Game Story
I have only owned two of these but have helped many others test theirs with Board and ROM swaps.
Beauty
After a bit of looking I found a beautiful cabinet about 20 minutes from home. When we went to check it out it was working well and looking good. It is in my game room today. This one of those units that came home looking good and keeps on working. No restoration was required, so no Restoration Log.
| Type | Upright | Serial | unknown | Status | Game Room |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restoration | N/A | Photos | Gallery | Other |
Pile of Parts
Picked this up from a former collector who advertised “Free Game Giveaway” on rgvac. We rented a truck and some help and made our way to his house. 3 hours and $400 in help, food, gas and rental fees later we had a garage full of projects.
This cabinet artwork is in great condition. The monitor is out and there is a spare boardset. The periscope shroud thing is off and the color gels are scattered in boxes. Looks complete, though.
| Type | Upright | Serial | 3097 | Status | SOLD |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Restoration | Log | Photos | Gallery | Other |
Technical Information
Title
Battlezone was released in 1980 by Atari. It features a monochrome vector display with a horizontal orientation. Color gels on the monitor create the red and green sections. A half-silvered mirror, some cardboard artwork and a black light server to divide the red portion into a radar scope, message window and score window.
Architecture
Battlezone is built on the Atari 6502 hardware platform. Common features are the 6502 CPU, vector graphics and Atari Audio/Regulator.
| Video CPU | 6502 | MOS Technologies |
|---|---|---|
| Audio CPU | Custom | Atari |
| Display | G05 | Electrohome |
| Power | AR II-02 | Atari |
Controls
| Action | Control | Upright | Cocktail* | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Move | Joysticks | 2 | N/A | Left, Right Tread 2 Way |
| Fire | Button | 1 | N/A | On Right Tread Stick |
| Start | Cone | 1 | N/A | Lighted Cone, Microswitch |
*The cocktail version was never produced.
Production Notes
Battlezone is another game that made the most of current technology. The monitor is mounted low in the cabinet facing the top. A half silvered mirror hides some cardboard bezel art that outlines a main screen, two smaller status screens and a top center radar. The sides are painted to look metallic and sleek with massive control button arrays. One of the potential names for this game was Future Tank and this is the art that reflected that thought.
A black light is used behind the mirror to make the bezel art pop. The red ring around the radar and some of the button arrays on the side have the black light compatible florescent paint. The game displays warnings in the upper left status screen, the score and remaining tanks are in the other status screen. A red gel on the monitor makes these appear urgent.
The main game area is view through a periscope-like front panel to focus your attention. This main panel is tinted green by another gel. Green screens were the choice for future-looking military hardware of the time. This game meets that ideal.
The periscope-like front panel was criticized by some owners. The complaint was other patrons could not see the game well and were not encouraged to play. Atari offered a kit that replaced the plastic periscope with an open plexi screen.