Crossbow (video game)

Crossbow is a video game released in arcades by Exidy in 1983. It was later published by Absolute Entertainment for the Commodore 64 and MS-DOS, and by Atari Corporation for the Atari 2600, Atari 7800, and Atari 8-bit family starting in 1987. The game is controlled via a positional gun that resembles a full-sized crossbow.
Exidy promoted "Crossbow" to arcade operators as being convertible to new themes released in the future. Five themed conversion kits were created, each commencing with the letter 'c': "Cheyenne", "Combat", "Crackshot", "Clay Pigeon", and the controversial "Chiller".
Gameplay.
The player protects a band of adventurers from afar by shooting objects that threaten them. The adventurers enter from the left-hand side of the screen and attempt to cross the screen unharmed. If the player helps them reach the opposite side of the screen safely, the adventurers survive to the next scenario, and new adventurers are occasionally granted between scenarios.
In addition to the obstacles, the adventurers are vulnerable to the player's shots. The first time the player shoots an adventurer, an on-screen message is shown: "DON'T SHOOT YOUR FRIENDS!" Thereafter, shooting an adventurer will cause him/her to emit a cry of pain, and to walk at a slower pace the rest of the way. A second shot will kill the adventurer.
Scenarios are chosen by shooting a destination on a map screen, which include: town, desert, volcano, cave, bridge, jungle, and castle. The goal is to reach the final scenario, past the castle, in which the player confronts the Master of Darkness, who presumably created the dangers in the game. Defeating the Master of Darkness requires shooting him in the eyes when they turn red (and deadly). The player is treated to a brief congratulation and a challenge to defeat the Master of Darkness again, "IF YOU DARE". Following this screen the player starts over with however many adventurers survived the confrontation.