Artillery Duel

Artillery Duel
ColecoVision box art
DeveloperPerkins Engineering
PublisherXonox
ProgrammersAstrocade
John Perkins[1]
Atari 2600
Mike Schwartz[2]
VIC-20
Jerry Brinson[2]
PlatformsAstrocade, Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Commodore 64, VIC-20
Release
October 1982
  • Astrocade
    October 1982[3]
    2600
    ColecoVision
GenreArtillery game
ModeSingle-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.

Gameplay

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]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Ainsworth, Dick (1982). Astro BASIC. Astrocade, Inc. p. 95.
  2. 1 2 Hague, James. "The Giant List of Classic Game Programmers".
  3. ↑ "Bally Professional Arcade game release dates". Atari Archive.
  4. ↑ "Atari VCS game release dates". Atari Archive. 2020. Retrieved 2023-08-12.
  5. ↑ "Release date information". GameFAQs. Retrieved 2010-07-06.
  6. ↑ "Colecovision game release dates". Atari Archive.
  7. ↑ Adam Trionfo (2017-01-30), Artillery Duel by John Perkins Bally Arcade and Astrocade 1980 BASIC type-in vs. 1982 Cartridge Arcadian, retrieved 2026-04-06
  8. ↑ Adam Trionfo (2017-01-30), Artillery Duel by John Perkins Bally Arcade and Astrocade 1980 BASIC type-in vs. 1982 Cartridge Arcadian, retrieved 2026-04-06
  9. ↑ Adam Trionfo (2017-01-30), Artillery Duel by John Perkins Bally Arcade and Astrocade 1980 BASIC type-in vs. 1982 Cartridge Arcadian, retrieved 2026-04-06
  10. ↑ Video & Arcade Games - Vol 1 No 1 (1983)(Creative Computing)(US). 1983.
  11. ↑ Goodman, Danny (Spring 1983). "Home Video Games: Video Games Update". Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games. p. 32.