How to play Outlaw online
- Move the left gunslinger (player 1): arrow keys
- Aim and fire (player 1): hold Space, use up or down to angle the gun arm, then let go of Space to shoot
- Move the right gunslinger (player 2): T/F/G/H (up/left/down/right)
- Aim and fire (player 2): hold A, aim with T or G, release A to shoot
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose one of the 16 game variations: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Bullet rule: F4 and F9 set the difficulty switches for player 1 and player 2
Gameplay
Each player controls a gunslinger on one side of the screen and can walk up, down, left and right. Pressing the button raises the gun; while you hold it you can tilt the arm to shoot straight, high or low, and the bullet leaves when you release. Angled shots bounce off the top and bottom edges of the playfield, which is how you get around the obstacle in the middle. A cowboy who is hit sits down for a moment, and his opponent scores a point. The first to 10 points wins.
In the one-player games you shoot at a target that bounces up and down the screen instead. Each hit is worth a point, and you have 99 seconds to score as many as you can, up to 10.
Game variations and switches
Games 1 to 12 are two-player duels and games 13 to 16 are one-player target shooting. They mix three kinds of cover (a cactus, a stagecoach or a wall) with a few special rules:
- Blowaway: bullets chip pieces off the obstacle, so cover wears away during the fight.
- Getaway: you can move straight after firing instead of waiting for your bullet to finish its flight.
- Six Shooter: each player has six bullets, and nobody reloads until both have fired all six.
- Moving barrier: the cover keeps moving; in the stagecoach games, a stream of coaches rolls up the screen between the players.
The difficulty switches decide what happens to a bullet already in the air when its shooter is hit. In position A the bullet vanishes; in position B it keeps flying and can still score.
Tips
- Use the bounce. A straight shot usually hits the cover. An angled shot off the top or bottom edge can reach a player hiding behind it.
- Count bullets in Six Shooter games. Once your opponent has emptied the gun, you can step out and take your time.
- Keep moving in games without Getaway. After you fire you are stuck until your bullet is gone, so don’t shoot from a spot where you are easy to hit.
The story behind Outlaw
Outlaw was David Crane’s first finished game for the Atari 2600. He later called it a trial by fire on which he had been too ambitious. The game shares its name with Atari’s 1976 arcade game Outlaw, but its two-cowboy layout is closer to Midway’s 1975 arcade hit Gun Fight. It was released in October 1978, and Crane has said it sold more than 500,000 copies.
Creative Computing’s David H. Ahl wrote that two-player sessions caused “convulsive laughter”. Later critics found the one-player games thin but still liked the duels. Crane went on to co-found Activision in 1979.
Similar games to play next
- Boxing – another simple, fast two-player duel, from Activision
- Slot Racers – an early Atari two-player game about shooting at each other through a maze
- Gangster Alley – a one-player shooting gallery with a crime theme
- Dragster – one of David Crane’s early Activision games, a two-player drag race
- Pitfall! – Crane’s best-known game