Armor Battle
Encyclopedia
Armor Battle is a multiplayer game released by Mattel
for its Intellivision
video game system in 1979. One of the earliest titles available for the Intellivision console, Armor Battle pits two players against each other in a contest to see which player could eliminate their opponent's stock of tanks first.
Each battlefield has its own set of features that players can use to their benefit. Buildings cannot be destroyed, nor can they be crossed by the tanks, thus providing cover for the players. Tanks travel slowly through forests, but they do provide some cover, even from shots fired at close range. Rivers and lakes can be crossed, but only very slowly and with no cover for the tank. Similarly, roads leave tanks exposed to fire, but they may travel rapidly upon them.
Active tanks can be pointed in any direction, and may move forward as long as their path is not blocked by an obstacle. Tanks may fire a single shot at a time in the direction in which the tank is facing. Players may switch control between their tanks at any time, but reserve tanks are just as vulnerable to enemy fire as active tanks. Each player may also lay a single mine during the game. Mines are invisible to the players, and become live five seconds after being deployed. Once deployed, mines cannot be destroyed by tank fire and will detonate on contact with any tank.
A tank is destroyed by three direct hits from an opponent's tanks or upon collision with a mine. If a player has a reserve tank available, control automatically switches to the reserve tank upon destruction of the active tank. The game ends when one player loses both of their tanks. After the scoreboard appears, players may launch a new map and play again, with the game keeping track of total wins/losses until the software is reset by the player or until one player loses a total of 50 tanks.
console. In the early 21st century, it was also released as part of the Intellivision Lives! compilation game for computers and other video game consoles, like the PlayStation 2
and Nintendo GameCube
. Most recently, Armor Battle was made available on Microsoft's
Game Room
service for its Xbox 360
console and for Windows-based
PC
s in March 2010.
Mattel
Mattel, Inc. is the world's largest toy company based on revenue. The products it produces include Fisher Price, Barbie dolls, Hot Wheels and Matchbox toys, Masters of the Universe, American Girl dolls, board games, and, in the early 1980s, video game consoles. The company's name is derived from...
for its Intellivision
Intellivision
The Intellivision is a video game console released by Mattel in 1979. Development of the console began in 1978, less than a year after the introduction of its main competitor, the Atari 2600. The word intellivision is a portmanteau of "intelligent television"...
video game system in 1979. One of the earliest titles available for the Intellivision console, Armor Battle pits two players against each other in a contest to see which player could eliminate their opponent's stock of tanks first.
Gameplay
The object of Armor Battle is to be the first to destroy all opposing tanks. The game takes place on one of 240 randomly-selected battlefields, each with a different configuration of structural and environmental obstacles. Each player commands a pair of tanks, with one active and one in reserve, located randomly on the battlefield. Players maneuver their tanks one at a time around the battlefield in order to target opposing tanks while simultaneously evading enemy fire.Each battlefield has its own set of features that players can use to their benefit. Buildings cannot be destroyed, nor can they be crossed by the tanks, thus providing cover for the players. Tanks travel slowly through forests, but they do provide some cover, even from shots fired at close range. Rivers and lakes can be crossed, but only very slowly and with no cover for the tank. Similarly, roads leave tanks exposed to fire, but they may travel rapidly upon them.
Active tanks can be pointed in any direction, and may move forward as long as their path is not blocked by an obstacle. Tanks may fire a single shot at a time in the direction in which the tank is facing. Players may switch control between their tanks at any time, but reserve tanks are just as vulnerable to enemy fire as active tanks. Each player may also lay a single mine during the game. Mines are invisible to the players, and become live five seconds after being deployed. Once deployed, mines cannot be destroyed by tank fire and will detonate on contact with any tank.
A tank is destroyed by three direct hits from an opponent's tanks or upon collision with a mine. If a player has a reserve tank available, control automatically switches to the reserve tank upon destruction of the active tank. The game ends when one player loses both of their tanks. After the scoreboard appears, players may launch a new map and play again, with the game keeping track of total wins/losses until the software is reset by the player or until one player loses a total of 50 tanks.
Ports
Armor Battle was released under the same name by Sears for its private-label version of the Intellivision console, the "Super Video Arcade." In 1982, Mattel's "M-Network" brand produced a port named Armor Ambush for the Atari 2600Atari 2600
The Atari 2600 is a video game console released in October 1977 by Atari, Inc. It is credited with popularizing the use of microprocessor-based hardware and cartridges containing game code, instead of having non-microprocessor dedicated hardware with all games built in...
console. In the early 21st century, it was also released as part of the Intellivision Lives! compilation game for computers and other video game consoles, like the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
and Nintendo GameCube
Nintendo GameCube
The , officially abbreviated to NGC in Japan and GCN in other regions, is a sixth generation video game console released by Nintendo on September 15, 2001 in Japan, November 18, 2001 in North America, May 3, 2002 in Europe, and May 17, 2002 in Australia...
. Most recently, Armor Battle was made available on Microsoft's
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...
Game Room
Game Room
Game Room is a gaming service for the Xbox 360 video game system, Microsoft Windows PCs, and Windows Phone 7. Launched on March 24, 2010, Game Room lets players download classic video games and compete against each other for high scores...
service for its Xbox 360
Xbox 360
The Xbox 360 is the second video game console produced by Microsoft and the successor to the Xbox. The Xbox 360 competes with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
console and for Windows-based
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
PC
Personal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
s in March 2010.
External links
- Armor Battle at GameFAQs