Cobra Cheats & Cheat Codes for the Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, and More

Cobra is a 1986 side-scrolling platformer video game developed and published by Ocean Software. The game is based on Cobra, an American action film featuring Sylvester Stallone as the title character. Stallone also wrote the script for the movie, which came out in May 1986. Originally, Cobra (the game) was released in Europe for the Amstrad CPC, Commodore 64, and ZX Spectrum. Cobra got a budget re-release in 1990.

Finding a playable version of this 1986 platformer can be a bit challenging. There are a lot of gaming franchises with the word “Cobra” somewhere in the title, so Google will turn up results that include games like G.I. Joe: Wrath of Cobra, Super Cobra, and Cobra Kai. Fortunately, My Abandonware has the Commodore 64 version of Cobra available for download. My Abandonware is a great resource for classic games of all kinds. The website offers loads of titles including Thrust (1986), Tau Ceti (1985), and A Mind Forever Voyaging (1985). Any gamers curious about retro gaming should check out My Abandonware for its massive archive.

When Cobra first launched, it debuted to mixed reviews. The game was heavily criticized for being unoriginal. Other critics pointed out that the video game didn’t resemble the movie it was based on at all. In some regards, this helped boost the game’s reviews because some critics felt it could stand on its own. CRASH, a ZX Spectrum magazine founded in 1984, rated the game a high 93%. Similar magazines, like Zzap!64 and Commodore User gave Cobra horrible scores, though. Zzap!64 only gave it a 13% while Commodore User gave it a 4 out of 10. Most publications gave it a middle-of-the-road score, which only emphasizes how polarizing this game was upon release.

Today, Cobra fairs a bit better with modern gamers, but it still has some mixed reviews floating around. My Abandonware rates the game a favorable 4.5 out of 5, but Lemon64 rates it a miserable 4.5 out of 10. According to Google, 87% of people who weighed in on Cobra claim to like the game.

Cobra Premise

Cobra is based on an American action film of the same name. Players control Lt. Marion “Cobra” Cobretti. In the movie, this character was played by Sylvester Stallone. Cobra is a cop and in the film, he’s recruited by the Los Angeles Police Department after a mass shooting takes place in LA. Cobra has to sneak into the supermarket where the shooting takes place to get close to the shooter. During the showdown, the shooter starts rambling about a new world, revealing a much deeper plot behind the shooting.

The video game is much more simplistic. It doesn’t even really follow the plot of the film. In comparison to the complicated film, the video game has a simple plot. Ingrid, a model, is kidnapped by a criminal called the Night Slasher. Cobra sets off to rescue Ingrid before it’s too late. Since Cobra is a side-scrolling platform game, players need to avoid enemies as they make their way through each level. These enemies include people from the Night Slasher gang and some enemies even sport rocket launchers to try and take Cobra out.

At the beginning of the game, Cobra has no weapons. The only defense players are equipped with is his ability to headbutt. Players can find weapons by collecting hamburgers dispersed throughout each level. Hidden inside are weapons like knives and various types of guns. Cobra can also jump and duck to avoid obstacles and incoming attacks. Cobra consists of three levels: a city, a rural area, and a factory. The final showdown with the Night Slasher happens in the factory.

Cobra Main Characters

While Cobra follows a very simplistic plot, it does have the luxury of being based on a film of the same name. This fact allowed the game to incorporate the main protagonist from the film into the game. While the video game did keep the plot simple, it incorporated a few prominent characters worth noting. Unfortunately, Cobra is a short game that doesn’t spend a lot of time on character development, so there’s not a lot of detail to go on.

• Cobra: Lt. Marion “Cobra” Cobretti is a police officer and, according to the 1986 film, a member of the Los Angeles Police Department’s elite “Zombie Squad”. Cobra is the main character in the film and he is the main playable protagonist of the game. When Ingrid is kidnapped by the Night Slasher, Cobra goes after them to rescue her. To find Ingrid, Cobra must navigate through the city, a rural area, and a factory where he ultimately faces off with the Night Slasher.
• Ingrid: Ingrid is a model who, for some reason, gets kidnapped by the Night Slasher. The entire plot of the game revolves around Ingrid’s abduction. Cobra’s main goal is to save her from the Night Slasher’s clutches.
• The Night Slasher: The Night Slasher is Cobra’s main antagonist. At the beginning of the game, the Night Slasher kidnaps a model named Ingrid. Cobra goes after the Night Slasher to save her. Throughout the game, the Night Slasher sends enemies to deal with Cobra, including Night Slasher gang members. Cobra faces off against the Night Slasher in the final area of the game, the factory.

Cobra Titles in the Series

Cobra is a stand-alone video game based on the Cobra film that came out earlier that same year (1986). There are many different video game series either called Cobra or incorporate Cobra into the title, so Googling the game may get a little hairy. Many results pop up when searching for the Cobra video game series, but most of the titles are unrelated to the game in question.

Cobra Cheats, Cheat Codes, & BASIC Commands

Starting in the 1980s and dominating the 1990s, video game developers gained a reputation for building cheats and exploits into their games on purpose. Modern gamers are no strangers to using cheat codes or exploiting faults in modern games. Today, though, the gaming industry’s view of cheating is very different than it was back then. Today, many cheats come from the player’s side of things. PC gamers especially use mods, custom content (CC), and cheat engines to make a game perform the way they want. Some players even go as far as to try their hand at hacking. Each game developer has a different view on cheating. Some games allow it, like The Sims 4, while other games will ban player accounts for cheating.

Some developers still put cheat codes or other exploits into their games on purpose. Other games choose to have players work for these rewards by unlocking them after the player meets certain requirements first. These will usually reveal a reward, Easter egg, or collectible of some kind, but they likely won’t be game-breaking. Cheats in the late ’80s and ’90s would often provide players with things like immortality, infinite ammo, and infinite lives. Some games, like Resident Evil, will still allow players to work for things like infinite ammo, but overall, cheats just aren’t the same these days.

Unfortunately, since Cobra shares a similar name with several other games and franchises, finding usable cheats or exploits for it is incredibly difficult. There is one BASIC command players can use for the Commodore 64 version, the Amstrad CPC version, and the ZX Spectrum version, though.

Unlimited Lives BASIC Command

This BASIC command should work for every version of the game. Please keep in mind that Cobra is almost 40 years old, so the command may not work for modern gamers.

• Reset or load the game
• Enter the following BASIC command before restarting: POKE 13514,173
• Restart or launch the game
• Players should have unlimited lives when the game loads

Cobra Cheats FAQ

Googling “Cobra video game cheats” will give players a lot of results for other games. These results include Cobra Command, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Cobra Triangle, and many more. To give Google the benefit of the doubt, players can try searching “Cobra 1986 video game cheats”. Unfortunately, none of the FAQ results that pop up are actually about the correct game. As a final attempt, Google “Cobra video game”. This search does pull up a few relevant results, but they mostly ask about the movie Cobra is based on, not the video game.

The image featured at the top of this post is ©World of Longplays / Ocean Software.