If you like tower defense style games, then you can thank Atari Games’ John Salwitz for creating Rampart. While not an actual tower defense game in itself, the 1990 coin-op pioneered the ideas of erecting structures to defend territory while making repairs between attack levels almost two decades before the real-time strategy subgenre became all the rage. Plus, when you dropped a quarter into the machine it blared of trumpet fanfare!
In Rampart you travel back in time to the Middle Ages building fortifications and positioning cannons just as the powerful lords and barons once did. Rampart combines strategy with dynamite action and destruction!
Rampart is divided between three distinctly different stages. The first, labeled “Prepare for Battle” is the initial attack round and features enemy boats blasting your defensive perimeter while you try to sink them into the blue ocean. If they reach ground, mobile units referred to as Grunts emerge and storm your castle. Engage the enemy for ten seconds until the cabinet boldly declares, “CEASE FIRE”
Read the rest of this article on page 14 by clicking here
Be sure to sign up to get Old School Gamer Magazine Digitally for free by clicking here!
Michael Thomasson is one of the most widely respected videogame historians in the field today. He currently teaches college level videogame history, design, and graphics courses. For television, Michael conducted research for MTV's videogame related program Video MODS. In print, he authored Downright Bizarre Games, and has contributed to nearly a dozen gaming texts. Michael’s historical columns have been distributed in newspapers and magazines worldwide. He has written business plans for several vendors and managed a dozen game-related retail stores spanning three decades. Michael consults for multiple video game and computer museums and has worked on nearly a hundred game titles on Atari, Coleco, Sega and other console platforms. In 2014, The Guinness Book of World Records declared that Thomasson had “The Largest Videogame Collection” in the world. His businesses sponsor gaming tradeshows and expos across the US and Canada. Visit www.GoodDealGames.com.
