Super Cobra (?-??-83)

 

This is an early prototype for Super Cobra that was developed internally at Parker Brothers by Mike Brodie.  Although the graphics are mostly complete (albeit a bit different), there is no collision detection and the player cannot fire or drop bombs.  This prototype is basically a movement demo which shows all the levels of the game, except for the final area.  Interestingly, although this demo looks very similar to the released version the two do not share any code.  It appears that this demo version was scrapped when development shifted over to Roklan from Parker Brothers after the programmer left.

 

Differences
The game has no start up screen and starts automatically
There is no collision detection
There is no sound or music
The player cannot fire or drop bombs
The terrain layout is different
The second to last area loops infinitely.  It appears that the final area has not yet been programmed.
As you cannot die, there is no continue screen
Rockets do not launch
The guns do not fire
Once the fuel gauge depletes all the way it will automatically refill
Each time the fuel gauge depletes the player loses a reserve life.  Once the last reserve life is gone, the life counter will roll back over to three reserve lives
Guns and missiles occasionally appear inside walls.  This seems to happen more when the player is flying inside of walls
The score has a different font
The top information display area is smaller
The information display has different colors
The terrain color is purple instead of red
The helicopter looks different and has animated blades
The helicopter is red instead of green
The missile, fuel tank, and gun graphics are all different
The mine enemy is missing
The fuel gauge at the bottom of the screen is larger
The color of the bottom information display area is different

 

Close to the final, yet different

The level layouts are a bit different

No collision detection whatsoever

Since you can't fire, there's not much to do

 

 

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