# Retro Game: Battle City ## Overview *Battle City* is a legendary multi-directional shooter that became a cornerstone of the Nintendo Entertainment System library. Players take control of a yellow tank and are tasked with a critical mission: defend their base, represented by an eagle emblem, at all costs. Set across a series of maze-like stages, you must destroy all incoming enemy tanks while strategically navigating the destructible terrain. With its simple yet deep gameplay, iconic power-ups, and fantastic two-player cooperative mode, *Battle City* is a true 8-bit masterpiece. ## Background Developed and published by Namco in 1985 for the Famicom in Japan, *Battle City* is an enhanced home console version of Namco's own 1980 arcade game, *Tank Battalion*. While the original was a simple shooter, *Battle City* added crucial new features like power-ups, more varied enemy types, and, most importantly, a two-player simultaneous mode and a built-in level editor. The game became incredibly popular worldwide, partly due to its inclusion on countless unofficial multicarts, making it one of the most widely played and recognized games of its generation. ## Gameplay The gameplay in *Battle City* takes place on a single, static screen filled with various types of terrain, including destructible brick walls and impenetrable steel walls. The primary objective is to destroy 20 enemy tanks that enter the map from the top of the screen. These enemy tanks come in four varieties: basic tanks, fast-moving APCs, rapid-firing tanks, and heavily armored tanks that require multiple hits to destroy. While hunting down the enemy, the player's most important duty is to protect the eagle base located at the bottom center of the screen. If an enemy tank (or the player) shoots the base, the game is over instantly. Players can collect various power-ups that appear after hitting a flashing red tank, including a tank upgrade (star), a temporary shield (helmet), a shovel that reinforces the base with steel walls, and a bomb that destroys all on-screen enemies. The game truly shines in its two-player co-op mode, where players must work together to defend the base and clear the screen, a feature that cemented its status as a multiplayer classic.