Super Cobra

Parker Bros. released four arcade translations (outside of the United States only) for the Philips G7000. All are rather scarce, and Super Cobra is one of the least commonly found. Luckily, it's on the Odyssey² Multicart, so we American players can finally play it.

If you've ever played the arcade game or another home version, you know that Super Cobra is a side-scrolling shooter similar to Scramble, where you control a helicopter that can shoot straight ahead or drop bombs on ground targets. The G7000 version is fairly recognizable, with decent graphics and sound, but plays rather differently. Apparently the developers weren't able to coax the G7000 to replicate the coin-op's continual scrolling -- which is not surprising, considering that no other G7000 or Odyssey² games have true scrolling either. So, Super Cobra is divided into single-screen levels, each with a fixed landscape and number of targets. Your helicopter starts at the left side and moves, of its own accord, toward the right. Your object is to pilot your way around the terrain and past the enemy until you reach the right side of the screen. Then, the action pauses while a new level scrolls into view. The developers went to heroic efforts to capture the arcade game's feel. Later levels even recreate the "fireball" waves from the coin-op. After ten screens, you reach the arcade's famous "booty" level, where you can pick up a large dollar sign for bonus points.

Because the levels are limited, the developers apparently decided to limit your offensive capabilities as well. Unlike the arcade game, where your supply of bombs is infinite, in the G7000 version you are only granted a limited supply of bombs for each screen. The exact number of bombs you receive varies from level to level, and you must decide where to use them for best results. This effectively turns Super Cobra into an action/puzzle hybrid game, and a pretty challenging one at that. Ironically, in today's age when an arcade-perfect game of Super Cobra is only an emulator away, this gives the G7000 version new life. It's similar to its coin-operated namesake, but it's really a unique game that is worth playing for its own sake. This game is a fine example of the high-quality software that Parker Bros. used to publish.

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