Triple Action
Platform: Intellivision
Region: USA
Media: Cartridge
Controller: INTV
Genre: Action 
Gametype: Licensed
Release Year: 1981
Developer: APh Technological Consulting
Publisher: Mattel Electronics
Players: 1 or 2 VS
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Three games in one! Triple Action features three uniquely different arcade games:
Racing Cars - Race side-by-side down the highway against an opponent, dodging standard traffic as you go. First one to 100 miles wins!

Battle Tanks - Get in a tank and fight another player, hiding behind cover as you go. Choose between long-range or short-range bullets, or the ability for the bullets to bounce off objects for a true strategic challenge.

Biplanes - Get into the cockpit of a biplane, fighting another player with either short or long range bullets. Hit the balloon for an extra point, but don't stall! First to 15 wins.
Each game is specifically designed for two-players, resulting in a unique party game.


CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

It's three classic video games in one!

Racing Cars -- You and your opponent race against the clock down a crowded highway.

Battle Tanks -- It's a duel to the finish between two heavy tanks. One of you will end up as scrap iron.

Biplanes -- It's a thrilling dogfight -- biplane style! Watch out for the control tower...don't get lost in the clouds. But most of all, watch out for that blood thirsty baron with a leather cap!


PRODUCTION HISTORY:

This started out to be a collection of six games "inspired" by Atari 2600 cartridges, hence the APh working title, Some of Theirs. Space considerations forced this to be dropped to five: a tank battle, a car race, a dogfight, a Breakout-like game and a Pong-like game. Within Mattel Electronics, the cartridge was known as 5-in-1 Arcade.

Shortly before completion, Mattel's lawyers stepped in and decided that some of Some of Theirs was TOO MUCH like some of theirs. To avoid a lawsuit from Atari, the lawyers asked that Brickout!, the Breakout-like game, and Hockey, the Pong-like game, be dropped from the cartridge. The game was renamed 3-in-1 Arcade and, finally, Triple Action.

A sequel, More of Theirs, was started by Rich O'Keefe but never completed.


FUN FACT:

More hours were spent in the programming cubicles playing Biplanes than any other Intellivision game. Although it's one of the simplest, many programmers felt it was the most challenging and fun of the two-person games. The first time you deliberately stall, go into a free fall, then pull out with a backward loop at the last second to blast your opponent at pointblank range is a joy!

So many hours were wasted on Biplanes, that when a memo was circulated April 1, 1982, ordering Triple Action deleted from programmers' hard disks, Biplanes-addict Steve Montero (Night Stalker) didn't argue; sheepishly, he erased it, only later discovering that the memo was an April Fool's hoax.

In Biplanes, although the game ends when one player reaches 15 points, bullets in the air at that point are allowed to score. It's possible, therefore, to have a game with a 15-15 tie, or to win with 16 points.

Brickout! was another early programmer favorite. Although cut from Triple Action, the game was available for downloading on a programmer's development system and led to a one-person waste of time when an opponent for Biplanes wasn't available.
 
http://www.mobygames.com/game/intellivision/triple-action
http://www.intellivisiongames.com/bluesky/games/credits/action.html#tripleaction