Combat

Combat

Atari 2600 - USA - 1st edition.

Developer Atari Publisher Atari, Sears, Roebuck and Co. Published 1977-09-11 Platforms Atari 2600 Genres Action, Shooter, Single-screen Themes War Series Atari Combat Multiplayer Simultaneous versus Distribution Commercial

Combat is a military-themed fixed shooter developed and published by Atari on 1977-09-11 for the Atari 2600. The game is is based off two earlier Atari arcade games, Tank and Jet Fighter. The game contains 27 variations of tank and aircraft combat where two human players try to shoot each other while maneuvering out of the way of the other player's shots. Successfully hitting your opponent earns you a point, and each game lasts a little over 2 minutes.

Combat was bundled with the Atari 2600 from its debut in 1977 until 1982 when Atari switched over to bundling the 2600 with Pac-Man instead. The game could also be purchased individually, and, when you combine individual sales with bundled sales, Combat was the second best-selling Atari 2600 game with around 11,000,000 units sold.

Personal

Own?	Yes. Atari 2600 with manual.
Won?	No. There is no single-player mode.
Finished	2019-02-28.

Combat was played quite frequently by my family because it was short and simple, but still competitive and enjoyable. My favorite variations were pong tanks, invisible tanks, and jets with clouds. And, though it was severely primitive, I always enjoyed the roaring sound of the tanks in the game.

Review

4	4	2	1	4

Best Version: Atari 2600

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The 27 different modes offer a fair amount of game play variation which helps keep the game interesting for awhile.
• The game is well-balanced. Players have identical vehicles, but are also allowed to introduce handicaps by employing the difficulty switches.
• Some of the variations added a much-needed twist to the game, like the rebounding bullets, invisible tanks, and the airplanes that can hide in the clouds.
• The game has attractive box art and a good manual.

Bad

• The game lacks a decent ending. All that happens when time runs out is controller input stops. The victor doesn't see any reward.
• It would be nice if you could adjust the win condition. Instead of time, perhaps let the game continue until one player reaches 20 points.

Ugly

• The game is seriously media-challenged. There is no music, only primitive sound effects, and the graphics are blocky and dull.
• Despite claiming 27 games, most of the variations are just minor differences of play. This means the game becomes redundant and dull very quickly.
• The inability to play a single-player game hurts the game over all. A second human player is necessary in order to play the game, but it's very common to not have another player available.

Media

Box Art

• 

  Each release of Combat uses this art with slightly different layout variations. Cliff Spohn painted the wonderful collage of tanks, biplanes, and jet fighters.

Documents

• 

  Manual (multiple versions).

• 

  Strategy guide - The Winners' Book of Video Games.

• 

  Strategy guide - How to Master Home Video Games.

• 

  Strategy guide - Be a Home Videogame Superstar: Secrets to the Best Games for Your Atari VCS.

Documents

• 

  Biplane 3-vs-1.

Videos

Game play.

Play Online

Atari 2600

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	There are no clear characters.
Bechdel test?	Fail	There are no clear characters.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	There are no clear characters.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no clear characters.

Download

Fans of the game have disassembled and commented the source code of Combat.

• Download (Info)

Credits

Role	Staff
Tank and Jet Fighter Designers	Lyle Rains, Steve Bristow
Programmers	Joe Decuir, Larry Wagner
Cleanup Programmer	Larry Kaplan
Atari 2600 Concept	Ron Milner, Steve Mayer
Box Art	Cliff Spohn

Links