BattleTanx (Nintendo Game Boy Color, 1999)

In the year 2001, the United States lies in smoldering ruins after an enormous civil war between twenty "freedom factions." Few people are still alive; they have banded into tribes which now control different sections of the country. Each of them has created large numbers of BattleTanx, heavy-duty assault vehicles which can level entire cities (or what's left of them).

You are Griffin, the master of your tribe. He used to advocate peace and refused to get inside one of the BattleTanx, but the disappearance of Madison, his true love, has prompted a change of heart. Now he's ready to use any means necessary to rescue her, even if he must get behind the controls of one of the fearsome tanks and destroy anyone who gets in his way.

When you plug in your BattleTanx game pak and start up your Nintendo Game Boy Color, you'll have the choice of beginning a new campaign to find Madison, entering any level for a quick game, or entering a password which you received during your last session in your current campaign of death and destruction. If you want to change the game's difficulty, there are three levels to choose from.

There are fifteen levels spread across five cities: Los Angeles, San Francisco, Las Vegas, New York, and Washington D.C. Each decrepit metropolis has three levels; as you travel through them you'll learn more and more about Madison's disappearance, until you reach the ultimate confrontation with the Nuclear Knights, the most fearsome tribe on the continent. Each level begins with a screen which explains that mission's objective.

There are three tanks available to you and your enemies: the Mototank, a quick tank with light firepower and little armor; the M1A1, a mid-range vehicle which is solid all around; and the Goliath, a lumbering beast bristling with weaponry and armor but difficult to maneuver out of trouble quickly. You'll also run into stationary turrets as well as cannons and heat-seeking missiles fired from fortified bunkers.

Along the way you can collect power-ups which improve your firepower and armor. Some of them also repair damage to your tank, grant you an extra life, give you the ability to bounce shots off non-destructible objects, turn invisible, and nuke everything on the screen.