RoadBlasters
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1984 |
| Headquarters | United States |
RoadBlasters is a vehicular combat game launched in arcades by Atari Games in 1987. Players control an armed sports car across 50 rally stages, striving to complete them before fuel runs out. Versions for home systems were produced by Tengen and U.S. Gold on various platforms.
Gameplay
The objective is to finish all 50 rallies without exhausting fuel reserves. The vehicle is equipped with a cannon to eliminate enemy cars and roadside turrets, which boost the player’s score. A scoring multiplier begins at 1 and increases by one with each successful hit, maxing out at 10; missing targets causes the multiplier to decrease by one.
Power-ups with limited uses occasionally drop from helicopters. The game features indestructible hazards such as mines, boulders, "spiker" balls, and oil slicks—the latter causing temporary loss of vehicle control.
Fuel management involves two separate tanks: a primary and a reserve. When the main tank is depleted, the reserve tank activates. Red globes dropped by distant foes and green globes found at checkpoints replenish the main tank. Reaching the midpoint of a rally resets the main tank to its initial level without altering reserve fuel. Upon completing a rally, the main tank refills and reserve fuel increases proportionally to points earned.
Collisions with enemies or obstacles (excluding oil slicks) result in vehicle destruction, loss of power-ups, resetting of the multiplier to 1, and consumption of some fuel during respawn. There is no limit on respawns; gameplay ends only when both fuel tanks are empty.
Players may continue indefinitely through rallies 1–49 but have only one chance to complete the final stage. Successfully finishing this last rally grants one million points and concludes the game.
Promotions
The original arcade release included a promotional offer where players who submitted their name and a personalized secret code after finishing rally 50 received a complimentary RoadBlasters T-shirt. This campaign concluded on August 31, 1987.
Matchbox produced a toy line featuring die-cast cars that could be customized with armor, lasers, machine guns, rocket launchers, and jet engines. These toys represented two opposing groups: Turbo Force and The Motor Lords, supported by related play sets such as a mobile command center.
Reception
Clayton Walnum commended the Atari Lynx edition for its extensive gameplay and combination of racing with action elements, noting it appeals to enthusiasts of the original title. Julian Rignall from CVG praised its technical execution and visuals but mentioned certain levels were frustrating, awarding it a score of 76/100.
Robert A. Jung rated the Lynx version 9/10, describing it as an "incredibly impressive adaptation" that attracts fans of driving, shooting, and arcade genres alike. He placed it alongside Blue Lightning as one of the top titles available on the Lynx platform.
Legacy
RoadBlasters was included in the Sony PlayStation collection Arcade's Greatest Hits: The Atari Collection 2 released in 1998 and later appeared in the Midway Arcade Treasures compilation for PlayStation 2, Xbox, GameCube, and PC.
A playable port is accessible within Lego Dimensions through an Arcade Dock featured in the "The Phantom Zone" level.
The game also makes an appearance in the movie Wreck-It Ralph, contributing to the backstory of the antagonist Turbo/King Candy.
See also
External links
- RoadBlasters on the Arcade History website
- Articles with short description
- 1987 video games
- Amiga games
- Amstrad CPC games
- Arcade video games
- Atari arcade games
- Atari Lynx games
- Commodore 64 games
- Midway video games
- Nintendo Entertainment System games
- Racing video games
- Sega Genesis games
- Single-player video games
- U.S. Gold games
- Vehicular combat games
- Video games developed in the United States
- ZX Spectrum games