Disclamer: This game is created as a fanfic and has no relation to the original game or its developer. We claim no rights to the original game and do not infringe on the copyrights of the original game or its creators.

History

By the end of the third decade of the 21st century, it had become apparent that in the future all major processes on Earth would be replaced by artificial intelligence. In the meantime, the theft of personal data and intellectual knowledge bases of corporations has reached unimaginable proportions.

Zedex, a highly secretive company, trains neural networks based on data obtained from experienced professionals in various fields and professions. To protect against data theft, the company uses clusters of servers built with advanced Z80 processors and no access to the World Wide Web.

You’ve been hired by Zedex to train neural networks of combat vehicles that will in the future operate in high-risk areas and secure strategic facilities. Your job is to drive a tank to defend an important facility (designated by the symbol of an eagle) from attacking enemy vehicles.

And remember – the first rule at Zedex is not to tell anyone that you work here. This is top secret information.

Technical Features

This game for classic ZX Spectrum models is most exact functional de-make of Battle City, developed in 1985 for NES by Namco.

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

The game contains all 35 classic levels, the only difference is that they are decreased in vertical direction (by 2 blocks), as the screen of Spectrum has 24 blocks in height, while in the original NES game the size of the playing area is 26×26 blocks.

The authors tried to transfer the atmosphere and dynamics of the original game as much as possible, but the difficulty of the game was slightly reduced. Also added is the ability to choose a control device and a set of buttons (when playing on the keys), the ability to choose the border colour (you can choose black for maximum comfort of eyes, or white for authenticity, or any other of 8 possible colours).

Controls

Player 1 can choose:

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

Player 2 can select:

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

Movement through the menu is carried out by player 1 with his selected control keys “up”, “down”, “fire”.

Key A in control selection menu allows setting boarder colour in the game, key B allows selecting timings of other ZX Spectrum model (game tries to detect your ZX Spectrum model automatically on start-up).

Play with a  Friend

You can play two people on one computer, both of you play on the defensive side, helping each other out.

Level Builder

The game has a level builder where you can draw your own level and then play it.

Authors

Code and in-game graphics: Epsilon
Level migration: Elena Star
Loading screen: Joe Vondayl
Testing and motivation: zx-pk.ru forum team (abelenki, CityAceE, Enigmatic, kas29, krt17, null-device, Rindex, Slider, tiboh, ZX-NOVOSIB) and also Marie Slip, Joe Vondayl and any others I forgot to mention. Thank you friends!