History VideoGame / BattleTanx

In the original ''[=BattleTanx=]'', the player controls Griffin Spade, a tough guy from [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity Queens]] whose fiancee Madison is one of those taken by the U.S. Government to a secure facility. After surviving the apocalypse, and armed only with an [=M1A1=] Abrams, Griffin begins a mechanized trek across the remains of the United States, blazing westward through Chicago, Las Vegas, and finally San Francisco, crushing rival gangs, rescuing other captured women, and forging his own army in his search for Madison. The two are finally reunited when Griffin storms the Quarantine Zone on Alcatraz Island, incidentally leaving them in command of the most sizable and least malevolent faction in the former United States. A port for UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor was released in 2000, which featured the storyline and gangs of the first game, but with music taken from the second.

* ThePowerOfLove: The motivation of Griffin and his army in the first game. The later UsefulNotes/GameBoy port {{lampshade|Hanging}}s this by naming its last level "Love Conquers All".

''[=BattleTanx=]'' is a 1998 game for the UsefulNotes/{{Nintendo 64}} by Creator/The3DOCompany, which was followed a year later by a sequel that also appeared on the UsefulNotes/PlayStation. The premise is simple: [[GenderCide a plague has killed nearly every woman on the planet]], forcing the worlds' governments to cloister the surviving females away in heavily-fortified quarantine zones. In the mayhem, [[ApocalypseHow a nuclear war was sparked]], reducing much of the Earth to rubble and leaving the survivors to fight over the species' few females, who are now worshipped as "[=QueenLords=]". For reasons unexplained (save by the RuleOfCool), all of these tribes of brigands and freaks managed to get their hands on tanks. Lots and lots of tanks.

* PsychicPowers: The "Edge" from ''Global Assault'', capable of swaying others to your will. Both Griffin and Madison are strong in it, [[FridgeBrilliance and its presence may explain how Griffin was able to forge an army so easily in the first game]].

* StrawFeminist: The [[AmazonBrigade women-only]] Storm Ravens, who believe men are responsible for every problem both pre- and post-Apocalypse. Averted with the similarly-women-only Iron Maidens, who become Griffin and Madison's only allies in the entire series.
* SugarApocalypse: Some of the ads for ''Global Assault'' involved an army of [=BattleTanx=] rampaging through what certainly were not the Series/{{Teletubbies}}. The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7brl9mzmgPY first]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tigO7U7AmBc second]] commercials, however. . .

* EveryTenThousandPoints: ...Gets you a OneUp in the first game. Averted in the sequel, though, where ThePointsMeanNothing.

* {{Area 51}}: One of the battlegrounds of the first game, complete with a trio of destroyable [=UFOs=].

%%* NextSundayAD

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''World Destruction League: Thunder Tanks'', made by the same company and features an upgraded version of the M1 Abrams, among other tanks reminiscent of those from ''[=BattleTanx=]''. The story of ''Thunder Tanks'' doesn't come out and say it, but it basically implies that [[StealthSequel it is set in the future]] after this apocalypse has faded into memory and tank combat is now a rich man's sport (like jousting or golf). The fact that they have a female co-host in the game, as well as several female tank drivers, gives one hope that eventually humanity pulled back from the Class 3 apocalypse somehow.

* WorldOfBadass
* XtremeKoolLetterz: It's all there in the title, folks.

* VideoGameFlamethrowersSuck: The Inferno swaps out a normal cannon for the flamethrower special weapon, including the ability to fire to the sides. This makes it good at extreme close ranges, especially against the heavy frontal armor of the Rhino, but [[CripplingOverspecialization cripples its utility at any sort of distance]], where it is forced to use its much more limited supply of other special weapons to engage

* WeaponizedLandmark: See GayParee above.

* CaptureTheFlag: Most of the first game revolves around [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl rescuing Queenlords from other gangs and returning them to your own base]] [[HoldTheLine while protecting them from attack and holding onto your own Queen(s)]]. Battlelord mode in both games is this.

* CripplingOverspecialization: The Rhino tank-hunter, which sports a huge fixed gun and a heavily-reinforced front which can take more punishment than even the [[NighInvulnerable Goliath Tank]]. Unfortunately, its sides and rear are extremely vulnerable, and it can't engage targets who flank it. Also strangely susceptible to fire attacks.

* GameplayAndStorySegregation: An early cutscene in the first game has four Moto Tanks destroy two M1's and a Goliath with no trouble. Granted, the tanks seem to be unoccupied, and one of the four Moto Tanks [[FunnyBackgroundEvent still manages to get instakilled]] by somehow crushing ''himself'' under the '''immobile''' Goliath.

* HoverTank: The (wait for it) [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Hovertank]]. An Abrams that floats, propelled forward by turbines. Hard to control and sub-par compared to the Abrams, but able to ignore minefields, strafe sideways, and reach an impressive top speed.

* LighterAndSofter: ''Global Assault''. Subverted, via MoodDissonance and ArtStyleDissonance, as the change in soundtrack from grim dark marching music into heavy metal and story from graphic novel to CGI doesn't deter the fact that the game is about an evil witch kidnapping a child and then brainwash the poor child and a large swath of the world populace to ignite global scale war.

* AwesomeMcCoolname: Griffin Spade.

* MassHypnosis: Cassandra does this ''twice''. First with movie projectors, then with the [[WeaponizedLandmark Eiffel Tower]], which she's converted into a radio station.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: The Queenlords have some pretty improbable hair colors, thanks in part to ColorCodedMultiplayer.

* LighterAndSofter: ''Global Assault''. Subverted, via MoodDissonance and ArtStyleDissonance, as the change in soundtrack from grim dark marching music into heavy metal and story from graphic novel to CGI doesn't deter the fact that the game is about an evil witch kidnapping a children and then brainwash the poor children and a large swath of the world populace to ignite global scale war.

* AfterTheEnd

%%* BadassNormal: In comparision to the other gangs, Griffin's Army is the most normal of the bunch, and still is to a degree in the second.

* ColorCodedMultiplayer

* CriticalExistenceFailure: When a tank is brought down to about a fourth of its health, it changes to look ''heavily'' damaged, but it'll still work just as good until it takes another shot and is destroyed.

* GenderRarityValue: The misogynist virus in the game's backstory. Those few women who survived have become "queenlords", whom the men of the world wage war over. [[spoiler:Global Assault reveals that the women who survived the plague are those capable of using "the Edge".]]

* HealThyself: Health powerups, which can be stored for later use if you already have full armor.

* [[CarFu Tank Fu]]: Crashing your vehicles into each other deals at least some damage and also throws off the enemy's aim. It's even possible to crush the lightest ones with the Goliath.

The sequel, ''[=BattleTanx=]: Global Assault'', is set five years later and involves a rival [=QueenLord=] named Cassandra who has taken an unhealthy interest in Madison and Griffin's son Brandon. Using her [[MindControl mind-controlling]] [[PsychicPowers powers]] to turn Griffin's army against him, Cassandra kidnaps Brandon and flees across the country, two angry tank-driving parents in hot pursuit. The chase ultimately leads through Great Britain, France, Germany, and back to Alcatraz. Along the way we learn that Cassandra was the one who unleashed the woman-killing plague as a way to wipe out those women lacking the psychic "Edge," and ends with the seemingly-killed villainess being revived by a mysterious magician who mentions a "{{chosen one}}."

* GenderRarityValue: The misogynist virus in the game's backstory.

%%* RuleOfCool