Play Tank Battle Online

Tank Battle runs the 35 maps and enemy line-ups of Namco's 1985 Famicom game Battle City straight in your browser, with no emulator to set up. You drive a gold tank, guard the eagle at the bottom of the map, and clear the stage by destroying all 20 enemy tanks that roll in over the course of it. Play alone, share one keyboard with a friend, or draw a map of your own once you know the originals.

How to play Tank Battle

On a computer, steer with the arrow keys or W, A, S and D. The gun always points the way the tank faces, so you turn to aim. Fire with Space (J and K work too) and pause with P. On a phone or tablet the joystick is the default: put a finger down anywhere on the field or below it and drag the way you want to go, then tap with a second finger to fire (with only one finger down, a quick tap fires too). Between your thumbs sit pause and a button that swaps the joystick for a direction pad and a round Fire button. The game pauses on its own when you switch tabs, lock the screen or open the menu.

Enemies drive in from three gates along the top edge, up to 4 at a time when you play alone and 6 with two players. A stage can end three ways:

• All 20 enemies destroyed with the eagle still standing: you move on to the next map.
• Any shell hits the eagle, one of yours included: the base falls at once, even with tanks in reserve.
• Every one of your tanks is destroyed: the stage is lost.

You start with 3 tanks, counting the one on the field. Whatever tanks and firepower survive a stage come with you into the next, and your first 20,000 points earn one more tank. Retry stage after a loss takes you back to the start of that stage with the tanks you brought into it.

Enemy tanks and power-ups

The 4th, 11th and 18th enemies of every stage flash red. Hit one once (an armored carrier only needs the first hit) and a power-up drops somewhere on the map; drive over it to collect it for an extra 500 points. It will not wait forever: when the next flashing tank appears, any power-up still lying on the field disappears.

• Helmet: a shield bubble that keeps shells off you for about 10 seconds.
• Clock: every enemy on the field freezes for about 10 seconds and stops firing.
• Shovel: the bricks around the eagle turn to steel for about 20 seconds, flashing as the time runs out.
• Star: your gun goes up a level, to a maximum of three.
• Grenade: every enemy already on the field explodes. They count toward the 20 but score no points.
• Tank: one extra life.

Stars and firepower

A tank without stars can have only one shell in flight. Pressing fire again does nothing until that shell lands, so a long shot leaves you waiting. Each star changes that:

1. First star: your shells travel faster and reach the target sooner.
2. Second star: two of your shells can be in the air at once, so you fire in tight pairs.
3. Third star: your shells punch through steel, so enemies sheltering behind it are no longer safe.

Losing a tank resets the next one to no stars. A three-star tank is worth protecting, so when a pack of Power tanks comes down, back off behind a brick wall rather than trade shots in the open.

Bricks, steel, water, ice and trees

• Brick breaks away piece by piece. A small hole lets shells through; a tank only fits once the gap is a full tank wide.
• Steel stops every shell until you have three stars.
• Water blocks tanks but not shells, so you can trade fire across a river.
• Ice keeps you sliding for a moment after you let go, so release the key before a turn, not at it.
• Trees hide tanks underneath but stop nothing. An enemy you cannot see can still fire out of the canopy.

Can't get past stage 1?

Stage 1 is almost all Basic tanks. What usually goes wrong is the player opening the base up for them. These habits carry you through the early maps:

1. Never shoot the bricks right beside the eagle. They are its only cover, and one hole gives enemy shells a straight line in.
2. Do not rush north at the start. Wait in front of the base until you see which gate sends the first tank down, then pick your lane.
3. When an enemy slips past you, turn back first. One hit on the eagle ends the stage, so chasing a far tank is rarely worth it.
4. Park behind a brick wall with only your gun showing. Enemy shells chew the bricks first and give you time to answer.
5. Shoot the flashing tanks first. A helmet or shovel arriving just as the Fast tanks dive at your base is what saves the stage.

Round 2 and stage select

The game does not stop after stage 35. Stage 36 starts round 2, which takes you through the same 35 maps again in order, each one now with the stage 35 army, which is half Armor tanks, arriving as quickly as it did there. After stage 70 you are back at stage 1.

Open Stages from the sidebar (on a phone, tap the stage name above the field) to see a page for round 1 and one for round 2. Pick any stage and the campaign starts there with fresh tanks and a score of zero; if you are partway through a run, you are asked first. That makes it easy to practise a hard map such as stage 50 without playing up to it.

Progress is kept as a checkpoint at the start of each stage, recording how many tanks you had, their stars and your score on arrival. Close the page and come back, and you pick up from the start of that stage.

Two-player Tank Battle on one keyboard

Switch Players to 2 players in the sidebar and a green tank appears on the other side of the base. Both of you share one keyboard: player 1 drives the gold tank with W, A, S, D and Space; player 2 drives the green tank with the arrow keys and Enter, or 0 on the number pad. The two sets of keys never block each other, so you can both turn and fire at the same moment. A phone or tablet shows two direction pads and two Fire buttons.

• You defend the same base, and a shell from either of you that hits the eagle loses the stage.
• Shooting your partner does not destroy them. It freezes them in place for a few seconds, although they can still fire, and a shielded partner is not affected.
• If one of you runs out of tanks, the other can carry on and still clear the stage.
• At the end of a stage the player with more kills earns 1,000 bonus points, as long as they are still alive.

Changing the number of players mid-stage restarts that stage, keeping the stage you reached and the points you have.

Build your own Battle City map

In Stages, the My levels page starts with a New level card. The canvas takes the battlefield's place at the same size. Pick a terrain and drag to paint; right-click erases.

• Six brushes: brick, steel, trees, water, ice and erase. Keys 1 to 6 switch between them.
• Each stroke paints one tank-sized block. Turn on Half tile to paint a narrow slot that only shells can pass.
• Enemy lineup picks a stage, and your map uses that stage's 20 enemies. The list shows how many of each kind it has.
• The base and the spawn points stay where they are and cannot be painted over.
• Undo and Redo are always there, and Ctrl (⌘ on a Mac) with Z, Y or S undoes, redoes and saves.

On a phone the terrain buttons sit under the canvas. Save & play starts the map straight away, and Edit level in the sidebar takes you back to keep drawing. Maps are saved in this browser, so another device will not see them.

Is this Battle City?

It uses Battle City's 35 maps and the order its enemies arrive in, with new artwork, tanks and sound. The original came out for the Famicom in 1985.

What about Tank 1990?

Tank 1990 is a later modified version that spread widely with different maps. This page plays the 1985 maps.

Is it the same as Tank Trouble?

No. Tank Trouble is a maze duel where shells bounce off the walls. Tank Battle is about holding a base together and clearing stage after stage of enemy tanks.