Tank Troopers

Tank Troopers is an action shooter from Nintendo in which the player controls a small tank moving across open, cube-based battlefields and destroys enemy tanks and other targets using various types of weapons and upgrades, from basic cannons to rockets with an area effect. The game offers both short single-player missions and local and online multiplayer for several players, with the emphasis on fast, arcade-style combat rather than tactical depth, with short matches suited even to brief play sessions. Different types of ammunition and add-ons give the battles a bit of tactical variety without disrupting the game's overall lighthearted tone.

Visually it's a simple, colorful game with blocky, cube-based models reminiscent of building blocks, which fits well with the lighthearted, undemanding, and mildly humorous tone of the whole game. Players can customize their tank's appearance and loadout, and the battlefields contain destructible environmental elements that add some dynamism and variety to the fights, since a wall or building can suddenly vanish and reveal a new angle of attack. The music and sound effects hold the same lighthearted, playful tone as the rest of the presentation and complement the undemanding, arcade nature of the combat well.

Tank Troopers was released as a smaller, affordably priced eShop title focused primarily on quick fun and local and online multiplayer among friends, with no ambition to compete with the platform's big exclusive titles. Among players looking for an undemanding, cheerful tank shooter on 3DS that can be played two-player on a single console, it found its place, even though it never became a major draw of the console's library. Today it represents more of a curious, laid-back title than a significant chapter in the platform's history, more a curiosity for collectors and fans of smaller eShop titles than a game players would return to en masse.