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Battle City FAQ -- NES

By Orochi K
kartelkertra <at> caramail <dot> com

v Final
August 12, 2002

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Credits:
- Sashanan for all the nifty info he sent in.
- CJayC for posting this guide on his website.

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© 2002, Orochi K. All rights reserved.

This FAQ is for personal use only. Do not distribute it or use it for
profitable purposes. If you want to post this FAQ on a website, e-mail me
before doing anything and don't forget to send me the URL to the said
site so I can create a disaster there beforehand. Plagiarism is a crime,
just ask.

If you have contributions, questions or just want to offer some feedback
about this guide, e-mail me at the same adress and put "Battle City" as
the subject. Failure to do so means your e-mail will just be ignored.
Me hate Klez and spam ? You understand ?

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GAME OVERVIEW
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Battle City is an action game where you control a tank and your objective is
to destroy all the enemy tanks around you, while ensuring that your base
isn't attacked. Your base is represented by the phoenix symbol and is always
found at the bottom of the screen while the enemy tanks will appear at the
top of the screen.

The game is in top view. There are various items which also appear from
time to time. One of these (the star) enables your tank to become more
powerful and thus allows you to cope with the nightmare that the later
stages are. But, of course, you return to normal once you lose a life and
thus, you'll have to do your best to remain alive.

Anyway, the game is very long but it needs only a short FAQ. No walkthrough
is needed for this kind of game as it is very straightforward. Of course,
the difficulty is another thing. Hope you enjoy my guide and it is of any
use to you.



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CONTROLS/FEATURES
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~ Press the directional buttons to move about. You cannot move diagonally
  but can move up, down, left and right as long as nothing is blocking your
  way..


~ Brick walls can be destroyed by firing at them. You will notice that the
  enemy tanks will also destroy the walls to move on and to reach your base
  as quickly as possible.

~ Grass doesn't count as an obsctacle. The tanks will appear to pass below
  it.


~ Steel walls cannot be destroyed normally but you can do so once your tank
  is at Level 3.


~ Water acts as an obstacle to your tank but your bullets will go over it.
  So, you can be on one side of a water patch and still destroy a tank which
  is on other side.


~ Your tank can level-up through Stars (refer to "Items" section). There
  are 4 levels in all. Additional notes and the fourth level (which I
  missed the first time) have been sent in by Sashanan).

  Level 1 : Default (you start as this and return to this level after dying)
  Level 2 : 1 stars
  Level 3 : 2 stars
  Level 4 : 3 stars

  At level 1, your tank is just a decent one with weak firepower. I guess
  that's why it's called default.

  At level 2, it gains becomes slightly stronger. Your bullets also come out
  faster, thus allowing you to face enemy tanks. Trying to destroy enemy
  tanks from a distance become relatively easier as opposed to the chore
  of doing the same thing with the Level 1 tank.

  At level 3, your tank becomes considerably more powerful. One bullet is
  enough to destroy a brick wall and you can even destroy steel walls. You
  are also faster and have the ability to fire 2 shots in quick succession.

  At level 4, your shots again gain in power (bricks disappear in a breeze)
  and you can now clear steel walls too. However, according to Sashanan
  again, the bigger enemy tanks still take 4 shots to disappear in a puff.

  Also, the tanks don't gain in speed as they move across the levels. It's
  just an impression, so don't let that fool you into turning into Rambo.



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ITEMS
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Grenade - All the enemy tanks will explode. It is always better to wait
          before taking it such that a maximum number of tanks will be
          destroyed. According to Sashanan, the disadvantage of picking up
          the grenade is that you don't get any points for all the tanks
          that are subsequently destroyed. Thus, if you are playing for
          the score, it would be wiser to grab it only when there are a
          few enemies on-screen (or maybe a couple near your base and it
          would take forever to backtrack). As a side-note, you get 500 pts
          whenever you get the grenade even if there are no tanks on-screen.


Star    - Makes your tank stronger. Stars have an accumulated effect. Your
          tank can evolve into a gigantic one with awesome firepower. You
          can fire bullets in quick succession and the shots themselves
          travel faster.


Shovel  - Increases your base's defense. The brick wall will turn into a
          steel one. Thus, your base is invulnerable during that time.
          In addition, any gaps that may have been caused by enemy tanks
          are filled by the steel wall, as pointed out by Sashanan. As
          I later found out myself, the gaps remain full when the steel
          wall reverts back to normal again. Nice!


Clock   - Immobilizes all enemy tanks for a short period of time. You may
          then safely destroy those. Once you've grabbed a clock item, it
          affects everything. Even tanks which appear after you've taken
          the item will be immobilized, provided the effect is still being
          observed.


Helmet - Makes you invincible for some time. Your tank will be surrounded by
         a barrier and can take anything as long as the latter is present.


Tank   - D'oh, a life-up! Don't miss those, you'll need them! :)



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ENEMY TANKS
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There are 4 types of enemy tanks throughout the whole game. At the start
of the game, you will logically encounter more A and B tanks but as you
reach the later stages, tanks C and D will literally flood the screen! :)


Tank A : These tanks are very easy to destroy and are quite slow. Firepower
         is basically the same as yours when you start the game. Destroyed
         in one shot.


Tank B : These are the fastest tanks in the game but they are weak
         defensively. They can be very annoying though as they'll travel
         across the whole screen within seconds. Destroyed in one shot but
         they are fast enough to avoid your bullets, so be careful!


Tank C : Slightly stronger versions of Tank A and faster (but not as much as
         B). These tanks also have the ability to fire two shots in quick
         succession (same as your Level 3 equivalent).


Tank D: Very sturdy tanks but they are also extremely slow , so you can try
        to take advantage of this. These tanks also require several shots
        before they explode. As pointed out by Sashanan, Tanks D merely
        represent an obstacle to your own tanks. They don't necessarily
        make for your base since they are so slow.



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HINTS & TIPS
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Here are a few hints and tips which will help you in beating the game.


~ Be always on the look-out for tanks which will try to get to your base.
  When this happens, backtrack immediately and take care of those tanks.
  Remember, it's Game Over if they shoot at your base.


~ A cheap way of playing would be to remain at the top where the tanks
  appear (they will do so to the left or to the right, and also in the
  middle of the screen) but keep in mind that you can also lose this way
  if 2 or 3 tanks show up at the same time.


~ If an item appears but you have to deal with some dangerous opponents,
  scrap the item. Who knows what may happen while you are heading for that
  item?!


~ At Level 3, you can destroy the steel walls. But don't forget that this
  may be beneficial to the enemy tanks by allowing them to pass through
  easily. Thus, don't abuse your new-found strength.


~ As stated by Sashanan, the number of tanks per level is fixed at 20.
  If you used the grenade(s) to get rid of certain tanks, these don't
  show up in the overview screen after you beat the level.


~ Don't let yourself get surrounded by the enemy tanks. This never works
  and you will just lose. Of course, this doesn't apply when you are
  invincible.


~ And finally, don't let the first stages of the game fool you. You will
  soon find out that the enemy tanks have a good AI. In the first stages,
  they may just run into you but later, some tanks will try to get you
  to follow them and a few others will then head to your base. You have
  been warned, Battle City isn't an easy game.


~ You obtain a life-up at 20,000 points (thanks to Sashanan for that info).
  In previous versions of this guide, I had written that these lives
  become available at every subsequent 20,000 points too but sadly, I was
  wrong.


~ Finally, if you are thinking about a score objective, Sashanan was able
  to net 80,500 at Stage 15. If you want to send me your score, feel free
  to do so. My personal achievement is at about 60,000 but I rarely play
  for score.



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OUTRO
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Well, that's all there is to this guide! Battle City is a simple game but
that doesn't mean it is easy. As a matter of fact, it is almost impossible
to beat this game unless you take the time to get used to any situation
during the earlier stages.

If you have questions, contributions or just want to give me some feedback,
e-mail me and remember to put "Battle City" as the subject. If you don't do
so, I will think your e-mail is a virus or something like that and will thus
delete it (or block you address if I'm in a bad mood!).

Thanks for reading!


© 2002, Orochi K. All rights reserved.


                                 - EOF -

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