''Badlands'' is a 1989

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an ar ...

published by

Atari Games Atari Games Corporation, known as Midway Games West Inc. after 1999, was an American producer of arcade games. It was formed in 1985 when the coin-operated arcade game division of Atari, Inc. was transfered by Warner Communications to a join ...

. It was ported by

Domark Square Enix Limited (formerly Domark Limited and Eidos Interactive Limited) is a British subsidiary of the Japanese video game company Square Enix, acting as their European publishing arm. The company formerly owned ''Tomb Raider'', which was in ...

under the Tengen label to the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers introduced by Commodore International, Commodore in 1985. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16- or 32-bit processors, 256 KB or more of RAM, mouse-based GUIs, and sign ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for ''Colour Personal Computer'') is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the S ...

, Atari ST, Commodore 64, and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit home computer that was developed by Sinclair Research. It was released in the United Kingdom on 23 April 1982, and became Britain's best-selling microcomputer. Referred to during development as the ''ZX81 Colou ...

. The game is a re-themed version of Atari's previous racing games ''

Super Sprint Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard butt ...

'' and ''Championship Sprint'' with the addition of vehicular combat. ''Badlands'' is set in the aftermath of a

nuclear war Nuclear warfare, also known as atomic warfare, is a theoretical military conflict or prepared political strategy that deploys nuclear weaponry. Nuclear weapons are weapons of mass destruction; in contrast to conventional warfare, nuclear wa ...

and races around abandoned wastelands with many hazards. Three gun-equipped cars race around a track to win prizes.

Gameplay

''Badlands'' pits three cars against each other in a three lap race around a small, single-screen circuit. Bonuses are present in the form of wrenches which can be traded for goods such as extra speed, extra acceleration or better

tires A tire (American English) or tyre (British English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide traction on the surface over which t ...

Unlike the ''Sprint'' games, ''Badlands'' expands upon the formula, taking place in a

post-apocalyptic Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction is a subgenre of speculative fiction in which the Earth's (or another planet's) civilization is collapsing or has collapsed. The apocalypse event may be climatic, such as runaway climate change; ast ...

environment and equipping each of the players with

cannon A cannon is a large-caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder duri ...

s. In reality, the cannons do little except to slow cars down by repeatedly shooting at them, but the shop between levels offers the possibility of arming the car with

missile In military terminology, a missile is a missile guidance, guided airborne ranged weapon capable of self-propelled flight usually by a jet engine or rocket motor. Missiles are thus also called guided missiles or guided rockets (when a previously ...

s which will destroy the target car, placing it at a severe disadvantage as a replacement is brought onto the track, taking a few seconds. The tracks also featured a number of new obstacles, including mines and retractable barricades.

Reception

Response to the Spectrum version was mixed. ''

Your Sinclair ''Your Sinclair'', or ''YS'' as it was commonly abbreviated, was a commercially published and printed British computer magazine for the Sinclair range of computers, mainly the ZX Spectrum. It was in circulation between 1984 and 1993. History Th ...

'' and ''

CRASH Crash or CRASH may refer to: Common meanings * Collision, an impact between two or more objects * Crash (computing), a condition where a program ceases to respond * Cardiac arrest, a medical condition in which the heart stops beating * Couch s ...

'' awarded average marks, both claiming in reviews of the original and rerelease that the title's contemporary '' Super Off-Road'' was superior. ''

Sinclair User ''Sinclair User'' was a magazine dedicated to the Sinclair Research range of home computers, most specifically the ZX Spectrum (while also occasionally covering arcade games). Initially published by ECC Publications, and later EMAP, it was pub ...

'' expressed more enthusiasm for the game, but made the same comparison to ''Super Off-Road''.

Legacy

The game was re-released in 2005 as part of ''

Midway Arcade Treasures 3 ''Midway Arcade Treasures 3'' is the third and final compilation of classic arcade games published by Midway Games for the GameCube, PlayStation 2, and Xbox (console), Xbox. This compilation includes 8 racing games that were not in the 2003 and ...

'' for the PlayStation 2,

GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the W ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by th ...

. It was also re-released in 2006 as part of ''

Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition ''Midway Arcade Treasures Deluxe Edition'' is an arcade compilation released exclusively for Microsoft Windows on February 15, 2006 in North America, and on March 17, 2006 in PAL regions. It is a compilation of ''Midway Arcade Treasures 2'' and ' ...

'' for Microsoft Windows.

References

External links

*
''Badlands''
at the Arcade History database * * {{Atari Games 1989 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Arcade video games Atari arcade games Atari ST games Commodore 64 games Domark games Midway video games Post-apocalyptic video games Teque London games Top-down racing video games Vehicular combat games Video games about death games Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Matt Furniss ZX Spectrum games