Robot Tank Atari 2600 FAQ/Strategy Guide Version: 1.0 Author: Larcen Tyler Last Revision Date: 12/10/02 =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= This document is electronically published work Copyrighted ©2002 Larcen Tyler. Permission is granted to make a copy _ONLY_ as a personal reference copy, in which case the document _MUST_ remain in its original, unedited form. Any other reproduction is strictly prohibited. This document may not be used as a promotional item or for profitable means of any kind (even if no profit is intended to be gained.) This document is only allowed to appear on the GameFAQs website and no other website whatsoever, nor may any part of this document appear on any website for any reason whatsoever. Robot Tank is a registered trademark owned by Activision Games. Atari 2600 and any accessories mentioned within are registered trademarks and copyrighted materials owned by Atari Games. GameFAQs is a registered trademark and copyrighted 1995-2002 by Jeff 'CJayC' Veasey. Any other names mentioned within not mentioned in this section are registered trademarks and/or copyrighted materials owned by their respective owners. Larcen Tyler is in no way affiliated with any of the companies listed above, or their affiliates in any way. No affiliation should be assumed for any reason whatsoever. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. REVISION HISTORY 2. MISSION DETAILS/HOW TO PLAY 3. SCORING 4. TIPS 5. CONTACT INFORMATION 6. CREDITS =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 1. REVISION HISTORY 12/10/02: First started writing this guide. 12/12/02: Finished it finally. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 2. MISSION DETAILS/HOW TO PLAY MISSION DETAILS October 2019 California The recent advances in robotic technologies have created a new type of defense system for the United States. Military actions are controlled primarily by computers nowadays, and human intervention is reduced to a minimum. However, a problem has occurred. Somehow, a great deal of the newest Robot Tanks have suddenly begun going haywire and attacking innocents near Santa Clara, California. It is unknown who or what is behind this whole mess, but one thing is certain: The enemy tanks must be stopped at any cost whatsoever. Fortunately, there are still some tanks that are unaffected by this disaster, so the President of the United States has ordered you to take command of these tanks and destroy the enemy tanks. HOW TO PLAY Plug a joystick into the left joystick port and hold it with the fire button pointing toward the upper-left. The right joystick port, difficulty switches, TV Type and Game Select switches are not used in this game. Pressing the Game Reset switch begins your mission. To move your tank forwards, push the joystick towards the game screen. Pull it towards you to move it backwards. Pushing the joystick to the left or right will turn your tank in that direction. You can move diagonally by moving forwards or backwards and pushing the joystick to one of the sides at the same time. To fire a shot, press the fire button. Use your crosshairs to set your sights on the enemy and then fire! You can turn your tank left and right to steer your shot in case the enemy moves at the last second. Watch out, as the enemy is not going to sit there and let you defeat them that easily! They will attempt to destroy your tank as well. If they fire at you, quickly move out of the way. You can spot an enemy by looking at your radar in the bottom center of your screen. The rotating wand is there simply to simulate a real radar. The bottom of the wand designates where your tank is, and the dot indicates where an enemy is. The bottom indicates the enemy is behind you, to the left and right indicates they're on that side, and the top indicates they're in front of you. Enemies who are behind you won't shoot you so don't worry. However, once they're ahead of you, they will have no qualms against shooting you! If your tank is hit, one of two things may happen: TANK DESTROYED: Your screen will fill with random static before a message tells you that you are switching to a reserve tank. Reserve tanks are designated by the tanks located at the bottom of your screen. If your tank is destroyed and you have no reserve tanks left, the game is over. TANK DAMAGED: Your tank has not been destroyed, but has sustained damage to one of four possible locations. The damage indicators are: V: Video screen damaged. Your view will black out occasionally. T: Treads damaged. Movement is severely slowed down. C: Cannon damaged. Your cannon will not always fire when you want it to. R: Radar damaged. The radar stops functioning and you must locate enemies on your own. Damaged tanks CAN'T BE REPAIRED AT ALL! So be careful! It is possible for more than one system to be damaged at a time. If all four are damaged, you lose your tank. TIME OF DAY AND WEATHER Your mission begins at 1000 Hours (10 AM military time) in bright sunlight. As the time approaches 1800 Hours (6 PM military time) things will get dark, making it harder to see. You will only be able to see tanks on the radar and when they fire, illuminating themselves. When the time reaches 0000 Hours (Midnight military time) one day will have elapsed. At 0500 Hours (5 AM military time) a weather report will come in. You'll need to use extra caution since these conditions can make things more complicated. FOG: The area will be a grey color, and tanks will only show up when you are close to them. RAIN: The sky will be a dark grey color, and the grass will appear darker. Movement will be impeded slightly. SNOW: The sky will be dark blue and just about everything else will be white. Movement becomes a bit slippery. However, if your treads are damaged, movement will be next to impossible in the snow. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 3. SCORING At the top of the screen, one small tank will appear for every tank that you destroy. There are twelve tanks in every squadron. If you destroy one squadron, a small box with the number '12' will appear beneath your total number of tanks, and you will be rewarded with an extra tank. The maximum number of reserve tanks you may have at any time is 12. If you manage to destroy 144 tanks, then you will have destroyed all 12 of the enemy squadrons. The game will end with the mission a success. =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 4. TIPS -Enemy shots can be destroyed. If you see one coming at you, fire your cannon and the shot will be neutralized. You can also destroy an enemy tank while the shot is in mid-air and the shot will automatically neutralize. -If your cannon is damaged or you don't have time to shoot the enemy shot, you can dodge the shot. Simply move so that the shot is off of your view screen and it should go right past you. -Even at night or during a fog, don't give up hope. Your radar, as long as it's undamaged, can still locate enemy tanks where normal people couldn't, and when an enemy fires, they illuminate for a second, giving you a lead on where they are. -Don't give up! It may seem tough at first, but with a little practice, it should get easier. -And most importantly, HAVE FUN! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 5. CONTACT INFORMATION READ THIS BEFORE YOU SEND ME ANY E-MAIL! The following types of E-Mail I will _NOT_ accept under any circumstances: -Mail that contains flaming (insults) or offensive content within. If you don't have anything nice to say, then don't say anything! -Spam/Advertisements of any kind. This is against the law, and will not be taken lightly. -Asking if you can use this on your website/in your FAQ/Magazine/anything like that will not be tolerated. In case you missed it, I specifically stated that I won't allow it in the disclaimer section at the beginning. -Asking where to find this game in a ROM format, or any other illegal software requests will be ignored. -Asking me where to find this cartridge. (Honestly, I wish I knew where to find Atari games, but I have as much of a hard time finding them as you probably do! Your best bet is to check online.) The following types of E-Mail I will accept: -Suggestions and/or constructive criticism. -Strategies of your own. -Any information I may have left out in this version. -Generally, anything that will help me improve this guide in future revisions! (Make sure to put 'Robot Tank FAQ' as your subject line.) You can reach me at: larcentyler480@yahoo.com =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= 6. CREDITS This couldn't have been possible if it weren't for the following people: -Alan Miller at Activision for designing this game! -Atari for making the Atari 2600. -AtariAge (www.atariage.com) for providing an HTML version of the manual which gave me a great plethora of information! -My mother for constantly playing the Atari 2600 and passing the addiction onto me. -Jeff 'CJayC' Veasey for such a great website where FAQ writers (like me!) can post our work! -And lastly, but certainly never least, YOU for reading this document! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= ©2002 Larcen Tyler