Choplifter II
Game Boy
Developer: Beam Software Publisher: Victor Interactive Software
By: GammaBetaAlpha
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Table of Contents
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In Choplifter II, you operate a helicopter. In each level, you start at
the landing pad for your own building. You must go throughout the level,
shooting down enemy aircraft, tanks, and anti-air turrets, while rescuing
upwards of 20 hostages that have been taken as P.O.W.'s. To rescue a hostage,
you must find them walking around, then land on the ground (or in the case of
one sector, lower a rope from your helicopter). They will then go on your
helicopter. To finish a level, you must rescue and return a certain number of
hostages to your own landing pad, and only 10 hostages can fit on the helicopter
at a time.
Much of the difficulty from the game comes in navigating around and
shooting enemies. In later levels, foes shall become far more prolific in
numbers, and you must devote more attention to taking them down. Additionally,
there are also environmental hazards, which include narrow spaces that you must
fly through, raining clouds, and towers that shoot out thunder.
You can collect special weapons that have limited usage throughout the
levels.
Controls
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D-Pad - Fly
A - Shoot
B - Use secondary weapon
Select - Toggle between secondary weapons
Start - Pause
To change directions, first stop. Lightly tap the button in the
direction you want to go, and the choplifter will turn in that direction, first
facing front, then with the tap of the button again facing right.
To shoot at a lower angle, go flying, and press the Down button for a
second. This will also make the choplifter go down at an angle, so do not hold
the Down button for too long.
Special Weapons
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B - Lets you drop a few bombs straight down (or at a slight angle when moving)
M - Shoots out a missile straight forward, with a few uses per power-up
S - Makes your ship invincible for about ten seconds. Best used to ram enemies
without having to fear taking damage
I - Makes you invisible, and so enemies will not fire at you
F - Shoots out a bolt of fire. Expires after it is used to destroy a tree
R - Drops rope from the helicopter (from certain altitudes only) for hostages to
climb up
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Sector One
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Sector One is a mostly desert region, with the occasional palm tree in
place. A few random clouds drift back and forth - while the regular clouds will
not hurt your choplifter, if a cloud is drizzling, touching it will cause damage
to the craft. Birds will also litter the sky, and will damage you if the
choplifter runs into one.
Some of the enemy buildings will have anti-air turrets on top of them -
watch out for these guys, as they can shoot at a projectile. A couple of other
buildings will have an alarm system on the top - shoot it for extra points. If
you pick up any Bombs (the letter B on the ground), drop them on the tanks.
The best way to destroy the tanks is to stay high - that way, when a
tank shoots a bullet straight up, the bullet will not be able to go high enough
to hit your choplifter. If you lack bombs, move around so your choplifter is
facing the front as opposed to the left or right, so that you may drop several
bullets straight down onto the tank.
There are also some jeeps that will drive back and forth. They are
fairly similar to the tanks, except they are more mobile, so you have to wait
until they are out in the open before you can destroy one.
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Sector Two
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Sector Two takes place in a cavern-like environment. Instead of merely
going left and right, you also will have to descend up and down through large
caverns. This can especially be a problem given how narrow some of the entrances
are, so be _careful_ when trying to go down into the depths.
Jets will also show up for the first time in Sector Two. Do not try to
navigate your way underneath one, or else they may drop a bomb on you.
To hit turrets and tanks that are in awkward positions. Move your
helicopter so that if faces forward. Move to the direction the turret or tank is
in and fire some ammo to make it drop down at an angle.
Also watch out for the cave ceilings. Occasionally, there will be some
stalacites that will fall from the ceiling once you approach one. Hitting one
can cause considerable damage, so be weary.
In the last level, there is another element introduced: geysers. These
take place in some of the narrow tunnels, and the geysers go off on and on at
set times. Memorise just how quickly a geyser takes before it turns back on and
hightail your way post one when it is inactive.
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Sector Three
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Sector Three takes place in the ocean, amongst several naval ships.
Two main new types of enemies come into play here. The first are
submarines that will occasionally poke up from underneath the water, before
firing a missile straight up that shall explode shortly before it hits the top
of the screen.
The second are regular jet aircraft that will launch off the launching
pad from some ships. These guys can strafe you rather quickly with regular ammo
fire (not dropping bombs), so make sure to take them out quickly.
In the second and third level of sector three, you should note that
there are also some white obelisks around. Starting in level two, these spires
will shoot out bolts of lighting that go straight up into the sky before quickly
dispersing. Watch out whenever you need to cross over one of them: wait for the
obelisk to finish firing before crossing.
You should also be aware that there are a few spots where you cannot
land and actually pick up hostages thanks to a lack of a landing spot. When this
occurs, hover above the ground, toggle your items with the Select Button to R
(the rope), and press B. This will lower a rope from the helicopter that the
hostages can climb up on. If the rope does not appear, you may need to increase
your height slightly.
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Sector Four
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Sector Four is somewhat like Sector 2 - although it is in the jungle,
much of your flying around requires you to navigate your choplifter going down,
and at an angle. Given how crowded the enemies are together, the levels can also
start becoming a pain in the rear.
Also be conservative with accidentally killing any hostages. At least
the first level has only exactly the amount of hostages you need on-screen, so
if you kill a hostage by accident you will lose a life.
A new environmental hazard are the large numbers of trees and weeds that
lay around. There will also be a few growths around that need to be destroyed.
Eliminate all the tanks and turrets you see, as a few are holding an F Icon -
pick up the F letter and toggle to it to shoot out a firebolt, which will
destroy those trees.
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Sector Five
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Hitting the last sector, do not bother to try and stockpile up any of
your items - if you have to use them to get out of a tough spot, then do so. It
may also be a bit awkward to get used to the area, given its layout, so keep a
sharp eye out. It borrows many elements from previous stages, such as the
obelisks that shoot out electricity.
There will also be most every enemy from previous stages in here,
including rivalling helicopters and strafer jets.
Once again, make sure not to get any of your hostages killed. Each stage
has exactly the number of hostages you need to rescue, so it is vital you not
let one person be slain by yourself or by stray enemy fire.
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Contact Info
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[CONT]
Although I believe I have found everything there is to find in this
game, there is occasionally the possibility of some super secret level in an
obscure game that was never found because it was too obscure, or the like. If
you have anything that you feel needs to be includes, feel free to email me at
gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
If you have any other information to contribute or notice any errors,
again, shoot me a notice at gammabetaalphafaqs AT gmail DOT com
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