is a 1985

shooter video game Shooter video games or shooters are a subgenre of action video games where the focus is almost entirely on the defeat of the character's enemies using the weapons given to the player. Usually these weapons are firearms or some other long-range ...

developed and published by

Jaleco was a corporate brand name that was used by two previously connected video game developers and publishers based in Japan. The original Jaleco company was founded in 1974 as Japan Leisure Company, founded by Yoshiaki Kanazawa, before being renam ...

for arcades. In ''Field Combat'', the player fights as a

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually given wide latitu ...

in a

futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

battlefield. It was ported to the Famicom by

Tose () (also called Tose Software) is a Japanese video game development company based in Kyoto. It is mostly known for developing Nintendo's Game & Watch ports and remakes#Game & Watch Gallery series, ''Game & Watch Gallery'' series, various ''Drago ...

, which was later re-released for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other Regional lockout, regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major ho ...

’s

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

in 2007. A sequel game, ''Field Combat DX'', was released for Japanese mobile phones in 2004.

Gameplay

The object of the game is to make it all the way to the end of the

battlefield A battlefield, battleground, or field of battle is the location of a present or historic battle involving ground warfare. It is commonly understood to be limited to the point of contact between opposing forces, though battles may involve troops ...

using the Genesis (not to be confused with a North American video game console of the same name); a warship that can fire off missiles. While the player controls the blue forces, the player must defeat the Red forces without dying in the process by either avoiding or shooting

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

infantry Infantry is a military specialization which engages in ground combat on foot. Infantry generally consists of light infantry, mountain infantry, motorized infantry & mechanized infantry, airborne infantry, air assault infantry, and marine i ...

men, and

tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and good battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engin ...

s. An interesting characteristic of the game is that it is possible to ask for reinforcements from an army, which the player possesses, by pressing both the A and B buttons at the same time. Whenever the player runs out of units to aid him in battle, he can use his special weapon to "absorb" the enemies and add them to his army. There is also an enemy

UFO An unidentified flying object (UFO), more recently renamed by US officials as a UAP (unidentified aerial phenomenon), is any perceived aerial phenomenon that cannot be immediately identified or explained. On investigation, most UFOs are id ...

like spaceship that, when in battlefield, attempts to grab and escape with a player friendly unit (if there is any on the battlefield). It will also engage into air-to-air battle with a friendly helicopter (if there is any). The game used

Richard Wagner Wilhelm Richard Wagner ( ; ; 22 May 181313 February 1883) was a German composer, theatre director, polemicist, and conductor who is chiefly known for his operas (or, as some of his mature works were later known, "music dramas"). Unlike most op ...

's ''

Ride of the Valkyries The "Ride of the Valkyries" (german: Walkürenritt Ritt der Walküren, links=no) refers to the beginning of act 3 of ''Die Walküre'', the second of the four operas constituting Richard Wagner's ''Der Ring des Nibelungen''. As a separate piece ...

'' as its background music.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Field Combat'' on their April 15, 1985 issue as being the ninth most-successful table arcade unit of the month. ''

Computer Gamer ''Computer Gamer'' was a video game magazine published in the United Kingdom by Argus Specialist Publications, covering home gaming from April 1985 to June 1987. It was a colourful relaunch of the failing magazine '' Games Computing'', a mor ...

'' reviewed the arcade game, noting the gameplay is similar to

Taito is a Japanese company that specializes in video games, toys, arcade cabinets and game centers, based in Shinjuku, Tokyo. The company was founded by Michael Kogan in 1953 as the importing vodka, vending machines and jukeboxes into Japan. It b ...

's ''

Front Line A front line (alternatively front-line or frontline) in military terminology is the position(s) closest to the area of conflict of an armed force's personnel and equipment, usually referring to land forces. When a front (an intentional or uninte ...

'' (1982) from several years earlier and stating it is "Quite good but very difficult to get the initial hang of."

References

External links

*
Field Combat
' at arcade-history * {{Jaleco 1985 video games Arcade video games City Connection franchises Jaleco games Nintendo Entertainment System games Science fiction video games Tose (company) games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in the future Virtual Console games Virtual Console games for Wii U Multiplayer and single-player video games