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                                 Space War
                             For the Atari 2600

                              FAQ/Walkthrough
                            Last Updated: 2/5/06
                                Version 1.0

                             Written by eolsen
                            [email protected]

This file is copyright (c) 2006+ Elliot "eolsen" Olsen. All rights reserved.

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Table of Contents:
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1. Version History
2. Introduction
3. Game Data
4. Game Basics/Game Select Matrix
5. Controls
6. Walkthrough
7. FAQ
8. Credits
9. Legal Stuff
10. Contact Info

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1. Version History
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-Version 1.0: Complete guide written and uploaded.

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2. Introduction
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After I wrote quite a few Atari 2600 reviews(I'm not done yet), I decided to
share with you people the expertise of my playing. Space war is one Atari game
that takes a lot of strategy and practice to get good at so I figured this
would be a good game to starty writing guides for. This is my first walkthough
so hopefully everything will go well and this will get posted. If you have any
questions or comments, please email them to me.

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3. Game Data
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Title: I am writing this guide for Space War, however, Space Combat is an
identical game.

Developer: Atari(Space War), Sears(Space Combat)

Release date: 1978(one of the original 9 games to debut with the Atari 2600)

Model number: CX2604

Controller: Joystick

Game Variations: 17

Players: 1 or 2

Genre: Action -> Shooter

Value/Rarity: $5/R2(according to digitpress)

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4. Game Basics/Game Select Matrix
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There are two main variations in Space War. The first is space war and the
other is space shuttle. Space war must be played with two players. The goal of
space war is to hit your opponent with your missiles. However, you have a
limited amount of ammunition that will only be refilled when your opponent has
run out of ammunition. Space shuttle can be played by either one or two
players. The object of space shuttle is to dock your ship with the space
module. In each game there is a time limit of ten minutes. A player wins when
they score ten points. If it is a two player game and neither player scores
then points, then the player with the highest score wins. There are various
different modifications you can make to the game which are displayed in the
game select matrix below.

Game Screen:

________________________
|  x ======    y ======  |
||----------------------|| <--Galaxy Boundary outlines play feild(not visible)
||                      ||
||  1                2  ||
||          o           ||
||                      ||
||                      ||
||----------------------||
|________________________|

x = Left player score
y = right player score
= = top is feul gauge, bottom is missile guage
o = space sun or star base

Definitions:

1. Galaxy Boundary - In some games, your Star Ship cannot penetrate the
playfield boundaries and will instead bounce off the edges.

2. Warp Drive - Move your Star Ship off one edge of the Galaxy Boundary and it
will go into Warp Drive and reappear on the opposite side

3. Space Sun - Fight the pull of gravity from the sun in the center of the
Space Galaxy. In some games, your Star Ship will explode from exposure to the
extreme heat and reset to the starting point.

4. Hyperspace - when you go into hyperspace, your Star Ship becomes invisible.
When in hyperspace, your star Ship uses more fuel. It is impossible to fire
your missiles or to be hit my your opponent's missiles or to collide with the
Space Sun while in hyperspace.

5. Starbase - Make contact with the Starbase at the center of the galaxy to
refuel and resupply your missiles.

Game Select Matrix:
__________________ ______________ ____________________________
|                  |  Space War   |      Space Shuttle         |
| Game Number      | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7|8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 |
| No. of Players   | 2 2 2 2 2 2 2|2 2 2  2  2  2  1  1  1  1  |
| Single Module    |              |  x       x                 |
| Galaxy Boundary  | x x   x   x  |       x  x  x        x  x  |
| Warp Drive       |     x   x   x|x x x           x  x        |
| Space Sun        |       x x    |    x  x           x     x  |
| Hyperspace       |   x x x x x x|                            |
| Starbase         |           x x|                            |
|__________________|______________|____________________________|

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5. Controls
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If you have played Asteroids, then the controls are identical to them.

Fire button: Fires missiles

Left: Rotates ship left

Right: Rotates ship right

Up: Add thrust/come out of hyperspace

Down: Enter hyperspace

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6. Walkthrough
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>>>>>>>>>>
Space War:
<<<<<<<<<<

Scoring: A player will score when any of the following occurs:

-A direct hit is made by firing a missile.
-Your opponent collides with the Space Sun.
-Your opponent runs out of fuel while in hyperspace.
-Your opponent tries to enter hyperspace when out of fuel

Tips:

-As soon as the game starts, change your ship's position. The ships are lined
up so that either player can just turn and get a quick shot. You can try to
use this to your advantage and get a quick shot off, but it is safer just to
change positions quickly

-Keep an eye on your opponent's missile supply. Once one player runs out of
missiles, they don't get a refil until the other player runs out. Play your
shots carefully and try to be left with a few shots when your opponent runs
out. This way, they have no defense against your missiles.

-When playing in a galaxy with a Starbase and your opponent has no missiles
and you still have some remaining, you must use this feature to your advantage
in order to be sucessful.

-Leave your opponent without a chance for resupplying missiles by obtaining
all of your missiles efore your supplies are completely depleted.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Space Shuttle:
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

Scoring: A player will score when the following occurs:

-a Star Ship is successfully docked with the space module.

Tips:

-In order to make your Star Ship contact the module, your ship must be
travelling at the same rate of speed as the module and in the same direction
as the module. If both of these conditions aren't met, you will fly right
through the module.

- The easiest way to match your Star Ship's speed with the space module's
speed is to first stop your ship. Point it in the direction the module is
travelling. Apply thrust until th eStar Ship and the space module are moving
at the same speed. Then movie the Star Ship towards the space module.

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7. FAQ
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Question: How do I dock my ship in Space Shuttle mode?

Answer: To dock you must be moving at the exact same rate of speed as the
module and you must also be moving in the same direction. For more information
on this, just look right above.

Question: Where can I get this game?

Answer: Atari games are pretty much nonexistant in retail stores, however,
there is always a stock of games at yard sales and flea markets. Or you could
try various online places. www.videogameconnections.com is a higly reputable
classic game dealer that I have personally dealth with and am very satisfied,
or a good old scan of ebay will give you some results.

Question: Why isn't my game working?

Answer: Usually a good spray of contact cleaner will fix this problem. However
if this doesn't fix the problem, you can always download a ROM of the game
since you are legally allowed to since you own the original game.

Question: Can I play this game alone?

Answer: Yes. Of the seventeen game variations, the last four can be played by
one person. For a more extensive look on this, scroll up to my Game Select
Matrix.

Question: When did this game come out?

Answer: It came out in 1978. It was one of the nine original titles that were
released along with the Atari 2600 system.

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8. Credits
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I'd like to thank the following people/websites for info on this game, etc.

Video Game Connections - http://videogameconnections.com
Digital Press - http://digitpress.com
GameFAQs - http://gamefaqs.com

Some information in this guide was taken from the following sources:

Space War Manual: Most of the game basics section.
GameFAQs: Small amounts of info on the game.
Digitpress: Rarity and value and other various datum.

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9. Legal Stuff
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Currently this guide should only be viewed on:

GameFAQs - http://gamefaqs.com

If you find this guide on any other website, please contact me and the admin
of the other website. All information in this guide is credited to its owners
where credit is due. This guide is copyrighted to me Elliot Olsen 2006+. Any
reproduction of this guide in any form for profit or otherwise is forbidden by
law. If you would like to use this guide on your website, please contact me
and I will most likely allow it.

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10 Contact Info
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If you have any comments, questions, or anything else to say about this guide,
please feel free to contact me at any of the following places. I will try to
respond as soon as possible.

Email: [email protected]
AIM: greatmilinko55

If you like this guide, please check out some of my other contributions to
GameFAQs at:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/features/recognition/60101.html

Thanks for looking and have a nice day!

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