Play Cobra Command Online

Cobra Command came out on the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1988, a Data East release that fit right in with the era's straightforward action games. It was a port of an arcade game, and it had that kind of immediate, no-frills appeal. You weren't getting a deep story; you were getting a helicopter and a job to do.

You pilot a helicopter gunship through six side-scrolling stages, each a gauntlet of enemy vehicles and installations. Your primary goal is to rescue hostages, but survival means constantly destroying everything that moves. You collect power-ups to upgrade your main cannon and gain secondary weapons, like homing missiles or wide-spread bombs, which are essential for dealing with the screen-filling enemy assaults. The pacing is relentless, and the difficulty is steep, demanding precise movement and quick weapon selection. It feels like a constant, tense battle against overwhelming odds, where a single mistake can end your run abruptly.