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Retro laser disk game Cobra Command video revealed for iPhone

Accelerometer-driven animated aviation action

Retro laser disk game Cobra Command video revealed for iPhone
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| Cobra Command

We've been wondering exactly how Revolutionary Concepts would manage to turn a 25-year-old laser disk coin-op into a touchscreen and accelerometer controlled iPhone game since it was announced in September, and a new gameplay video has now answered that question.

For those who weren't hanging around those seedy dens of iniquity in the mid-'80s, Cobra Command was an awesome arcade game that made use of laser disk technology to provide short, animated clips for its graphics (in the vein of Space Ace and Dragon's Lair).

Hitting the joystick and buttons at just the right moment played the appropriate clip, fashioning a somewhat stilted game experience bolstered by outstanding visuals (remember that Karate Champ still looked damn snazzy at the time).

Anyway, Japanese game film G-Mode owns a lot of the Data East property these days, and has licensed the Cobra Command laser disk to Revolutionary Concepts, which has remastered the video and audio and adjusted the game to use touchscreen and accelerometer controls.

The developer apologises for the quality of the video below, but was strapped for options given the heavy use of the iPhone's accelerometer in Cobra Command's controls. Not that it needs to apologise: from what we can see the game has been adapted superbly well, and looks a lot more playable than the original coin-op.

Cobra Command is expected to be submitted to Apple toward the end of the week, so we can hope for a mid-November arrival on the App Store. As always, your thoughts in the comments section.

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Spanner Spencer
Spanner Spencer
Yes. Spanner's his real name, and he's already heard that joke you just thought of. Although Spanner's not very good, he's quite fast, and that seems to be enough to keep him in a regular supply of free games and away from the depressing world of real work.