Battlezone (rev 2)

Battlezone (rev 2) is Atari’s 1980 arcade tank-combat game, presented from the driver’s seat in a stark three-dimensional battlefield. This Arcade version places one player in command of a tracked vehicle and uses a vector display to draw a distant mountain range, an erupting volcano, obstacles, and enemies as bright geometric lines. The “rev 2” name identifies this arcade ROM revision; it remains the original Atari coin-op experience rather than a later home conversion or one of the later games that reused the title.

The goal is simple but demanding: survive for as long as possible while destroying hostile armor and raising the score. A pair of upright control handles represents the tank’s left and right treads. Moving both together drives forward or reverses, while opposing movement pivots the tank; the fire control on the right handle launches a shell along the current line of sight. That physical control scheme makes steering, lining up a shot, and escaping return fire inseparable parts of every encounter.

The action occurs across an open, level combat zone bounded visually by its horizon. Radar at the top of the display helps locate threats and obstacles beyond the narrow forward view, so players must alternate between reading the scanner and aiming through the battlefield window. Pyramids and rectangular blocks cannot be destroyed, but they affect movement and can interrupt a shot, creating useful cover as well as hazards to navigate around. The game’s perspective means danger may approach from outside the visible scene, giving the radar a central tactical role.

Enemy pressure develops over the course of a credit. Early opposing tanks are comparatively slow, but faster missiles and aggressive Super Tanks add urgency as play continues. One direct hit from an enemy tank or missile costs the player a tank. A flying saucer may also cross the landscape; it does not attack, is absent from radar, and offers bonus points to a player who can spot and hit it. This mixture of identifiable targets, instant consequences, and a score chase gives the game its compact arcade rhythm.

Battlezone’s visual design was an important part of its identity. Its monochrome vector monitor and colored screen overlay give the combat area its green appearance while separating the upper information region in red. Many upright cabinets also framed the display with a periscope-style viewer, narrowing the player’s sightline to reinforce the tank-gunner illusion while leaving side views for spectators. The result is an unusually direct connection between cabinet, controls, display, and the game’s first-person premise.

Designed at Atari with Ed Rotberg leading the game’s design, Battlezone arrived during the company’s early vector-graphics period, after Lunar Lander and Asteroids had established the underlying display technology. Its hardware combined a 6502 game processor, a dedicated display processor, and a math system used for perspective calculations. Atari later produced home ports for several systems, but those adaptations necessarily changed controls or presentation; this entry is specifically the 1980 Arcade Battlezone. The original’s first-person vector battlefield and twin-tread controls made it a lasting landmark of the arcade era.