acombat is a 1977 video game by Atari, Inc. for the Atari Video Computer System (later renamed the Atari 2600). In the game, two players controlling either a tank, a biplane, or a jet fire missiles at each other for two minutes and sixteen seconds. Points are scored by hitting the opponent, and the player with the most points when the time runs out wins. Variations on the gameplay introduce elements such as invisible vehicles, missiles that ricochet off of walls, and different playing fields.

The game was being made while the Atari 2600 was still in development. Combat was based on Atari’s popular arcade game Tank. It was initially developed by Steve Mayer and Ron Milner. Joe Decuir later tested it on the developing Atari Video Computer System hardware, and Larry Wagner completed the game while adding the two plane variations to the game. The game was released as a pack-in game with the Atari Video Computer System.

Gameplay – acombat

Combat uses two four-directional joysticks, one for each player.^[2] The game has several modes of gameplay: “Tank”, “Biplane” and “Jet” and with variations of the above models.^[3] The tank and jet modes are viewed from a top-down perspective while biplane games are side view.^[4] In all forms of the game, pushing the button fires a missile. After two minutes and sixteen seconds, the player whose has successfully hit their opponent is the winner. Variation of the gameplay in Tank mode add obstacles to maneuver around, having the missiles rebound off of walls (referred to as Tank-Pong) and having invisibility, where the tanks are invisible except when they are firing a missile or are hit by one.^[3][5] In the other two modes, Jet and Biplane, there are no obstacles with both aircraft continuously moving forwards.^[3] These levels have options for obscuring clouds in which the planes can hide behind.^[5] The original Atari VCS game system has six switches in front, including left and right difficulty switches and a game select switch. The difficulty switches change the range of fire of the missiles and in the plane-based games, changes the speed of flight.^[6] acombat

Development – acombat

acombat was programmed while the Atari 2600 hardware was still under development.^[3] Steve Mayer was developing the game by late 1975. This program was a tank game made on early prototype Atari 2600 hardware made by Mayer and Ron Milner from Cyan Engineering, a consulting firm that Atari had purchased in 1975.^[7][8] The VCS hardware was designed to be capable of playing Atari’s popular arcade games Pong (1972) Pong Doubles (1973), Quadrapong (1974), Gran Trak 10 (1974), Tank (1974), and Jet Fighter (1975).^[9] Combat was based on the Tank.^[7]