Mr Heli

Mr. Heli (originally titled Mr. HELI no Daibōken in Japan, known as Battle Chopper in North America) is a multidirectional scrolling shoot 'em up developed by Irem . The game takes place in the year 2999, where the villainous Mr. Muddy threatens the planet . You control a large, fully-armed combat helicopter flying through four side-view levels that scroll primarily left to right, each ending with a boss . As well as enemies, levels contain many blocks that serve as the weapon upgrade system: most drop crystals that add to your credit total, while others reveal weapon pictures with prices – touch them while carrying enough credits to purchase the upgrade . When your energy bar is depleted, you lose a life and all accumulated credits . The arcade original was released in December 1987 .

Amiga

Released in 1989 by Firebird Software, developed by Probe Software . Programming by Jim Baguley, graphics by Alan Tomkins, music by Kevin Collier . Runs on OCS hardware on a single floppy disk . Critical reception was mediocre – Amiga Format awarded 52%, The Games Machine gave 64%, Zzap! scored 60%, and Amiga Action rated 56% . While the colourful graphics were noted, reviewers criticised the choppy scrolling, simplistic gameplay, and high retail price of £24.99 . The Amiga version was part of a multi-format porting effort that also included Commodore 64, Amstrad CPC, ZX Spectrum, and Atari ST versions . A competent but unspectacular conversion of the arcade original.