Artillery Duel
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
John Perkins[1]
Atari 2600
Mike Schwartz[2]
VIC-20
Jerry Brinson[2]
| Artillery Duel | |
|---|---|
 ColecoVision box art | |
| Developer | Perkins Engineering |
| Publisher | Xonox |
| Programmers | Astrocade John Perkins[1] Atari 2600 Mike Schwartz[2] VIC-20 Jerry Brinson[2] |
| Platforms | Astrocade, Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, VIC-20 |
| Release | |
| Genre | Artillery game |
| Mode | Single-player |
Artillery Duel is an artillery game originally written for the Bally Astrocade by Perkins Engineering and published by Astrocade Inc. in 1982.[7]John Perkins wrote the game first in Astro BASIC, submitting it to The Arcadian, a monthly newsletter for Bally BASIC hobbyists published by Bob Fabris, from which it was adapted for the Astro BASIC manual.[8] The game was first published in the May 19, 1980 issue of the Arcadian (volume 2, number 7), on pages 58 and 59.[9]
Xonox published ports for the Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, and VIC-20. Artillery Duel was featured in several double-ended cartridges – with one game on each end – as well as in a single cartridge.
The game consists of dueling cannons on either side of a hill or mountain of varying height and shape. Each player has control of the incline and force behind the shell launched, the objective being to score a direct hit on the opposing target. Where many versions gave the player a few tries on the same course, Artillery Duel switches to a new mountain after each turn. When the player does manage to hit the opposing cannon, the reward is a brief animation of comically marching soldiers at the bottom of the screen.
Reception
Danny Goodman, a contributing editor at Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games, said after visiting the summer 1982 Consumer Electronics Show that "the cleverest graphics award goes to Artillery Duel"[10] for the Bally Astrocade, describing it as "really a graphics showpiece with a little bit of player interaction thrown in".[11]
