How to play Air-Sea Battle online
- Player 1 (left gun): arrow keys, fire = Space
- Player 2 (right gun): T/F/G/H, fire = A. In games against the computer, you play the right gun.
- Aim the anti-aircraft gun: up = 30 degrees, no key = 60 degrees, down = straight up
- Move a submarine or gallery gun: left and right
- Change the speed of your ship or plane (Polaris and Bomber games): up and down
- Choose a game / start: F11 (Select) / F12 (Reset)
- Missile size: F4 and F9 toggle the two difficulty switches
Gameplay
Every match lasts 2 minutes and 16 seconds, or ends early when someone reaches 99 points. The scores flash during the last 16 seconds. Targets cross the screen in groups, and a new group appears only when the whole group has been hit. The game numbers fall into six styles:
- Anti-Aircraft (1–6): fixed guns shoot at passing aircraft.
- Torpedo (7–12): you steer a submarine along your half of the screen and fire up at ships.
- Shooting Gallery (13–15): aim and slide your gun; rabbits score 3, ducks 2, clowns 1.
- Polaris (16–18): your ship moves along the bottom by itself; you control its speed.
- Bomber (19–21): a plane crosses the top of the screen, bombing ships.
- Polaris vs. Bomber (22–27): ship against plane, each trying to hit the other.
Within each group there is a normal game, a game with guided shots you can steer after firing, and a game against the computer. In the first Anti-Aircraft and Torpedo sets every target scores one point; the second sets mix targets of different speeds and values and add obstacles, such as blimps in the sky and mines under the sea.
| Aircraft (games 4–6) | Points |
|---|---|
| Small jet | 4 |
| Large jet | 3 |
| Helicopter | 2 |
| 747 | 1 |
| Blimp (blocks shots) | 0 |
In difficulty position A your missile is a quarter of its size in position B. Setting one switch to A and the other to B gives a stronger player a handicap.
Tips
- Find a human opponent. The computer does nothing clever: it just keeps firing.
- Try game 8. Early reviewers named the guided Torpedo game the best on the cartridge.
- Aim for the small jets. In the mixed games, one is worth four 747s.
The story behind Air-Sea Battle
Kaplan joined Atari in August 1976. Seeing all the modes being built into Combat, he decided to fill his own cartridge with variations. Historians point to arcade games such as Anti-Aircraft, Sea Wolf and Destroyer as models. Kaplan found a way to move the same graphic object several times in one frame, which let him show more targets than the hardware was designed for; the comb-like marks on the left edge of the screen are a side effect. With only 2 KB of space he dropped plans for a smarter computer opponent, and at Sears’ request the gallery’s dogs became rabbits.
The game was promoted as a launch title, though buyers first had to mail-order it. In 1980 Video magazine named it Best Target Game, and Atari was still selling it in 1988. It later appeared on collections such as Atari Anthology and Atari 50.
