Ludography
BattleSport cover

1995 · Cyclone Studios · Sports

BattleSport

Battlesport simulates the sport of the future. Choose your vehicle and enter the arena to face your computer opponents to see who scores the most goals before the clock runs out.

Released
15 December 1995
Platforms
3DO3DO Interactive MultiplayerMS-DOSPanasonic M2PlayStationSega SaturnWindows
Genres
Sports
Developers
Cyclone Studios
Publishers
—
Modes
MultiplayerSingle-player
Perspective
First person
Themes
Action
Country
United States
Age ratings
ESRB E
Languages
English

About

BattleSport is a 1996 futuristic sports video game developed by Cyclone Studios. It was originally published by Studio 3DO (the software division of The 3DO Company) for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer in 1996. After the 3DO was discontinued BattleSport was published for other systems by Acclaim Entertainment. It was released for Windows and PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Windows in North America in July 1997, and in Europe on August 1, 1997.

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Development

Director Evan Margolin summarized the making of the game: We're all big action gamers here [at Cyclone Studios]. We wanted to create a fast-action, arena-based combat game and experimented with a 3D engine for it. When we got the basic engine up and running, the game was basically just about putting the ball into the goal, but when we started playing more, we found that people really want an opportunity to blast each other. One of the most difficult parts of design was getting a 3D engine with which we were satisfied. We didn't want to sacrifice speed, we wanted the game to be fast, and those were things we weren't willing to compromise on.

Near the end of 1996, Studio 3DO stated that a version of BattleSport for the Panasonic M2 was in development.

Reception

GamePro gave the 3DO version a recommendation. While they said the game is harder than it should be due to slippery controls and an overabundance of powerups to flip through, they felt the strong graphics, audio, and fast-paced gameplay "make this a game worth playing." A reviewer for Next Generation gave the game an even stronger recommendation, praising the unique gameplay concept, exceptionally good polygon graphics by 3DO standards, huge variety of power-up items, and consistently smooth frame rate even in the multiplayer mode, which he was especially enthusiastic about: "As with any split-screen, having your view so vertically limited is distracting, but the sheer fun and excitement of competing in this game against another human player is incredible."

Though the 3DO version failed to reach a mass audience, it sold well enough to turn a profit.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
3DO Interactive Multiplayer15 December 1995North America · Europe 31 December 1996
Sega Saturn1 July 1997North America
PlayStation1 July 1997North America
MS-DOS1 July 1997North America
Panasonic M2CancelledUnreleased

Games like this

Collections3 collections

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.