Anti-Aircraft (video game)

Anti-Aircraft is a two-player arcade game by Atari, Inc, originally released in 1975. The game is sometimes referred to as Anti-Aircraft II, denoting the two-player aspect of the game.^[2]

Technology

The game is housed in a custom cabinet that includes two sets (one set per player) of three control buttons (up, down, and fire). The game PCB is composed of discrete technology with game sprites stored in ROM. There is an undocumented option available that switches the planes into UFOs. Pin 14 of the 003127 IC — a PROM located at grid location K1 — is tied to ground, but also has a pullup resistor. Cutting the ground trace causes address bit A4 to be pulled high, selecting the UFO data. A jumper can be installed to easily switch back and forth between planes and UFOs.^[2]

The vertically set monitor is a black and white Motorola XM501.^[3]

Gameplay

Planes fly overhead, either singly or in pairs, in random directions in the aircraft flight area. The object is to shoot down more planes than the player's opponent during the time limit.^[3]

Each player controls an anti-aircraft gun located in the lower left and right corners of the screen, respectively. A player's gun is controlled by three buttons located in each player's control station, which consists of a button for moving up, down, and firing. The up and down buttons move the gun to any one of three predefined positions.

Legacy

• A home console port was included in the Atari 2600 game cartridge, Air-Sea Battle.

References