Joysticks

Battlezone (c) 1980 Atari. Atari's Battlezone is a 1-player game with an XY or vector-generation monitor. The game depicts a first-person view from inside a tank. The battles are fought in a large valley that is completely surrounded by mountains and volcanoes. The valley floor contains pyramids and boxes that can provide temporary protection for players (these cannot be destroyed by shots). The enemy consists of slow and fast 'super' tanks and intelligent missiles - all of which become more evasive as the game progresses. In addition, flying saucers appear periodically. These don't shoot at players, but players can get very high point scores for shooting them. The game starts with the slow tank visible on the screen. The player can determine the position of either type of tank or the missile by reading the messages in the upper left corner of the screen. For example, ENEMY TO RIGHT may be displayed. In addition, the sweeping radar display shows a dot for the enemy's location, accompanied by a sonar 'blip' sound. The upper pie-shaped area on the radar represents the player's range of view on the screen below. If the enemy falls within this area, it will be shown on the screen below and will be accompanied by the message ENEMY IN RANGE. Occasionally the flying saucer appears on the screen. It is a harmless observer to the battle and will not destroy the enemy or player. Its position is never shown on the radar, but players can earn points for shooting it down. The saucer ...