failing a turn, i.e. crashing their chopper (which can occur by simply failing to dodge the small birds).

Version Information

Choplifter II was a sequel to the 1982 game Choplifter (Dan Gorlin Broderbund Software Inc.) made for the home computers Apple II, Commodore 64 and others, as well as Sega arcade machines. Choplifter II was released only for the Game Boy. It would go on to be reskinned and colourised by British studio, Teeny Weeny Games and released on the Game Gear with some minor level changes. This remake of Choplifter II was released under the title Choplifter III in 1993 for both the Game Gear and Game Boy. It is understandably liable to be confused with Beam Software’s Choplifter III released on the SNES in 1994—though it shares a title with the Choplifter II remake, it is a wholly different game.