Battlezone Description

Battlezone was produced by Atari in 1980.

Atari released 139 different machines in our database under this trade name, starting in 1972.

Other machines made by Atari during the time period Battlezone was produced include Monte Carlo, Red Baron, Alien Space, Centipede, Warlords, Atari Basketball, Asteroids, Atari Football, Atari Baseball, and Hercules.



Using wire models on a vector display with a green and red overlay, a battle with opposing tanks, missiles and the occasional saucer is simulated among pyramids and cubes. The 1812 overture plays during high score.

Battlezone - KLOV/IAM 5 Point User Score: 4.00 (19 votes)

Personal Impressions Score: 3.84



Overall 'Like': 3.95

Fun (Social): 2.79

Fun (Solo): 3.79

Collector Desire: 4.32 Technical Impressions Score: 4.18



Gameplay: 4.21

Graphics: 4.21

Originality: 4.58

Sound/Music: 3.44

Cabinet Style Weights and Measures

Type Upright/Standard (With Shroud) Upright/Standard (Open Face) Cabaret/Mini Cocktail

Miscellaneous

Battlezone is available on the iPad and iPhone via Atari's Greatest Hits application.

VAPS Arcade/Coin-Op Battlezone Census

Very Common - There are 558 known instances of this machine owned by Battlezone collectors who are active members. Of these, 536 of them are original dedicated machines, and 21 of them are only circuit boards which a collector could put into a generic case if desired.

For Sale - There are 25 active VAPS members with Battlezone machines for sale. There are 2 active VAPS members with extra Battlezone circuit boards for sale.

Wanted - Very Popular - There are 37 active VAPS members currently looking for Battlezone.

This game ranks a 91 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often seen, 1=least common) in popularity based on census ownership records.

This game ranks a 60 on a scale out of 100 (100 = most often wanted, 1=least common) in popularity based on census want list records.

Rarity and Popularity independently are NOT necessarily indications of value. [More Information]

Technical

Trivia

The Battlezone legend says that a military version of the game existed as a training simulator for the Bradley fighting vehicle. The designer, Ed Rotberg did post to RGVA before it became RGVAC that only two cabinets were made. The controller was similar to a Star Wars yoke. The simulator has an option for a TOW Tube-launched, Optically tracked, Wire-guided missile. This was in keeping with the real Bradley's capabilities. As long as you kept the enemy tank in the cross-hairs of the TOW sight, you could not miss.

Also a prototype of a cocktail version was developed, including full glasstop artwork and control panel. Only one is known to exist as it was not released for production. There is no color overlay for the cocktail version since the images needs to flip for the second player.

The imagery from the arcade game was used in the intro scene for the PC game version update of the game. The image opens where you see the original graphics on the screen. The image zooms out and you see it is the radar screen on the tank from the PC version of the game.

Fixes

http://www.wizzesworkshop.com/cart/product.asp?intProdID19

Manuals

Foto-Finder® (books)

Video Clips

Battlezone



Battlezone shortplay by Ivan Paduano



(Arcade) Battlezone



Atari Battlezone Arcade Version 1980



See Recent Video Links Added to Other Records

Additional References

(logged in members often see more) The Arcade Flyer Archive (TAFA): Battlezone Flyer #116 The Arcade Flyer Archive (TAFA): Battlezone Flyer #3027 The Arcade Flyer Archive (TAFA): Battlezone Flyer #3846

Contribute

Contribute an image to this machine record. Log in to add YouTube or Google 3D SketchUp links Please consider donating to the International Arcade Museum Library

eBay Listings

Click to search eBay for machines and parts made by Atari.

Check out the IAM/KLOV report of the hottest coin-op machine auctions, powered by Ace.com.

