Tank vs. tank.
Combat was one of the
Atari 2600's launch titles, and it came with the console from 1977 to 1982. It was a series of 27
Top Down View or
Side View,
Player Versus Player,
Shoot Em Ups. It was based on two arcade games from the mid-
1970s:
Tank and
Jet Fighter.
Each game lasts
2 minutes and 16 seconds, and the object is to hit your opponent more than he hits you.
The first 14 games are top-view tank games. Drive your tank around, avoid walls or use them as cover, and shoot the other tank. Some of the variations have unguided shells, some have guided missiles, and some are 'Tank-Pong' in which the shell bounces off the walls. The last five variations have invisible tanks, only visible when firing or hitting a wall.
The next six are side-view biplane dogfights. Some have clouds that obscure the planes, some have open skies. Some have single-shot rifles, some have shorter range machine guns, and some have guided missiles. One variation gives each player a squadron of two planes, and another pits three fighters against one bomber.
The last seven are top-view jet dogfights. Like the biplanes, there are variations in clouds, unguided rockets or guided missiles, and squadrons.
The difficulty switches are used to handicap the games, shortening the tank shell range or slowing the airplane.
Combat provides examples of: