| Arcade games |
BATTLEZONE
· 2 different early names were used – Future Tank and Moon Tank. From programmer, Ed Rotberg: "I believe the working title was Future Tank. There couldn't have been more than 2 or 3 made under that name. By the time we got to AMOA (Amusement and Music Operators Association - the main trade show) it had been given its final name. At one time it looked like it was going to be called Moon Tank, so when I was told to put some vectors together for a planet, I looked in my Almanac and did a crude picture of the East coast of Australia.". Also, a prototype of a cocktail version was developed, including full glass-top artwork and control panel. Only one is known to exist as it was not released for production.
· A special version was designed for the U.S. Army, commonly referred to as “Army Battlezone”. Only 2 were made. The first version is called the IFV (Infantry Fighting Vehicle) and was sent to Ft. Eustice, VA. It used a down-sized controller that was adapted from an actual Bradley. The second version is called the Bradley Trainer (or the Bradley Fighting Vehicle), and the controller was slightly redesigned, which was later used in Star Wars and a few other games (pictures #1-#6). The game is more a simulation, solely designed for the purpose of training tank gunners. The other tanks do not fire at you (although their turrets will *flash* to show they are), and the only way to end the game is to run out of ammo or shoot a 'friendly' tank or helicopter. A small blurb about the game appeared in the first issue of Atari Age magazine (picture #7). For more information, check out: http://coinop.org/kb_dl.aspx/KB/gametech/armybattlezone.html
· Missiles will jump over any objects in your path, but if you hide behind an object while a missile attacks, it will jump over both the object and your tank!
· The initials of the some of the programming team are on the high score table (at power-up):
EDR = Ed Rotberg (programmer)
MPH - ?
JED - Jed Margolin (engineer)
DES - ?
TKE - ?
VKB - ?
EL - ?
HAD - ?
ORR - Owen Rubin (programmed volcano activity)
GJR - ?
· BUG: If the game is left on a long time or played for a long time, it may put up a bizarre score in hex. {Ed Rotberg}
· RUMOR: Backing into a saucer is worth twice as many points (10,000).
