Rampart

Rampart is a 1990 video game released by Atari Games and Midway Games that combines the shoot 'em up, strategy, and puzzle genres. It debuted as an arcade game with trackball controls, and was ported to home systems. It had a limited US release in October 1990, and a wide release in early 1991. It was distributed in Japan by Namco. Rampart is considered a precursor to the tower defense genre of the following decade. Gameplay The player controls and defends a territory consisting of a wall surrounding a set of castles and cannons. Gameplay alternates between two time-limited phases, combat and building. In the building phase, the player attempts to repair the damage from combat and expand their territory. In the combat phase, they attempt to damage the enemy with their cannons. In single-player games, the player fights against a fleet of attacking ships, in multi-player games, the players fight each other with rivers separating the sides. The game opens with an automated building phase in which the computer builds a wall around one castle. The ownership of a castle grants the player control over a number of cannons, and after building the wall the game enters a phase in which the user places the cannons within their controlled territory.