The invention of the tank changed ground combat forever. Covered in armored plating and capable of bringing impressive firepower to bear, they're a common sight on battlefields both real and fictional. Real-world armies might look for practical ways to make their tanks better, but game designers have the luxury of not being constrained by reality!
Fiction allows for boundless creativity, and games in particular allow invention and imagination to merge with electrifying results. We've picked the best made-up tanks from fictional settings, many of which players have piloted, commanded, and blown up with aplomb for decades!
10 BGF251F2 "Iron Clad" - Final Fantasy 8
Final Fantasy has magical and technological enemies in equal measure, but regardless of their origin most foes in the franchise stay down when beaten. The Iron Clad, a Galbadian tank fought by Squall and his companions in Final Fantasy 8, is not one of these.
When the team splits up attempting to thwart a missile launch by enemy forces, Selphie leads one group in an attack on the launch facility. There, they fight a fully crewed BGF251F2 tank, equipped with a dangerous energy cannon. The Galbadian soldiers succeed in delaying Selphie long enough that she and her squad cannot escape the base before it explodes.
Later, Squall's team is attacked by the Iron Clad at Fisherman's Horizon. The badly damaged tank is still combat-ready, and only after disabling it does Squall find Selphie and company inside. The tank's armor had protected them from the explosion, but the SeeDs were unable to control the vehicle and were ultimately reunited with Squall by pure luck.
9 Light Tanks - Advance Wars Series
The nations of Advance Wars boast some heavy firepower. In theory, superweapons like Neotanks and Megatanks should be unstoppable juggernauts, given their durability and capability to destroy smaller vehicles with a single shot. However, their prohibitive cost, low ammo capacity, and slow movement speed means they don't often see competitive play.
Instead, the best Advance Wars players deploy large battlegroups of Light Tanks, with the occasional support from Medium Tanks. While they might not be as impressive individually as the heavy hitters, they offer the best cost-to-benefit ratio in the series by a wide margin.
8 Leonardo's Tank - Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
In the alternate-history epic of Assassin's Creed, the leader of the Assassin Brotherhood during the early sixteenth century was best friends with Leonardo da Vinci. Throughout his adventures, Ezio occasionally makes use of Leonardo's inventions in battle.
While most of the real Leonardo's inventions were purely theoretical, Assassin's Creed envisions a world where some of them were successfully built. In Brotherhood, Ezio's nemeses in the House of Borgia get their hands on the plans for a Da Vinci Tank; Ezio pilots the dome-shaped prototype briefly before destroying it.
Assassin's Creed has always stretched the bounds of historical accuracy (to put it mildly), and Leonardo's tank is a prime example. Nearly indestructible with a 360-degree firing arc and impossibly fast reload times on its black-powder cannons, piloting the tank is the game's ultimate power trip.
7 Centaur - Gears Of War Series
The most common tank seen in the Gears Of War games is the Centaur, which serves as a hybrid combat vehicle and armored personnel carrier. While not as powerful as the main battle tanks the Coalition produced in its heyday, the low cost and comparative reliability of the Centaur makes it the only viable option for the increasingly-beleagured COG army.
While Gears has always been a game about infantry combat, players do get to pilot Centaurs of their own on rare occasion, most notably in Gears Of War 2. With a high-caliber cannon and rapid-firing secondary weapons, the Centaur can handle most Locust infantry with ease. Maybe if the Coalition had more of them, the war wouldn't have taken so many games to win!
6 Apocalypse Tank - Command & Conquer: Red Alert 3
Command & Conquer: Red Alert is known for its over-the-top weapon designs and delightful scenery-devouring performances by famous actors like Tim Curry. Few units in the series capture its Cold War fever-dream aesthetic as well as the double-barreled Apocalypse tank!
Having two big guns on a tank isn't exactly a novel idea, but the design of the Apocalypse fits the pragmatic playstyle of the game's Soviet faction perfectly. Heavy armor and heavier firepower are usually enough to secure a victory without the need for anything fancier!
5 Edelweiss - Valkyria Chronicles
An ahead-of-its-time prototype, the Edelweiss is the main playable tank in the first Valkyria Chronicles game. Since it's commanded by protagonist Welkin Gunther, it's the game's most versatile vehicle and a mission-critical unit.
The Edelweiss was built near the end of the First Europan War, but the conclusion of the conflict meant that the original was the only vehicle of the pattern ever constructed. It remained in a barn until the outbreak of the Second Europan War, when Welkin recommissioned it for the defense of Gallia.
There are plenty of larger, more impressive tanks in the Valkyria franchise, but ultimately most of them fall to the Edelweiss and Squad Seven's scrappy, can-do attitude.
4 Siege Tank - Starcraft Series
Starcraft is just as much about holding a position as it is about mobility, and an entrenched squadron of Siege Tanks can blow just about anything off of the map, given enough time. This Terran unit serves as a mobile artillery platform, capable of tearing through tight enemy formations or pounding structures into rubble.
Siege Tanks have a longer firing range than sight radius, so you'll need another unit to spot their target for them!
Siege Tanks need air support, as they can be easily countered from above, but against a ground-based army a few Siege Tanks can win the day. WIth the right positioning, they can quickly disrupt resource production or deny an important position.
3 Land Raider - Warhammer 40,000
For many Warhammer 40k players, the Land Raider is the pride of their army. These heavy tanks boast maximum armor on all sides and a veritable arsenal of guns to counter any threat. Best of all, a Land Raider can also transport infantry, including the feared Space Marine Terminators!
Like most of Warhammer's iconic units, the Land Raider made its debut on the tabletop but has featured in several video games over the years. From Dawn Of War to the criminally-underrated Warhammer 40k: Gladius, the Land Raider is rightly feared whether the battle is determined by dice or a CPU.
2 Scorpion - Halo Series
Halo's vehicles are just as iconic as its helmeted protagonist, which speaks volumes about the work of the franchise's design team. They're also an important part of gameplay, so it's natural that tanks, APCs, and aircraft get more love in Halo than they might in other franchises.
While it may not have the sleek, elegant design of Covenant ships, the Scorpion is beloved by players as one of the first tanks you get to pilot. That first sequence shows you everything you need to know about the value of superior firepower - tank beats everything!
1 Landmaster - Star Fox Series
The Landmaster tank is a secondary vehicle that's been part of the Star Fox Team's arsenal since Star Fox 64. Fast and maneuverable, it lets Fox get the job done planetside, usually with air support from the other pilots.
While it's arguably the smallest vehicle on this list, the capabilities of the Landmaster far exceed those of the tanks we've covered so far. It can hover, has multiple firing modes, and can take a hit. The Landmaster was even summonable as a Final Smash in some Super Smash Bros titles. Beyond all that, it's the only tank in gaming that can do a barrel roll!
In the GameCube title Star Fox Assault, each pilot in multiplayer handled vehicles differently. Put Slippy in a Landmaster and watch the timid toad become the terror of Lylat!
Star Fox may be about aerial combat, but Landmaster levels are always something special.