Data East retro laser disk game Cobra Command coming to iPhone
Classic animated game returns after 25 years (laser disk player not included)
Considering that Taito is attacking the iPhone with a fervour not seen since the silver age of the arcades, we were delighted to see that Data East was also setting its sights on the App Store with an adaptation of Magical Drop - the first in a series of promised iPhone conversions.
Australian developer Revolutionary Concepts just dropped us a line to say that it's almost ready with the second Data East adaptation (having teamed up with G-Mode), in the shape of Cobra Command - originally a laser disk conversion kit for animated arcade classics Dragon's Lair and Space Ace.
Cobra Command is quite different in its gameplay, however, putting you in the cockpit of a chopper and sending you down the streets of New York City, engaging enemy pilots over the pacific, destroying tanks on Easter Island, weaving through the Grand Canyon, and navigating the gun-lined corridors of the terrorists secret fortress by way of cartoon-style animation video clips.
The game's extensive video footage has been fully restored and converted to the H.264 format to run at an impressive 60 frames per second. The cockpit overlay has also been upgraded, with the addition of touch and accelerometer controls giving you more control than coin-op champions of 25 years hence ever had.
Cobra Command is currently going through its play-testing phase, and is expected to land on the App Store some time in October.
Top Trivia: The original Cobra Command video footage was directed by Double Dragon creator Yoshihisa Kishimoto, who then included the Cobra Command helicopter in the opening level of Double Dragon II.
