* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fII12YWEcQM title screen/opening introduction music]] is a short yet awesome rock and roll piece with some over-the-top narration and vocals.
** It may be ''very'' repetitive, but the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hl144d16oGs&t=647s level music]] (used for all missions) is actually pretty good.
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5q4B9Y1DX3E&t=345s boss theme]].
** The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Znb8RSwkh8&list=PLEdhomj1r33-wfjca25yvM04AwWnd-8vv soundtrack used for the PSN and PS2 versions]].
* BreatherBoss:
** War Wrecker in stage 4. If you know how to avoid the OneHitKill wrecking ball, it should be a breeze. It comes between the rather annoying War Blimp and the tough [[WakeUpCallBoss Kommie Kong/Gorillazilla.]] Not so much when you have to re-fight it, though, as it now kicks up rocks from the ground which are not very easy to destroy in time.
** Bustczar/Head Zeppelin is another example. ALL its attacks are destructible and cannot land a OneHitKill, and if you're good, it'll probably be able to use its carpet bomb attack only once. It's a breather because the previous two bosses ([[KillerGorilla Kommie Kong]] and [[GiantEyeofDoom Eyebot]]) and the next two bosses ([[SandWorm Mechworm]] and [[HoppingMachine X-Bot]]) have One-Hit Kill moves.
* DemonicSpiders: Several of the Red Star forces are dangerous, but three of them stand out when it comes to Atomic Tank-killing, mainly because they sport a OneHitKill in a game where ContinuingIsPainful. All three also require that the player divert their attention on them and away from the other mooks in order to survive.
** [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOntheTin Havanski Atomic Bombers]] are very durable huge planes that drop a [[NukeEm large bomb]] that can not only take a lot of hits, but will ''[[OneHitKill instantly kill you]]'' (and your [[TotalPartyKill whole party]], in War Party Survival) if it hits ''[[AlwaysAccurateAttack anywhere]]'' on the ground. For a large enemy, they also give you a measly 3000 points when defeated (as compared to the less deadly blimp that gives 25000).
** [[KillSat Romanov Attack Satellites]] will fire an [[OneHitKill instant-death]] laser below them, you have to push them backwards by shooting them away so they don't move towards you while firing the beam.
** Contact with a [[AdvancingBossOfDoom Shovak Bulldozer]] will [[OneHitKill instantly destroy you]], so you have to constantly keep shooting at them to repel them back. Not very easy to do when having to kill AirborneMooks at the same time!
*** For added fun, the game tends to throw ''both'' of these at you at the same time, forcing you to juggle between pushing the Dozers back and trying to knock down the satellites.
* DifficultySpike: Several. The first occurs in Zamblamia, where you face off against the very annoying [[MacrossMissileMassacre Mokum Assault Helicopters]], and the [[ActionBomb Barskov Munitions Blimps]], with [[WakeUpCallBoss Kommie Kong]] at the end. The next level Tankylvania provides yet another one, with the [[DeflectorShields Reflex Fighters]], and the first appearance of the ''[[DemonicSpiders extremely deadly]]'' [[NukeEm Havanski Atomic Bomber]]. Finally, the ninth level Killingrad introduces two more DemonicSpiders, the [[KillSat Romanov attack satellite]] and the [[AdvancingBossOfDoom Shovak Bulldozer]], and also contains all of the above mentioned enemies!
* FridgeBrilliance: You don't face any Havanski Atomic Bombers during both visits to Killingrad/Caliber City. The Red Star wouldn't want to nuke their main capital, after all.
* GoddamnedBats:
** Both versions of the homing missile firing helicopters (Grakin and Mokum Assault Helicopters) will fire homing missiles often, and worse still, do not leave the screen until killed, when the boss arrives, or they manage to kill you. They also do have a good amount of health.
** Czerk Light Helicopters. Unlike the two assault helicopters, this one shoots energy orbs at you and have the tendency to corner you in large numbers, making them irritating to defeat or maneuver. And they ''always'' come in combinations with the Grakin and Mokum Assault Helicopters, making all three of them a pain in the butt to deal with.
** S-34 Reflex Fighters. They fire homing missiles like the two helicopters but luckily leave the screen. What makes them annoying is their [[DeflectorShields deflector shields]] that sprays unlikable and unkillable plasma shots in random directions every time your [[SpreadShot spread shot]] regular bullets hits their shields. Thankfully, their shields are useless against your special weapons.
** Modified Pickup Trucks and Linstrad Tanks force the player to aim at them sideways. The former is weak and has slow destructible missiles, while the latter has more HP and attacks with indestructible plasma shots. Both of them can be easily dealt with if they appear alone, but since they appear with other mooks alongside, they become a hinderance to the player.
** Barskov Munitions Blimps. They're big, tank damage for other enemies, and then there's the fact that they blow up into a random shower of indestructible[[note]]Unless you have the Nuke/Megalaser[[/note]] shots when killed and the shower may be impossible to avoid depending on the spacing between the shots. Thankfully there's ''usually'' a gap in the shower.[[note]]Or maybe not. If you're really unlucky there might not even be one and the shots can sneak through your defense orbs.[[/note]]
** Fovraski Cruise Missiles. They're fast, ''extremely fast'', then they do a 90-degree turn and head straight down at the player when they manage to go over their tank. This means that you'll probably be forced to move left/right to avoid these guys or aim directly upwards to destroy them in your crossfire. And they ''always'' come in combination with Tachrok Ballistic Missiles, which limits your room to dodge.
** Another enemy that appears alongside the Tachrok Ballistic Missiles is the Palinskat Ground Attack Fighter. They operate similar to Fovraski Cruise Missiles, but instead of dive-bombing you, they swoop down diagonally and shoot a few energy orbs at you.
* GoddamnedBoss: X-Bot forces you to move left and right to avoid his One-Hit Kill Crushing attack. He may not be the toughest boss yet, but he is the most frustrating one to deal with (especially in the PC version), and if you're really unlucky, this boss can corner you and crush you into oblivion. Not to mention, when you destroy both of his arms that block the way, you'll have to condone dodging his eyebeams, which are not a One-Hit Kill but serves as a distraction and can screw the player badly.
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: Both the level design and bosses. Each level has many different "waves", which consist of a set of enemies. Trouble is, you'll be eventually encountering the same few waves over and over again ad nauseam. And then there's the bosses. Bosses 10-18 are pretty much souped-up versions of the first 9 bosses, usually just faster and with more HP.
* NintendoHard:
** The first four levels are just a warm-up. Then you start to face regular mooks that kill you in one hit. Later levels have enemy formations that are out to screw you ''badly'' (DeathRay-firing satellite that you want to aim up at? Let's put them with annoying durable ground-based tanks!)
** Boss Blitz Mode. You have one life to face all 19 bosses, several of which can [[OneHitKill one-shot]] you for an instant loss. Even [[WarmUpBoss Twinblade]] becomes an EarlyBirdBoss that can end you easily if you're not careful!
* PortingDisaster: While the [=PS2=] version is far from a terrible game and separates the aiming and moving controls like the earlier well-done Xbox 360 version, as well as including a brand new arranged soundtrack, the aiming controls when shooting diagonally are too sensitive, which can cause you to miss various enemies. This version also lacks the exclusive content from the Xbox 360 version. Averted with the Playstation Network version, which uses the Xbox 360 version as a base (though the music is taken from the [=PS2=] port).
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound: '''"MEGALASER!!!"''' Cue Ass Kicking via OneHitKill WaveMotionGun...
* ScrappyMechanic: In the PC version, your tank aims with the mouse cursor, AND moves towards the mouse cursor's horizontal coordinates. This makes it hard to stay in one position and attack, and even worse when you have to face against Bulldozers that kill you on contact. Fortunately, it was solved in the console versions, with an analog stick for movement and the other for aiming/shooting.
* ThatOneBoss:
** Eyebot. It's bad enough that it comes at the end of the level that introduces the infamous [[DemonicSpiders Havanski Atomic Bombers]]. Then it just eats up your few remaining lives with its [[OneHitKill massive lightning blasts that kill you in one hit]]. The only saving grace is that its tentacles that shoot the beams are destructible.
** Mechworm. Unlike Eyebot whose insta-kill lightning tentacles are destructible, there's no way to greatly ease the difficulty for this one. Touching this dude anywhere is an instant death, the shower of rocks and the bombs its segments drop make it tricky to safely move under its arc (especially in the PC version where you move along with your cursor). Try to destroy all the segments on its body that drop bombs? [[DigAttack It will gain the ability to pop up under you]] and causes the worm to spam homing missiles instead. On the second fight, it's much longer, the arc it makes is narrower (giving you less safe room), It starts popping up under you much earlier and pops out of the ground ''much'' faster, giving you less time to move out of the way. If you don't move as soon as you see the {{Wormsign}} under you, you'll die almost immediately.
** The Secret Weapon is a very tough fight even for FinalBoss standards, not helped by having OneHitKill attacks plus ContinuingIsPainful. It spams instant-death lasers that can curve around in its first phase, and drops instant-death nukes at a pretty decent rate in the second. The [[MacrossMissileMassacre third phase]] is by far the easiest since it lacks a OneHitKill... if you haven't lost your lives during the MarathonLevel or the first two phases.
* ThatOneLevel:
** Several levels contain That One Wave, often GoddamnedBats paired with DemonicSpiders (or even two or more DemonicSpiders paired up together): Examples are Satellites/Atomic Bombers paired with Blimps or Bulldozers, or Tanks/[=ICBMs=] paired with Bulldozers.
** [[BossRush Boss Blitz Mode]]. You have only one life to destroy all bosses including the rematches, which is 19 in all. You do obtain powerups after a boss is beaten, but ''not'' when you start out. It starts out with Twinblade, who's much more threatening as an EarlyBirdBoss thanks to this, and it only gets tougher when you have to fight the plethora of bosses with OneHitKill attacks and lethal CollisionDamage that spell GameOver if any of those hit.