a long, long time ago, in a galaxy that tried to push thier console's limits...
This game was back from. 1985, so you Xbox 360 players, don't moan about "how it has bad graphics". If I say good graphics, that means for the good old NES. This is one of the games, like Kirby's Adventure, that pushed the NES's graphics to its limits. There are beautiful 8-Bit backgrounds that are just unexplainable. There is no lack of color whatsoever. Although, with all the backgrounds on this game, the downside is that the NES is notorious for its "rolling pixels" or something like that that makes me dizzy sometimes. The wheels on your tank just spin in near perfect timing for the speed you're going, hell, they spin with very good animation and is a joy to look at.
The game play is very good also. Its basically another platformer… but wait… if you press select, you hop out of your tank... Nonono, wait… your guy has his own health bar too! This is a big problem with some games, like TMNT on the 3rd level. You get into the "turtle tank" or something like that and it shares health bar. The physics are pretty cool, with your basic stuff like when you stop, you slow down first. The controls are very responsive and if you want to fire your special weapon, you press down+B, and it works flawlessly. The game itself, is pretty hard. I only got halfway through the game so far. You start with three lives and have 3 continues. There is also many weapon upgrades for the tank and the guy driving the tank.
The music deserves its own paragraph. You know those 3rd party games, like ljn and other crap like that? The "music" is beeps and boops and it's earsplitting. This game has "music" that actually sounds like music. The first level's song is the most memorable for me. I actually recorded it and put it on my mp3 player. The rest of the music is as good as the first. The sound effects are also superb.
Overall, the game is very solid, very good looking, and very playable. It almost gets to the level of SMB3, which is considered by a lot of people, the best game on the NES.
My ratings:
Graphics: 9.0
Gameplay: 10
Sound: 9.5
Controls: 9.5
Go and get yourself a copy of this and not just play, experience.