SNK's 1988 vertically-scrolling arcade shoot 'em up Chopper 1 (known in Japan as Air Cavalry Story) will be released tomorrow (August 21st) across Nintendo Switch, PS4, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, as part of Hamster's Arcade Archives series of classic arcade reissues.
Launching a couple years prior to the launch of the Neo Geo arcade platform, it's probably safe to say that the original arcade version of Chopper 1 hasn't gone on to be as well loved or as well remembered as many of the classic titles the company would later go on to work on throughout the '90s. Nevertheless, we imagine it will still be of interest for shoot 'em up fans to check out, to see how it stacks up to similar attack-helicopter-themed game of the era, especially Toaplan's Twin Cobra.
According to the description of the game provided, it puts players in control of a combat helicopter deep in enemy territory on a mission to restore peace in your homeland, with the idea being to attack enemy tanks, helicopters, and turrets to make it to the end of each stage. The game also seems to feature some voice effects, though these seemed to just be limited to the protagonist shouting "Alright, Let's Go" at the end of each cutscene.
In addition to its original arcade release, the game was also later published on PSP and PS3 as a downloadable game, as part of Digital Eclipse's SNK 40th Anniversary Collection along with bunch of other SNK titles, and as one of the titles offered through Antstream Arcade. Antstream, however, recently announced it would be removing the game from its service, along with the rest of its SNK catalogue, following the termination of its contract with SNK. This came into effect at the end of July.
You will be able to buy Chopper 1 for $7.99 on PS4, PS5, and Switch, with the Xbox Series X|S version being priced at $9.99.