How to play Tank Command online
- Drive and aim: arrow keys (eight directions)
- Set the firing range (eight steps): Z (left button)
- Fire a shell: X (right button)
- Start a game: Z on the title screen
- Back to the title screen: F3 (Reset)
- Pause: F4
- Tank Command was only released in the USA (NTSC).
Gameplay
You have seven tanks to push into enemy territory. Your goal is the enemy flag at the end of Level 3: drive into it and the game ends with a 100,000-point bonus. In between are pillboxes, tanks, jeeps, buildings, missile silos and anti-tank infantry, with air attacks and artillery on the later levels. Hidden tank traps stop you dead, and the only way out is to reverse.
Each tank starts with 50 shells and a full tank of fuel. When the fuel runs out, the tank can still fire but can’t move. The only way to refuel or rearm is to drive over enemy fuel and ammo dumps. You earn extra tanks as your score grows, and the game ends when the last one is lost.
| Target | Points |
|---|---|
| Enemy jeep (shell) | 4,000 |
| Building (6 shells) | 3,000 |
| Pillbox (4 shells) | 1,600 |
| Infantry (shell / run over) | 1,600 / 800 |
| Enemy tank (shell) | 1,000 |
| Fuel or ammo dump (driven over) | 400 |
| Enemy flag (driven into) | 100,000 |
Tips
- Drive over dumps, don’t shoot them. Shooting scores more, but driving over them is your only way to resupply.
- Grab supplies early. The enemy blows up its own dumps if you leave them too long.
- Set the range before you fire. Shells that fall short or overshoot are wasted.
- Aim low at the infantry. The manual advises hitting them at the feet, because their armor can deflect shells.
- Don’t ram enemy tanks. A collision destroys both tanks and scores nothing.
The story behind Tank Command
Froggo Games, founded in 1987 in Sunnyvale, California, mostly reissued games first released by other companies and had a reputation for poor quality. Tank Command and Water Ski, both from 1988, were its only Atari 7800 games. It is a rare cartridge today. AtariAge’s reviewer found the first level easy and the next two far harder.
