🚁 Tiger Copter

A retro helicopter shooter

Tiger Copter is a free vertical-scrolling shoot 'em up in the style of the classic arcade helicopter games of the 1980s, the kind you used to find in a cabinet at the back of the pizza place. Your little striped copter flies north over a scrolling world full of tanks, gun turrets, gunboats, jets and enemy helicopters, and at the end of every stage a huge boss rolls, sails or flies in. Your copter fires by itself, so the whole game is about moving: weaving between bullets, lining up under targets and grabbing power-ups.

If you loved Tiger-Heli on the NES, or any of the top-down shooters that followed, this is a fresh, free take on the same idea that runs in your browser on any computer, tablet or phone.

Five stages, five bosses

Jungle River starts you over rainforest and a winding river, with tanks and gun turrets hiding in the trees and the Jungle Fortress waiting at the end. Desert Storm crosses sand dunes and oases to the giant Desert Crawler. Harbor Attack flies out over the sea, with gunboats zig-zagging below you and an Iron Battleship as the boss. Frozen Pass is snowy mountains, frozen lakes and a Giant Gunship with two rotors. Night City is the finale: rooftops and glowing windows, the toughest waves of jets and the enormous Sky Fortress.

Each boss changes its attack as it gets weaker: first aimed shots from its guns, then fans of bullets and rings, and finally spirals that fill the screen. Watch the red health bar at the top and keep firing.

Power-ups

Some enemies drop a power-up box when you destroy them. A red P makes your gun stronger, from a twin shot all the way up to a five-way spread. A green + adds a little side copter that flies next to you and fires too; you can have two. A blue B gives you another bomb. Rare pink boxes give an extra copter, and gold stars are worth 5,000 points. If you lose a copter, you also lose one power level and your side copters, so keep your firepower by staying safe.

Bombs

Press X or Space, or tap the 💣 button, to drop a bomb. A bomb flashes the whole screen, removes every enemy bullet and badly damages every enemy, including the boss. You start each stage with three. Save one for a moment when you are boxed in, because a bomb at the right time saves a copter.

The tiny hit box

Just like in the arcade classics, only the small glowing dot in the middle of your copter can be hit. Bullets can fly right past the rotor and the tail without hurting you. Once you trust that, you can squeeze through gaps that look impossible.

Stars and copters

Each stage gives up to three stars: one for clearing it, two for clearing it without losing a copter, and three for also beating the stage's score target. The targets reward destroying lots of enemies, collecting stars and hitting the boss quickly. Stars unlock new copters: the Shark Copter, the Phantom and the Golden Ace. Choose Easy for five copters and slower bullets, Normal for the classic experience, or Arcade if you want it fast and furious.

Tips

Stay in the lower part of the screen so you have time to react. Move in small steps rather than big sweeps. Tanks and turrets aim at where you are, so keep drifting sideways and their shots will miss. Collect P boxes early in a stage, and stay under big bombers to shoot them down before they fill the screen with bullets. When a boss starts its spiral attack, find the gap and move slowly around with it.

Play on any device

Tiger Copter runs in any modern browser with no download and no account. On a phone or tablet, put your finger anywhere and slide: your copter follows your finger's movement, so your thumb never covers it. High scores and stars are saved only in your browser and there is nothing to buy. The action is cartoon-style: tanks and planes simply burst into puffs of smoke. See the Parents & Safety page for more.

More helicopter games

Try the copter battle Copter Arena.io, the one-button classic Helicopter Cave or a realistic flight in Helicopter Simulator 3D. More arcade shooters live in our Classic Arcade Games, and every copter game is on the Helicopter Games page.

Frequently asked questions