This was my game, I was the master.
R2 a go and could play forever.
The cave levels were so hard, loved this game so much.
One of the best early 80s games ever is Choplifter, from 1982, developed in a solo effort by Dan Gorlin and published by Broderbund. It also became one of the best selling games ever for the Apple II.
The game simulated "realistic" helicopter flight with inertia, gravity, lift, drag, and momentum, resulting in the chopper feeling "sloppy and unstable" like a real one, yet remained playable after Broderbund helped tune it down from an overly realistic (and probably too frustrating) simulator. For 1982 standards this was very innovative.
My earliest memory of this was at a friend's house; he had a C64 on which we played it into dust. It was literally the only game we played for months.
We had a handrittwen "Highscore" list that we updated after each session, signed by all players present when we played it (yes, very nerdy). One simple rule was that highscores only counted when at least one other person was present and signed it off. I wished that list didn't get lost in time.
Early 80s gaming included so many things that don't exist anymore today... handwritten high score lists, drawn dungeon maps, the coastal line for Pirates, level codes...