Disclaimer: This game is created as a fanfiction and has no relation to the original game or its developer. We do not claim rights to the original game and do not infringe the copyright of the original game and its creators.

Story

By the end of the third decade of the 21st century, it became clear that in the future all major processes on Earth would be replaced by artificial intelligence. At the same time, personal data theft and corporate knowledge bases reached unimaginable proportions.

The Zedex company, created in conditions of the highest secrecy, trains neural networks based on data obtained from experienced professionals in various fields and professions. To protect against data theft, the company uses server clusters built on advanced Z80 processors and devoid of access to the World Wide Web.

You are hired by Zedex to train neural networks for combat vehicles, which in the future will perform operations in particularly dangerous places and ensure the security of strategic facilities. Your task is to protect an important object (conventionally denoted by the symbol of an eagle) from attacking enemy vehicles by controlling a tank.

And remember – the first rule of Zedex is – do not tell anyone that you work here. This is completely secret information.

Technical Features

This game for classic ZX Spectrum models is the most accurate functional demake of the game Battle City, developed in 1985 for NES by Namco.

The very first version for ZX Spectrum was developed in 1996, then in 2016 it was "polished" (a couple of dozen bugs were fixed, a control selection screen and platform type were added) thanks to the help of Spectrum enthusiasts from the zx-pk.ru forum, and finally, in 2023, it was released on the ZX Online platform.

The game includes all 35 classic levels, the only difference is that they are slightly reduced in height (by 2 blocks), since the Spectrum screen is only 24 characters high, while the original game on NES has a playing field size of 26x26 characters.

The authors tried to convey the atmosphere and dynamics of the original game as much as possible, while the difficulty of the game is slightly reduced. Also added is the ability to select a control device and button set (when playing on keys), the ability to select the border color (you can choose black for maximum eye comfort, or white for authenticity, or any other of the 8 possible colors).

Controls

Player 1 can choose:

1. W, S, A, D, Symbol Shift keys 2. Q, A, O, P, M keys 3. Arrow keys + Space ("fire") 4. Kempston joystick 5. Sinclair joystick 1 (keys 6-0)

Player 2 can choose:

6. W, S, A, D, Symbol Shift keys 7. Q, A, O, P, M keys 8. Arrow keys + Space ("fire") 9. Kempston joystick 0. Sinclair joystick 2 (keys 1-5)

Navigation through the menu is done by Player 1 using their selected "up", "down", "fire" control keys.

The A key in the control selection menu allows setting the border color in the game, the B key allows selecting timings for another ZX Spectrum model (on startup, the game tries to determine your computer model automatically).

Two-player game

You can play with two players on one computer, and both of you will play on the defense side, helping each other.

Level Editor

The game has an editor where you can draw your own level and then play it.

Authors

Code and graphics in the game: Epsilon

Level porting: Elena Star

Loading screen: Joe Vondayl

Testing and motivation: the zx-pk.ru forum team (abelenki, CityAceE, Enigmatic, kas29, krt17, null-device, Rindex, Slider, tiboh, ZX-NOVOSIB) as well as Marie Slip, Joe Vondayl and others I may have forgotten. Thank you, friends!