Super Cobra

Super Cobra
Developer: Konami Publishers: Konami (JP), Stern Electronics (INT), Sega (??) Platform: Arcade (Galaxian hardware) Released in JP: March 1981 Released in US: June 22, 1981 Released in EU: 1981 This game has regional differences. This game has revisional differences.

Super Cobra takes the gameplay from Scramble and adds a longer game map, new enemies, a continue feature (one of the first known games with the feature, if not the first), and more music.

Extra Life Value

Like in The End, RAM 8017 (which would have been used to store the extra life score threshold) is always set to 10 on boot, but was probably planned to be set by a dip switch at one point. The difference is that in this game this RAM address is only referenced when the game has to draw the "BONUS CHOPPER FOR XX000 PTS" text on the "PUSH START BUTTON" screen.

Changing the value at 8017 will update that text, but not the extra life threshold - it's hard set at 10,000 points.

(Source: Original TCRF research)

Version Differences

There are three distinct sets in MAME's ROM set: supercobra (Konami's set), supercobrase (Sega's set), and supercobras (Stern's set).

• supercobra is the Konami original and is the earliest set.
• supercobrase is Sega's set. Code-wise it is very similar to Konami's set, but it has the layout and music changes from Stern's set.
• supercobras is Stern's set. It has more code and difficulty changes than Sega's set.

Gameplay Differences

• In Konami and Sega's versions, the player starts with either 3 or 4 lives, depending on the dip switch value. This was changed to 3 or 5 lives in Stern's game.
• In Konami and Sega's sets, if the "Allow Continue" dip switch is set, the player can continue up to 4 times before getting a Game Over. In Stern's set, this was increased to 255(!) times, which should last until the player runs out of money, patience, or time.

Layout Changes

Original
Modified

• Area 2 was extended by two screens in the international versions.

Original
Modified

• The middle of Area 4 is two-and-a-quarter screens longer in Sega and Stern's sets.

Original
Modified

• The last slope of Area 6 is cut off in the Konami set. This was fixed in the international versions, extending the area by less than a quarter of a screen.

Original
Modified

• The middle section of Area 8 is about two-and-a-quarter screens longer in the Sega and Stern versions.

Original
Modified

• Area 9 is barely two-and-a-half screens long in the Konami version, making it the shortest area in the game. The international sets greatly expand this area by adding a long city section reminiscent of Area 4 in Scramble.

Konami	Sega	Stern

• The first tall building in the Base is labelled differently in each version. Sega's building is one block thinner, making the area a little bit easier.
• The "KONAMI" building later on is the same in all versions.

Music

Original	Modified

• In the Sega and Stern versions, the intro tune was extended by adding the intro from Scramble to the end of the track.

Original	Modified

• The main part of the ending tune loops three times in the Konami set, but only once in the international versions.

(Source: Original TCRF research)