Combat © 1977 Atari, Incorporated.
A 2-player tank game where the object is simple - shoot your opponent's tank before they shoot yours. There are 27 game variations, some of which let you play with airplanes instead of tanks.
The levels include:
1-5: Tank levels. Levels 3 and 5 are "straight missile" levels where the players' projectiles simply fly forward. On the "guided missile" levels (1, 2, 4) the projectiles can be controlled with a joystick after firing.
6-9: "Tank-pong" levels, where the players' missiles bounce off walls. In the "billiard hit" levels (8 and 9), there's an additional rule that a missile must bounce at least once before it can hit the enemy tank.
10 and 11: Invisible tank levels, where the tanks only become briefly visible when they shoot, bump into a wall, or are hit by a missile. Both of these give the players guided missiles.
12-14: Invisible "tank-pong" levels. Levels 13 and 14 use the "billiard hit" rule.
15-20: Biplane levels, where the players fly planes that are constantly moving forward and wrap around to the other side when they fly off the screen. Levels 15 and 19 use guided missiles; 16 and 20 use straight missiles; on 17 and 18, the players use rapid-fire machine guns. Additionally, level 19 is a "2 vs. 2" level - both players have two planes each that move and shoot together - and level 20 is "1 vs. 3", where one player has three planes while the other has a single large plane.
21-27: Jet fighter levels. The jet planes move faster than biplanes, but other than that gameplay remains similar. 22, 24, and 27 are straight missile levels, the rest are guided-missile levels. Additionally, 25 and 27 are "2 vs. 2" levels, while 26 is a "1 vs. 3" level.
Model CX2601
Combat for Atari 2600 was released on October 14, 1977 in the USA. It was re-published in 1978 with the same catalog number and a slighty different back cover.
Export releases:
PAL "Combat [Model CX2601P]"
Programmer: Larry Wagner, Joe Decuir
CONSOLES:
Microsoft XBOX (nov.16, 2004) "Atari Anthology [Model 26084]"
Sony PS2 (nov.22, 2004) "Atari Anthology [Model SLUS-21076]"
Microsoft XBOX (aug.4, 2005) "Atari Anthology [Model B7X-00001]"
Sony PlayStation 4 (oct.18,2016) "Atari Flashback Classics Vol.1"
Microsoft XBOX One (nov.1,2016) "Atari Flashback Classics Vol.1"
HANDHELDS:
Nintendo DS (mar.8, 2011) "Atari Greatest Hits Vol.2 [Model NTR-BR7E-USA]"
COMPUTERS:
PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (1997) "Activision's Atari 2600 Action Pack 3"
PC [MS Windows, CD-ROM] (nov.11, 2003) "Atari - 80 Classic Games in One! [Model 25069J]"
Steam (mar.24,2016) "Atari Vault [Model 400020]"
OTHERS:
"Atari Flashback 2" (2005)
"Atari Flashback 3" (sept.16, 2011) by AtGames
"Atari Flashback 4" (nov.13, 2012) by AtGames
"Atari Flashback 5" (oct.1, 2014) by AtGames
"Atari Flashback 6" (sept.15,2015) by AtGames
"Atari Flashback 7" (oct.1,2016) by AtGames
"Atari Flashback 8" (sept.22, 2017) by AtGames
"Atari Flashback 8 Gold Edition" (sept.22, 2017) by AtGames
"Atari Flashback 8 Gold Activision Edition" (sept.22, 2017) by AtGames
Game's ROM.