Warlords

Warlords

released on Dec 31, 1980

Warlords

released on Dec 31, 1980

Warlords is an arcade game released by Atari, Inc. in 1980. The game resembles a combination of Breakout and Quadrapong (an early Atari arcade game) in the sense that not only can up to 4 players play the game at the same time, but also the "forts" in the four corners of the screen are brick walls that could be broken with a flaming ball. Warlords uses spinner controllers for player control, and came in both an upright 2 player version and a 4 player cocktail version. The upright version uses a black and white monitor, and reflects the game image onto a mirror, with a backdrop of castles, giving the game a 3D feel. The upright version only supports up to two simultaneous players, which move through the levels as a team. The cocktail version is in color, and supports 1-4 players. 3-4 player games are free-for-all's where the game ends as soon as one player wins. 1-2 player games play identical to the upright version.


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Played as part of Atari 50.

Deleting my previous review since I played it with a friend and holy shit is it so much better in this context. Really really fun, definitely one of the best games in this compilation so far. If this just had the doubles mode from the 2600 port it'd be perfect.

I actually really dig Warlords!
We saw Atari trying to evolve games like Pong and Breakout before this, but this is a huge step forward, in my opinion. Essentially, it's four-way breakout, where the goal isn't to eliminate all the player's bricks, but to simply reach the heart of their castle. Also, you can grab and charge the flaming ball, which feels very satisfying.

Fun as hell. I'm sure it's even more fun with a group of four.

4-way Air Hockey with somewhat clunky controls.

(Atari 50)

When it comes to Warlords, I'm no Joseph Kony.

Jokes aside, this game is really cool, especially with multiple people but I'm terrible at it.

It's like a mix between Breakout and Pong, where you have to destroy other players' castles while also defending your own. It works well enough, and is a creative spin on both of the games, but nothing I would go out of my way to play again.

Game #182

The 4 player cocktail cabinet is one of few actually perfect video games. If I miss anything most about arcade games, it's the idea that the control could be non-standard so you could use something so rudimentary as a dial and a button to do something so blisteringly intense and visceral. Combined with the table layout, where everyone can see the exact same field of play? It's just genius.