Rear Guard
Rear Guard is a horizontally scrolling shooter written for Atari 8-bit computers and published in December 1981 by Adventure International. Neil Larimer created the game with assistance from Sparky Starks. It was ported to the Apple II, TRS-80, and TRS-80 Color Computer. • Illustration — Apple II screenshot
Rear Guard
- Date
- 1982
- Publisher
- Adventure International
- Genre
- shoot 'em up
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Documentary summary
Rear Guard is a horizontally scrolling shooter written for Atari 8-bit computers and published in December 1981 by Adventure International. Neil Larimer created the game with assistance from Sparky Starks. It was ported to the Apple II, TRS-80, and TRS-80 Color Computer. • Illustration — Apple II screenshot
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wikidata · Q7301437
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Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Rear Guard • Publisher — Adventure International • Designer — Neil Larimer • Programmer — Atari 8-bit Neil Larimer Sparky Starks Color Computer Jim Hurd TRS-80 Wayne Westmoreland Terry Gilman • Released — December 1981 • Genre — Scrolling shooter • Modes — Single-player • Platforms — Apple II, Atari 8-bit, TRS-80, TRS-80 Color Computer
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Rear Guard is associated with United States.
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Reception
The game sold 3,400 copies by June 1982, appearing on Computer Gaming Worlds list of top sellers. David H. Ahl of Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games said in 1983 that "to maintain your sanity, a joystick is necessary" for the Apple version of Rear Guard. He concluded that it was "a fast-moving colorful game that brings Defender home to the Apple". In March 1983 Rear Guard won Softlines Dog of the Year award "for badness in computer games", Atari division, based on reader submissions. The magazine reported that although the Apple version was "just fine", "According to the ballots, Rear Guard [for the Atari] was bad beyond belief.".
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The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 19 August 2026.
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