ULTIMATE GUIDE
BATTLEZONE
When it comes to a first impression, there are few arcade machines more striking than Battlezone. With the Atari game celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, Retro Gamer takes a look back at this tank-busting classic
Words by Graeme Mason
» [Arcade] Taking cover as an enemy approaches, weapons armed.
» Battlezone’s arcade manual succinctly annotates the machine’s famous peripherals.
Standing at over six feet tall with its outward-jutting marquee, twin joysticks and famous periscope-style viewfinder, Battlezone is one of the more unique videogames to have featured in arcades during the Eighties. And it wasn’t just a physical presence: the game it housed, a beautifully clean vector graphics tank sim, remains a compulsive and striking experience, and one laden with a fascinating history.
Designed by Atari’s Ed Rotberg, with assistance from Owen Rubin and Roger Hector, Battlezone is a futuristic fight to the death against a never-ending legion of enemy tanks, UFOs and missiles. The game takes place inside a simulated barren valley, with occasional angular objects providing cover relief and a precise mountainous horizon overlooking proceedings in the far distance.
» [Arcade] Incoming fire must be dodged either by using speedy evasive manoeuvres or hiding behind an obstacle.