Hi Thomas, I copied this from the Combat wiki. This is the home version not the arcade one. Atari Combat Released 1977.
Combat had color graphics and numerous gameplay variations. The 27 game modes featured a variety of different combat scenarios, including tanks, biplanes, and jet fighters. The tank games had interesting options such as bouncing munitions ("Tank-Pong") and invisibility. The biplane and jet games also allowed for variation, such as multiple planes per player and an inventive game with a squadron of planes versus one giant bomber. The Tank game in Combat had the basis of two tanks controlled by players each moving around a playing field and shooting the other player until time ran out. The player with the higher score would win. There were various types of shots a player could have depending on which level they chose, including straight missiles, guided missiles, and Tank Pong in which the shots would bounce off the walls, with variations upon whether a direct hit could strike their opponent, or a strike required a billiard hit. There was also an Invisible Tank in which the players would be invisible except for a brief few seconds after firing, and Invisible Tank Pong option. Along with the play styles there were also mazes to choose from including an empty field, a simple maze and a complex maze.
One notable (and perhaps unintentional) interaction that could be performed in the tank game consisted of bringing one tank up behind the opponent tank such that the cannon of the first was inserted into the rear cutout of the second. Once in this position, by rotating the first tank, a sprite collision could be triggered which would send the tanks into a wild "jump", during which they usually would pass through obstacles, or leave the edge of the screen to enter on the other side.
Another set of level choices in Combat were the Biplanes. Unlike the Tank version, this was played with three types of firing shots (straight-missile, guided missile, and machine guns). However, there were several different gameplay modes. Players had the option of fighting one on one, having a pair of Biplanes each that moved and fired in tandem, or have one player control three tandem Biplanes against one large Bomber. The Bomber's shot was an oversized projectile that otherwise behaved as a straight-missile. Instead of having mazes to fly through, there were two clouds in the middle of the stage that either player could fly into temporarily hiding them from view of the other player.
Very similar to the Biplanes level, was the Jets option. In this mode, only straight missile and guided missiles were used. It still had the same map options and squadron options as the biplanes mode, with Jets flying singly, two-on-two, or three-on-three.
Atari developed a sequel to the popular Combat scheduled for release in 1984, but was canceld. Atari finally officially released it on the Atari Flashback 2 dedicated console, in 2005. Combat 2 featured a more sophisticated version of the original's tank game, with Tanks requiring multiple hits to destroy, and Missile Bases with an outer barrier which took many hits to chip through but the appropriate tank could hide within, and the ability to launch a large homing missile at very slow intervals. The game's single action button fired the Tank's gun normally, but launched a missile if pressed while the tank was within the Missile Base. Destroying an opponent's Missile Base also eliminated all of their reserve Tanks. The game took place in a forest environment divided by a river that could be crossed by either of two bridges. In some modes, the tanks could move under the trees and in others, the tanks were forced to go around or shoot their way through solid barriers. Some mode allowed each player to detail the placement of trees or barriers prior to the battle.
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