How to play Phantom-Panzer online
- Drive your tank: arrow keys (the tank turns to face the way you push)
- Fire: Space bar
- Start a new game: F12 (the console’s Reset switch)
- Choose a game variation: F11 (the console’s Select switch)
- Save and load your progress: Ctrl + 0–9 saves to a slot, Alt + 0–9 loads it
Gameplay
You are the last tank guarding an outpost. Each screen sends twenty enemy tanks at you, a few at a time, and a counter under your base shows how many are still to come. Only one of your shells can be on screen at once, so a missed shot leaves you briefly defenceless. You start with five tanks. The manual for the North American release lists four variations: an easier and a harder game, each for one or two players.
There are three screens, and each gives you less cover than the last: the first has walls and corners to hide behind, the second only a small island, and the third leaves you out in the open. A destroyed enemy is worth 100 points, and ramming one on purpose is worth 200.
One game, many names
Phantom Tank has more aliases than almost any other Bit Corporation game. On this site you can also play it as Tanks But No Tanks, Zimag’s NTSC release for North America, and as Tank Brigade from Panda, which has redrawn graphics. Tanks But No Tanks and the original Bit Corporation release are said to differ only in their copyright message. As a PAL cartridge, Phantom-Panzer runs at 50 Hz and can feel a little slower than the NTSC versions.
Similar games to play next
- Tanks But No Tanks – the same game in its North American release
- Tank Brigade – Panda’s version with new graphics
- Robot Tank – Activision’s first-person tank battle
- Armor Ambush – M Network’s two-player tank game