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Gaming History GH

Battle City [Model NAM-NBC-4500]

41 Years old Nintendo Famicom cart. NAMCOT [Japan]

Battle City [Model NAM-NBC-4500] screenshot

Battle City © 1985 NAMCOT [Namco, Ltd. label for home].

4,500 JPY
Goodies for Battle City [Model NAM-NBC-4500]
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TECHNICAL

GAME ID: NAM-NBC-4500
BARCODE: 4907892000094

Players: up to 2 (simultaneous)
Controls: d-pad 4 directions
Buttons: 1
=> [A] or [B] = fire

TRIVIA

Battle City was released on September 9, 1985 (Monday) in Japan at a retail price of 4,500 JPY. The 1980 copyright year from the title screen is a reference to Tank Battalion, released in October 1980 for coin-op machines.

It was the 9th title published by NAMCOT on the Famicom.

Some of the stages represent characters from Namco games:
Stage 4: Ribble Rubble Hoblin.
Stage 10: Mappy mouse.
Stage 21: Dig Dug Pooka.
Stage 30: Underground Pooka.
Stage 35: Galaxian insect.

The game was originally meant to have a pistol power-up, but was removed. It reappears in a pirate version of this game, Tank 1990, published by Yanshan software in February 1990.

This game can be ended in 2 ways: loss of all lives (method 1) or destruction of the base marked as an eagle, independent on the number of lives (method 2). It's another reference to Tank Battalion.

Ryouiti Ookubo is known as 'Open-Reach' and Noriko Ikegawa simply as 'Noriko' on the Easter egg screen.

SCORING
Slow tank, slow shot 100 points.
Fast tank 200 points.
Slow tank, fast shot 300 points.
Armored tank 400 points.
Every power-up 500 points.
TIPS AND TRICKS
* Taking a grenade power-up will destroy all the enemy tanks on the screen, but is awarded only with 500 points. The automatically destroyed tanks aren't scored on the post-stage screen.

* Reach tank level 4 by taking 3 star power-ups and you'll be able to shoot white armor out.

* The construction stage is disposable.

* Don't enforce a game over by shooting the eagle at stage 36: the game will load the same levels, but with harder enemies. The loop ends after stage 70.

* Watch out for ice: it affects your tank's handling, but enemies don't slide on it.

* Up to 4 enemy tanks can be present at one screen during a single-player game. Double-player game makes even 6 enemy tanks litter the screen.

* Don't shoot your co-player's tank: it'll be frozen for 5 seconds. When an enemy is shooting from behind or any side, you'll not be able to move resulting in a life loss.

* All armored tanks require 4 shots to be taken down.

* When you didn't collect a power-up, it'll disappear when another flashing tank is about to appear on the screen.

* Access secret screen:
At the title screen, select 'construction' on the menu. Press Start on controller #1 to enter the mode, then press it again to return back to the title screen. Repeat this 7 times. After the seventh enter-and-exit sequence, hold d-pad down on controller #1 and press 'A' 8 times on controller #2. Finally, hold d-pad right on controller #1 and press 'B' 12 times on controller #2. After all of this, press Start on controller #1 to activate a secret message from a programmer with a little animation - small drop heading from the top of the screen.
SERIES
📜
1. Tank Battalion (1980, AC)
2. Battle City [Model NAM-NBC-4500] (1985, FC)
3. Tank Force (1991, AC)
STAFF
👥
SOURCES
🔗
ROM dump (MAME).