WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL – Cobra Command
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Wolf Team
Released: 1992
And we finally get to our first Wolf Team game. Wolf Team was a very prolific developer on the Sega CD platform, perhaps more so than any other team.
But Cobra Command is not a Wolf Team original. This game started life as Thunder Storm – a 1984 laserdisc arcade game from Data East.
Cobra Command is basically a full-motion video shooting gallery that features game play elements from titles like Dragon’s Lair and Space Ace – occassionally an arrow will appear at the bottom of the screen, and the player has a limited amount of time to press the d-pad in that direction or risk a game-ending collision.
Likewise the targets presented to the player are part of the video, and thus need to be shot down before they’re scripted to shoot back. Players can shoot down enemy choppers, planes, cars, etc using either their standard machine gun or a supply of missiles. Levels take place over such diverse areas as New York City (complete with landmarks like the Statue of Liberty and WTC), the Grand Canyon, and Easter Island.
Cobra Command was one of the first games released for the Sega CD in North America. And while in hindsight it really represents an early warning of the full-motion video road the system was about to go down on our shores, I think that’s unfairly dismissing it. Cobra Command was one of a short list of classic Japanese arcade games (others included Time Gal, Road Avenger, and Revenge of the Ninja) that appeared in homes for the first time thanks to the Sega CD.
Fans of Double Dragon II might feel some faint recognition when they watch the video of this game: the helicopter in the garage at the beginning of that game is the helicopter flown by the player in Cobra Command. Yoshihisa Kishimoto directed both games, along with a string of other popular games like Renegade, Double Dragon, and Super Dodgeball.
If you’re interested in checking this classic out, it’s also available for the iPhone.
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