Super Cobra

Name:	Super Cobra
Company:	Parker Brothers
Model #:	9550
Programmer:	Ed Schneider (Roklan)
Year:	1983
Released?	Yes
Notes:	Port of the 1981 Konami coin-op

Sequel to the 1981 arcade game Scramble (which only appeared officially on the Vectrex, Tomy Tutor, and some Japanese computers), Super Cobra is a side scrolling helicopter game in which you must fly over a (and I quote) “A 10,000 mile obstacle course through ever-changing terrain”.  Of course each area is just filled with deadly missiles, guns, and mines to grab a big bag of booty (yes they actually call it booty).  I don’t know what kind of drugs the good folks at Parker Brothers were on, but 10,000 miles is almost half the distance around the world.  That’s one heck of a long obstacle course.  Also, who just keeps a giant bag of booty laying around for any ol’ helicopter to swoop down and grab?  Super Cobra is a game that asks more questions than it answers.

Because it was ported to just about every system on god's green earth (even the Odyssey^2!), you'd think that Parker Brothers would have gotten it right at least once.  But then again this is Parker Brothers we're talking about.  Sadly Super Cobra sucks on just about every system it was ported to, and the 5200 was no exception.  This is sad because the arcade game was actually very good, too bad the lousy home versions soiled its reputation.

The main problem with Super Cobra is the controls.  The 5200 stick isn't all that great to begin with, but why on earth would anyone attempt to port a game that requires pinpoint precision to a console like the 5200?  Good luck trying to get through those tight twisty caverns in one piece.  It's a constant struggle between you and the joystick...

While the graphics and sounds are adequate and get the job done, but they could have been alot better.  Many of the graphics are very blocky and the color scheme is questionable.  It seems that minimal effort was put into porting this game.

If you're able to tolerate all its shortcomings, Super Cobra can be a fun game (in the same way that Russian Roulette can be a fun game).  It's a shame that Parker Brothers never took advantage of the 5200's power, as it was fully capable of a near arcade perfect version of the game.  Shoddy third-party efforts like this are one of the reasons the 5200 never gained the popularity it deserved.

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