Blockade

Blockade's an interesting game. It's one of gaming's oldest but it has aged quite well. It has also been copied many times. The object is to outlive your opponent and hope he crashes before you do. The players control an arrow that continuously moves while leaving a blockade behind it.

Its original release was the arcade game by Gremlin in 1976.
http://images.webmagic.com/klov.com/.../wBlockade.png

Atari released a home version in 1977 for the VCS called Surround. Sears released the same game under the name Chase.
http://www.atariguide.com/sss/mini-surround.gif

Mattel's Intellivision version(1981) was called Snafu.
http://www.thelogbook.com/phosphor/mattel/snaf-int.jpg

Creative Software made a Vic 20 version called Vic Trap which was included on a cassette with Bounceout and Sea Wolf.

These types of games were the obvious influence for the light cycles in the 1982 Disney movie TRON. Midway's first TRON arcade game had a Blockade style light cycle section.
http://www.macmame.net/reviews/tronr...s/tronlite.gif

Monolith's fairly recent PC game TRON 2.0 also features this style of play on certain levels but the control is atrocious. Maybe the Xbox port is better.

I'm sure there are more versions out there I have forgotten or don't know about. It just occurred to me that I still own Chase, Snafu, Vic Trap and TRON 2.0. Is anyone a fan or have info?

*edit - Blockade is most commonly credited with starting the genre but there are a couple other arcade games from 1976 I forgot: Ramtek's Barricade and Meadows' Bigfoot Bonkers so it might not have been first. I even have the roms on my hard drive but the games completely slipped my mind.

Gremlin followed up Blockade in '77 with similar games Comotion and Hustle. 1977 also had Ramtek's Barricade II, Atari's Dominoes, Midway's Checkmate, Amutech's Minesweeper.

I love Armagetron. Probably the best clone/offshoot/whatever of them all. And I had no clue there were games like this prior to the Tron arcade game, 'cause I'm dumb like that.

First version of this game that I ever played was Nibbles in Qbasic. I changed the music with my amazing programming skills.

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Originally Posted by Tain

I love Armagetron. Probably the best clone/offshoot/whatever of them all. And I had no clue there were games like this prior to the Tron arcade game, 'cause I'm dumb like that.

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I remember trying Armagetron and a bunch of other homebrew TRON games a while back but there was always something about them I didn't like or they didn't run properly. Maybe I should try them again.

Snafu was great because it was 4P.

looks like a sort of 2-player Snake.

or am I way off?

A little, but I guess that's pretty close.

I always thought this game was too fast-paced, but that's just my opinion.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NeoZeedeater

Monolith's fairly recent PC game TRON 2.0 also features this style of play on certain levels but the control is atrocious. Maybe the Xbox port is better.

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It's fine in the xbox version as long as you use the triggers to change direction and zoom the camera out all the way to see most of the field. The AI of the opponents is terrible though, and no one plays this game online anymore so it's hard to get a good match.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rezo

First version of this game that I ever played was Nibbles in Qbasic. I changed the music with my amazing programming skills.

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HOLY SHIT ME 2

I have Tron Cycles on my cell phone, and I play it all the time.