Death tank
Encyclopedia
Saturn version
Death Tank is a 2D multiplayer versus shooter, set on a hilly terrain. Although similar to Scorched EarthScorched Earth (computer game)
Scorched Earth is a popular shareware artillery video game, which is a subgenre of strategy game. The game was developed in the DOS era, originally written by Wendell Hicken , in which tanks do turn-based battle in two-dimensional terrain, with each player adjusting the angle and power of their...
, Worms
Worms (computer game)
Worms is a series of turn-based computer games developed by British company Team17 Software. Players control a small platoon of earthworms across a deformable landscape, battling other computer- or player-controlled teams...
, or Gunbound
GunBound
GunBound is a free-to-play, turn-based, room-to-room, multiplayer online game with many similar features to the popular Worms game series....
the gameplay is real time instead of turn-based. It supports up to 7 differently-colored tanks with a range of weapons to battle it out. The terrain on which this occurs, an ever-decreasing yellow landscape, is completely obliterated by the players during gameplay or otherwise gradually whittles down to a flat plain.
The original Death Tank was a bonus game in the Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
version of PowerSlave
Powerslave
Powerslave is the fifth studio album by the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, released on 3 September 1984 on EMI in Europe and its sister label Capitol Records in the US ....
(1996). Its sequel/update was Death Tank Zwei, hidden in the Saturn version of Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem 3D
Duke Nukem 3D is a first-person shooter computer game developed by 3D Realms and published by GT Interactive Software. The full version was released for the PC . It is a sequel to the platform games Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II published by Apogee...
(1997). Death Tank and Death Tank Zwei were developed by Ezra Dreisbach for Lobotomy Software.
Xbox Live Arcade version
Dreisbach, working with Snowblind StudiosSnowblind Studios
Snowblind Studios is a video game developer located in Kirkland, Washington. They were founded in 1997, specializing in RPGs. In 2009, Snowblind Studios was acquired by Time Warner, through its Warner Bros...
, developed a standalone version of the game for Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade
Xbox Live Arcade is a type of video game download distribution available primarily in a section of the Xbox Live Marketplace, Microsoft's digital distribution network for the Xbox 360, that focuses on smaller downloadable games from both major publishers and independent game developers...
. It was released on Wednesday, February 18, 2009.
A version of Death Tank Zwei is included as an extra in this release, which can be unlocked by shooting down a supply plane in the main game. There are a number of minor differences between this new version and the original; it lacks the title screen (and Death Tank theme), options and player selection screens. The game has an upper limit of four players (instead of the original seven), and there are a number of changes to the names of the weapons.