Battle City is a video game for the Nintendo Entertainment System produced and published in 1985 by Namco.  The game was released for the Game Boy and is included in the Japanese version of Star Fox Assault.

The player, controlling a tank, must destroy enemy tanks in each level, which enter the playfield from the top of the screen. The enemy tanks attempt to destroy the player's base (represented on the map as a bird, eagle or phoenix), as well as the human tank itself. A level is completed when the player destroys all 20 enemy tanks, but the game ends if the player's base is destroyed or the player loses all available lives.

Gameplay

Battle City contains 35 different stages that are 13 blocks wide and 13 blocks high. Each map contains different types of terrain and obstacles. Examples include brick walls that can be destroyed by having either the player's tank or an enemy tank shoot at them, steel walls that can be destroyed by the player only, and pools of water which cannot be crossed by tanks. There are four progressively harder types of enemy tanks. The game becomes more challenging in later levels, as enemy tanks may act as decoys to lure players away from their base so that another tank can destroy it. In addition, flashing tanks could be destroyed for power-ups.

Battle City was also one of the first games to allow two players to play simultaneously. Both players have to defend the base together, and if one shoots the other, he would freeze for a while.

Plot

As with many games released during the first wave of NES titles, Battle City did not have a proper storyline or ending. After the player completed stage 35, the game would go back to stage 1 and continue.

Trivia

Battle City was one of the first NES games to allow players access to an edit mode where they could create custom levels. Some players would create levels where their base was surrounded by steel walls, making it impossible for enemies to attack it.