Tiger-Heli

is a vertically scrolling shooter game developed by Toaplan and released for arcades in 1985. It was published in Japan by Taito and in North America by Romstar. Controlling the titular attack helicopter, the player must fight endless waves of military vehicles while avoiding collision with their projectiles and other obstacles. The Tiger-Heli has a powerful bomb at its disposal that can clear the screen of enemies when fired. It was the first shoot 'em up game from Toaplan, and their third video game overall.

''Tiger-Heli'' was the creation of video game composers Masahiro Yuge and Tatsuya Uemura, who had previously worked on several titles for Japanese companies Orca and Crux before both of them declared bankruptcy. The development team drew inspiration from the arcade game '' Gyrodine''. The team wanted to create a scrolling shooter that balanced between being entertaining and fun, and to have players keep wanting to play it after dying. The staff chose a helicopter as the player's craft as they felt it would work for a game that had the screen continuously scrolling. The soundtrack, composed by Uemura, was made to convey a sense of bravery, which was hampered by technical limitations.

''Tiger-Heli'' was well received by critics for its gameplay, graphics and weapons, and helped establish Toaplan as a leading producer of shooting games throughout the 1980s and 1990s. It was ported to the Nintendo Entertainment System by Micronics, selling over one million copies. A PlayStation version was released in 1996 by Banpresto as part of the compilation ''Toaplan Shooting Battle 1''. It was followed by two sequels: ''Twin Cobra'' (1987), and '' Twin Cobra II'' (1995). The rights to ''Tiger-Heli'' are owned by Tatsujin, a Japanese developer formed by Yuge. In 2021, the game was released in Japan for the PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch as part of the ''Toaplan Arcade Garage'' compilation with an English release in Spring 2024 and a physical release by Limited Run Games.

Gameplay

''Tiger-Heli'' is a military-themed vertically scrolling shoot 'em up game, in which players take control of the titular attack helicopter through four increasingly difficult levels in order to defeat an assortment of military enemy forces like tanks, battleships, and artillery as the main objective.''Tiger-Heli'' instruction manual (Arcade, US)''Tiger-Heli'' Game Pak Instructions (Nintendo Entertainment System, US) Besides some airplanes taking off, there are no flying enemies in the entire game. As far as vertical scrolling shooters go, the title initially appears to be very standard, as players control their craft over a constantly scrolling background and the scenery never stops moving until a helipad is reached. Players have only two weapons at their disposal: the standard shot that travels a max distance of half the screen's height and two bombs.

A unique gameplay feature is the bomb mechanic; unlike other games in the genre released at the time, the bombs are powerful weapons capable of obliterating any enemy caught within its blast radius. The bombs also act as a shield against incoming enemy fire, however, as they can be triggered after taking enemy hits as well. There are also three types of items scattered through every stage in total that appear as destructible flashing crosses: extra bomb stocks and two variations of helicopter "options" that attack at the player's will against incoming enemies, while is also possible to mix and match the two helicopter option types, totaling no more than two. These items can be picked up by shooting their respective cross color but grabbing any item when not necessary yields bonus points.

Players are given three lives initially and bonus lives are awarded by reaching certain score thresholds or collecting ten gold diamonds in a row by shooting them. Firing on determined locations is also crucial for reaching high-scores to obtain extra lives, as certain setpieces in some stages hosts a bonus secret within their scenery. There are also hidden bonus secrets to be found as well. The game employs a checkpoint system in which a downed single player will start off at the beginning of the checkpoint they managed to reach before dying. Getting hit by enemy fire will result in losing a life, as well as the helicopter options and once all lives are lost, the game is over unless the player inserts more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing. After completing the last stage, the game begins again with the second loop increasing in difficulty and enemies fire denser bullet patterns.

Development

''Tiger-Heli'' was created under the working title ''Cobra'' by most of the same team that previously worked on several projects at Orca and Crux before both companies declared bankruptcy, after which a group of employees from the two gaming divisions would go on to form Toaplan and among them were composers Masahiro Yuge and Tatsuya Uemura, both of which recounted the project's development process and history between 1989 and 2012 through various Japanese publications.
Translation
by Shmuplations. ).
Translation
by Shmuplations. ).
Translation
by Gamengai. ). The team wanted to create a game that balanced frustrating and entertaining sections, as well as inciting audiences to keep playing after losing a live and progress further, though the idea of playing as a helicopter was influenced by ''Gyrodine'' because the team felt it could work as a shoot 'em up title where the screen kept scrolling.
Translation
by Shmuplations. ).
Translation
by Shmuplations. ).

When creating the artwork for ''Tiger-Heli'', which has been described as "polygonal" in recent interviews, Toaplan was realizing research for a possible flight simulator they could develop themselves and one of the project's designers implemented a sample image from the simulator into the game. The concept of using a bomb in a shoot 'em up game came up during development, where the team questioned how to make the title more engaging for players but it was never intended for defensive purposes according to them, as the mechanic was instead implemented to provide an aggressive feeling against enemies during difficult situations in the title.
Translation
by Shmuplations. ). Several other features were integrated into the project as a way to keep audiences playing such as the continuous stage scrolling during the high score screen, which was akin to a drama. According to Uemura, development was financed with the team's own funds, as Taito solely focused on distribution and Toaplan's name could not be displayed in the game due to contractual arrangements.
Translation
by Shmuplations. ).

The soundtrack was composed by Uemura, who also created the sound effects.
Translation
by Shmuplations. ). When writing the music during development, Uemura intended the songs to convey a sense of bravery but he was limited due to technical and memory restrictions at the time of release.

Release

''Tiger-Heli'' was released in arcades across Japan and North America in October 1985 by Taito and Romstar. An album containing music from the title and its sequel was co-published exclusively in Japan by Scitron and Pony Inc. in November 1988.

On 5 December 1986, a Nintendo Entertainment System port of ''Tiger-Heli'' developed by Micronics was first released in Japan by Pony Inc. In North America, it was initially planned to be published as ''Helifighter'' by Nintendo in 1986 as part of their "Action Series." Instead, it was distributed in September 1987 by Acclaim Entertainment, who also distributed the title across Europe in January 1990. This version was also released in South Korea by Hyundai Electronics in 1987. Both the original arcade version and the later NES port are similar but have a number of key differences between each other such as the latter having a smaller color palette and lower screen resolution that led to sprites being recolored and the graphics redrawn in different ways, an arranged soundtrack by Masahiro Yuge, among other changes.

On 30 August 1996, Banpresto released a compilation for the PlayStation exclusively in Japan titled ''Toaplan Shooting Battle 1'', which included both arcade versions of ''Tiger-Heli'' and its sequel, an arranged soundtrack by Uemura and other additions. In 2021, both the arcade and Nintendo Entertainment System versions were included in the ''Kyukyoku Tiger-Heli'' compilation for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as part of M2's ''Toaplan Arcade Garage'' label. ''Tiger-Heli'' was included as part of the ''Toaplan Arcade 1'' compilation for Evercade.

Reception and legacy

According to Masahiro Yuge, ''Tiger-Heli'' proved to be popular in arcades during initial beta location testings. In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed it on their October 1, 1985 issue as being the most popular table arcade game at the time, outperforming titles such as '' Ghosts 'n Goblins'' and ''Gradius''.

''Den of Geek'' noted it to be the title from Toaplan which established their gameplay style that would later be refined in the future with other titles, as well as its introduction of a bomb mechanism. ''Computer Gaming World'' called ''Tiger-Heli'' for the NES an excellent port, and concluded that it was "one of the most exciting arcade shoot-'em-ups to turn up". Fan reception of the NES conversion in Japan, however, was mixed; in a poll taken by ''Family Computer Magazine'', it received a score of 15.55 out of 30. The NES version sold over one million copies, making it one of the best-selling games for the platform.

''Tiger-Heli'' had two sequels, ''Twin Cobra'' and ''Twin Cobra II''. In addition, the titular craft makes an appearance on the '' Let's! TV Play Classic'' plug and play game series by SSD Company Limited in '' Slap Fight Tiger'' as an alternative craft to the default Leopard space fighter. A game of a similar style titled ''Tiger Mission'' was developed in 1987 by Kele Line and published by Status Software across Europe only for the Commodore 64. In more recent years, the rights to the game and many other IPs from Toaplan are now owned by Tatsujin, a company named after '' Truxton''s Japanese title that was founded in 2017 by Yuge, and is part of Embracer Group since 2022.

Notes

References

External links

''Tiger-Heli''
at Killer List of Videogames

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tiger-Heli
1985 video games
Acclaim Entertainment games
Arcade video games
Atari games
Atari 7800 games
Banpresto games
Helicopter video games
Micronics games
Multiplayer and single-player video games
Nintendo Entertainment System games
PlayStation (console) games
Romstar games
Shoot 'em ups
Taito arcade games
Taito games
Toaplan games
Vertically scrolling shooters
Video game franchises introduced in 1985
Video game franchises
Video games developed in Japan
Video games scored by Masahiro Yuge
Video games scored by Tatsuya Uemura