Battle City

a.k.a. バトルシティー

created and published by Namco in 1985-09-09, running on Nintendo Entertainment System

type: shooter, maze
genre: Arena shooter
perspective: bird's-eye
player options: single player

languages: eng

3.7/5

bootleg(s): Tank

Personal review

Battle City feels a bit like an evolved form of the Atari 2600 classic Combat. With your own tank you have to defend your headquarter, which is in the bottom middle of the screen, from enemy tanks. Enemy tanks come in four different variants, regarding speed and shots they take until they are destroyed. Tanks can shoot down brick walls and hide under trees, but have to maneuver around solid walls or pools of water. Shooting a blinking enemy tank makes an extra appear somewhere on the map. Upon collecting this you get certain bonuses like freezing all enemies, creating an undestructible wall around your hq and so on. Besides a standard one player mode the game features a very nice cooperative two player mode. When you become bored you can also build new levels via an editor in construction mode. Graphics are below average, music is nearly non-existant, the sound effects during the game get their work done. Playability is rather good, especially the two-player mode can be real fun.