Activision’s CHOPPER COMMAND for Atari 2600 | DEFENDER in the DESERT!
Chopper Command is a horizontally scrolling shooter video game released by Activision for the Atari 2600 in June 1982. It was written by Bob Whitehead. The player flies a helicopter left and right over a scrolling, wraparound landscape, shooting down enemy airplanes to protect a convoy of trucks below.
In Chopper Command, the player controls a military helicopter in a desert scenario protecting a convoy of trucks. The goal is to destroy all enemy fighter jets and helicopters that attack the player’s helicopter and the friendly trucks traveling below, ending the current wave. The game ends when the player loses all of his or her lives or reaches 999,999 points. A radar, called a Long Range Scanner in the instruction manual, shows all enemies, including those not visible on the main screen, similar to Defender .
The player’s helicopter is destroyed if it collides with an enemy aircraft or a truck (which destroys the truck as well) or is shot by an enemy. Each enemy bullet splits in two, one going up and one going down. Using the “A” difficulty level results in a slower player shot.
Each enemy helicopter is 100 points and each enemy jet is 200 points. After each wave, bonus points are awarded for remaining trucks.
A player who achieved 10,000 points could send in a photo of the TV screen and receive a “Chopper Commandos” patch.
#atari #retrogaming #activision #genxgrownup
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@jamesnoble3502
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
I have a memory of going to Pathmark with my Christmas/or birthday money ($40 dollars! A king's ransome at the time) to buy this game circa 1983. I think my sister bought Freeway too.
@rameybutler-hm7nx
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Chopper command is awesome
@Channeloftheyars
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Hey Jon. Did you stop doing Friday plays? Or are you switching to a monthly thing?
@gunnarbiker
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Defender was my favorite Atari 2600 game followed by Popeye. Loved those!!
@Dvader0086
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Whoa! I think I watched this video and then the next morning I went to the local game store. Saw a copy of chopper command. Bought it. Also saw a keystone Kapers, and Space Shuttle. 🙂
@mariohofgesang5064
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
My first Atari Game and i make 999999 Points for a Activision Patch.
@davidgpeterson
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
God I loved this game. The radar at the bottom was so innovative for the time.
@katmacoconnor
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
👾💜
@MikeY-gr5by
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Great video. Top game this 👍
@jhn1533
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
I never realized how similar this game was to the Empire Strikes Back!
@audiodead7302
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Chopper Command was totally addictive. Seaquest was another very addictive game. It was so good, my mother became addicted and stopped doing the housework so she could play games all day.
@andy-piper
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
When you go left out of a group of enemies, their bombs disappear. So you can go back and forth, firing at the enemies when you're aiming right, quickly go left to erase their bombs and ended up with all of your trucks surviving.
@daniel_lucio
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Oh man, these sunsets are so nostalgic. When I was a kid, I really got lost in my imagination playing Atari games with this effect. RealSports Volleyball is one of them that I still enjoy playing today, watching the landscape behind players change as the day goes on. Planet Patrol is another game where the horizon changes over time.
@sterlingskins2204
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
I flipped the score in this game as a kid! The score goes up to a million then flips! Where's my patch?
@Arne-p5j
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
wow, that's the only game I've 9999'd in my life, I used the long lazer as the enemies goes faster and faster, kept going-left-fire-repeat. it took a while though.
@jacobmetz3267
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Great vid! 👍 Definitely a lot of similarities between this and Defender. But, I think a lot of games, kind of, piggyback off of others. All equally enjoyable. Since one of the questions was what makes them different, here's what I noticed. One: In Defender you had three smart bombs. The use of which would destroy ALL enemies on the screen. There's no variation for this in Chopper Command. Not sure how they could've done it anyway, but it is a considerable difference. The other main difference was what you were actually defending. Chopper Command was the trucks. They were just going in one direction and your job was to 'defend' them. In Defender it was individual humans that the aliens would beam up to their ship then turn them into mutants who would then attack you as well. A pretty BIG difference in the two games. AND, an added challenge, if you could get to the alien ship that captured the human, and destroy it, you could SAVE that human if you caught him as he was falling back to the ground before he splatted on the pavement. So, yeah, those two aspects didn't translate to Chopper Command. So, from a comparison point of view, I think Defender offers a bit more. That's NOT to say I didn't enjoy both games. OH!! And one other difference about Defender, if the aliens successfully capture and transform all of the humans, the city explodes and you face a hord of mutant attackers!! Almost forgot that part! So, there ya go. Both good games, but Defender offers more in 'game plot'. See ya next time!! 😉
@johnnythunders716
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
This was my favorite Atari game growing up
@jbponzi1
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Great game. Too bad, I lent my cartridge to a friend and his little brother lost it. Lesson learned. Never lent out any of my games afterwards. Many thought I was being greedy. Whatever. I lost a great game.
@andyauthor2007
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Pressure Cooker (2600).
@Frizzlefrail
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
I still have this game i remember buying it
@fjccommish
February 20, 2026 at 3:53 am
Chopper Command was nothing like Defender. Defender was in space with a space ship. Chopper command was on Earth with a chopper.
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