Skull & Crossbones © 1989 Atari Games Corporation.
Skull & Crossbones is a swashbuckling adventure in which players portray two pirates competing for food, drink, booty, and revenge. Players use a joystick and button to control the unique sword-fighting action.
The game begins with an encounter with the evil Wizard, who robs our heroes of all of their booty. The pirates swear revenge and set off on a quest to destroy the Wizard and recover their treasure.
The adventure takes them around the world. The pirates battle the fierce captains and crews of opponent ships. They encounter the soldier guards and the merciless Executioner in the Spanish castle. In the ninja camp they fight the Ninja Master and his followers. On the beach the heroes encounter the dreaded Medusa and a horde of wicked skeletons that rise from the dead.
Finally, the pirates reach the Wizard's Island, where they must again do battle against the shadow figures of the Executioner, the Ninja Master, and the Medusa before they can fight face-to-face with the evil Wizard. If they make it to the throne room and overcome the Wizard, players are rewarded with a room full of treasure.
Players use a joystick and sword button in a combination of defensive and offensive maneuvers to battle the various enemies. Players can learn the lunge and back-slash - two skillful sword-fighting moves that are very effective.
In order to increase the long-term appeal of the game, players can select various difficulty levels of easy, medium, and hard to vary their paths through the game. By selecting the longer hard path, players are rewarded with more food, drink, and booty along the way.
Game ID : 136072
Main CPU : Motorola 68000 (@ 7.15909 Mhz), MOS Technology 6502 (@ 1.7895 Mhz)
Sound Chips : Yamaha YM2151 (@ 3.579 Mhz), OKI6295 (@ 9.037 Khz)
Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 2
Skull & Crossbones was released in November 1989.
Only 65 dedicated game were produced in the USA. The selling price was $2295.
875 conversion kits were produced in the USA. The selling price was $1295. This kit was very evil, because it was one of the few kits that had a marquee and control panel overlay big enough to fit a Dragon's Lair machine (the marquee was even three-fold, just like the Dragon's Lair one). Most of these games were converted within months. Very few original games remain today, and Atari quickly dropped the game from their lineup.