Timeline | 1977: Combat for Atari 2600

Combat was one of the 2600's first popular games.

Released alongside the Atari 2600 in 1977, and packed in with the console until 1982 (when it was replaced with Pac-Man), Combat was one of the first popular games on the Atari both in terms of sales and replayability. The original cover art boasted that the game contained '27 Video Games' which were in actuality just variations on 3 main game modes - Tank, Biplane and Jet gameplay. This embelishing of the number of 'included games' was very common on Atari 2600, Colecovision, Magnavox Odyssey and many other early video game consoles.

GAMEPLAY

Screenshot of Combat's Biplane gameplay.

Combat was actually a combination of two earlier Atari arcade games: 'Tank' and 'Anti-Aircraft II' from 1974 and 1975 respectively. The Biplane gameplay involved two players shooting different types of projectiles at eachother as they flew around the screen, an alternate gameplay mode had one player be a large 'Bomber' and another be a squadron of smaller 'Fighter' planes.

Screenshot of Combat's Jet gameplay, very similar to the Biplane one.

The Jet combat mode was very similar to Biplane gameplay with many of the same modes (including the multiple planes per player shown here which could be done in both modes) but the Jet planes flew a little differently and had only 'Missile' weaponry as opposed to the Biplane's machine guns. I got the impression this was supposed to be a more difficult/competitive version of the aerial combat.

The mode everyone played, Combat's Tank battles were loads of fun!

The Tank combat mode in 'Combat' were simple yet very fun. The basic concept was very similar to the planes but as tanks your mobility was less and only direct fire weaponry made it harder - plus in later stages like the one shown in the screenshot the field had obstacles that blocked your driving and shooting paths. Navigating to line up shots without being shot yourself could be difficult and made for great fun. There was also a 'Tank Pong' mode where the projectiles you fired would bounce off of the walls one time before disappearing upon their next contact with the walls, this made for another facet of strategy in the game.

LEGACY

Screenshot from Atari's Combat 2

Combat was popular enough that Atari had planned a release of a sequel, tentatively named Combat 2, for 1984. However, the video game crash of 1983 halted those plans. The game would go on to be released on one of the Atari Flashback consoles (a line of retro game consoles that Atari released in the 2000s that had many old Atari games on them).

Screenshot from the tanks game in Wii Play on the Nintendo Wii

Overlooked by many gamers because of the casual focus, Wii Play on the Nintendo Wii contained a game called Tanks that in many ways builds upon things from the Tank game mode on 'Combat'. The game has additional features like different enemies, weapons, traps, etc. but the basic gameplay is very similar and in my opinion an obvious homage to the gaming classic that is 'Combat'.

Further Reading:

Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combat_(video_game)