Battlezone 2000

Battlezone 2000 for Atari Lynx is a first-person tank-combat game developed by Hand Made Software and published by Atari in 1995. It revisits Atari's 1980 arcade Battlezone on the Lynx while building a new near-future conflict around its own campaign-style waves and customizable vehicles. The manual sets the action in 2005, after a virus corrupts the automated systems of powerful Supertanks and turns them against humanity. From the cockpit, the player enters the battle zones to stop the machine force before it overruns the remaining defenders.

The game presents the battlefield from the tank commander's point of view, with a central aiming reticle and a radar display for tracking threats beyond the immediate view. The directional pad drives forward, reverses, and turns, while the A button fires the standard cannon and B launches missiles. Ammunition, fuel, shields, and missiles are all finite resources, so a successful run depends on finding opponents, lining up shots, and keeping enough supplies to survive the next exchange. A missile can be fired directly, but aiming until the reticle indicates a lock allows it to home in on a target.

Before a game, Battlezone 2000 lets players choose one of three preconfigured computer-designed tanks or distribute a 100-credit budget themselves. That setup balances missile capacity, fuel, ammunition, and shielding, with limits that prevent a tank from being built around a single strength. The differences give the opening choice practical consequences: an armored machine can absorb more punishment, while a lighter or better supplied build may serve a different approach. The Lynx manual also includes an enemy and power-up review screen, letting players look over the hazards and pickups before heading into the setup menu.

Combat advances through numbered waves with changing objectives. The status display keeps track of the current wave, reserve tanks, supplies, the number of enemies required, and—in timed situations—the remaining time and target score. Players battle hostile tanks and other threats across the sparse, futuristic terrain, using the radar to judge direction as well as the crosshair to decide when to spend ordinary shots or precious missiles. That focus on navigation, targeting, and attrition carries the essential first-person tank feel of the arcade original into a handheld format rather than simply reproducing its score-chasing structure.

Battlezone 2000 also supports one to four players when Lynx systems are linked with a ComLynx cable, making the cartridge more than a solitary arcade throwback. The production credits identify David J. Ellel as main programmer, with Rob Nicholson providing additional coding; Jim Gregory and Michael McCallion supplied game art, and Paul Tonge composed the music. AtariAge lists it as a 1995 Lynx cartridge, and Atari museum records place it among Atari's final Lynx releases. Its wireframe-inspired battlefield, configurable tanks, linked multiplayer, and late-system release give Battlezone 2000 a distinct place alongside both the original Battlezone and the Lynx's small catalog of first-person action games.