'The Muddy' may not sound like your average baddie but then Mr Heli does not sound like your average hero. Still, anything can happen in coin-op land.
You take control of the aforementioned Mr Heli in this multi-directional scrolling shoot-em-up converted from the Irem coin-op. There are end-of-level guardians to destroy and extra weapons to buy (collect the crystal structures, which act as currency in the game, along the way by shooting the earth blocks in Super Mario Brothers fashion).
Of course, 'The Muddy' (a fine bit of Japlish!) has a whole host of minions who are determined to stop you getting to him, so take them out with your front and top-firing machine gun. Take too many hits from the baddies and the energy bar displayed at the top of the screen takes a dive until you lose one of your five lives and any extra weapons you have bought along the way.
Irem may be famous for R-Type, but unfortunately Mr Heli is just not in the same league. It is a shame, then, that the conversion does nothing to increase its appeal, being jerky and slow.
There are similar elements to Blood Money here, but the gameplay is not as polished, it is just not as playable and you will be bored sooner rather than later.