Raid on Bungeling Bay

Raid on Bungeling Bay is a helicopter shooter game created by Will Wright for the Commodore 64 and published by Broderbund in 1984.

The game was also ported to the NES and MSX (apparently, there was also a coin-op in Japan).

In this game, you can fly a war helicopter against the evil forces of the Bungeling Empire (also featured in another Broderbund helicopter game, Choplifter!). You will have to destroy ships, planes, tanks, artilleries, and other installations. You can move your vehicle in all directions, accelerating or decreasing speed until you stop. The movement and animations of the helicopter are very realistic.

Raid on Bungeling Bay was the first game developed by Will Wright, creator of SimCity and The Sims. Will discovered that designing the game levels with the editor, and building the structure, was much more enjoyable than destroying them. This is how SimCity started. You can also notice that the facilities in Bungeling Bay are pretty sophisticated. The buildings evolve and have a sort of artificial intelligence that they use against the helicopter. The evolution of the structures is very similar to the one we will see in Sim City.

So, a game that is fun but also historically very relevant. Try it!