Atari 2600: Berzerk (Internet Archive) Berzerk is a multi-directional shooter video arcade game, released in 1980 by Stern Electronics of Chicago. The player controls a green stick man, representing a humanoid. Using a joystick (and a firing button to activate a laser-like weapon), the player navigates a simple maze filled with many robots, who fire lasers back at the player character. A player can be killed by being shot, by running into a robot or an exploding robot, coming into contact with the electrified walls of the maze itself, or by being touched by the player’s nemesis, Evil Otto.