Warlords

Warlords was originally produced for the Atari 2600, a paddle game which pitted 4 players, computer or live, against each other. Each player has a wall surrounding a "king", and if his or her king is eliminated that player is out of the game. Players control a paddle which deflects or catches a "fireball" which bounces about the screen. Each time the fireball hits a brick in the wall of one of the players, the brick is destroyed, similar to Breakout or Arkanoid. The fireball then bounces away at a direct angle of deflection. This may mean it will hit the defending paddle, bouncing back into the wall again.  When the king is struck by the fireball, he is killed and the paddle defending the king is taken out of the game.  You can still see the paddle, though, during the flashes that occur when a fireball strikes a wall segment.

The fun of this game has managed to transcend its seemingly primitive beginnings, and many versions have since cropped up, including an unlockable game hidden in Lunar the Silver Star. Unfortunately, the lack of paddle control diminishes the precise handling that made the original game so much fun to play.