It's
quite a sad thing when someone passes up the opportunity to play
a fun and challenging game due to it being cute and 'childish.'
Fantasy Zone is one of these games. Hell, one glance down at the
screen shots below will give you prime examples of the type of environments
you'll be flying (and running) through: hyper cute, bizarre worlds
filled with oddball characters and a rainbow of eye-pleasing colours;
a far cry from the monochrome, cyberpunkish environments of R-Type.
Underneath this adorable exterior, however, is an addictive and
interesting game with a difficulty level that certainly gave this
hardcore Gradius player a run for his money.
The story goes like this: deep in space, there is a strange dimension
known as the Fantasy Zone, and in the space year of 1422, the Interplanetary
Money System suffered from a very bad, very cute market crash. According
to a Space Guild investigation, an unknown enemy is leading the
Menon Planet Forces in an interstellar rape-and-pillage fest, stealing
the money from all of the planets to construct a gigantic fortress
in said Fantasy Zone. Enter our funky little hero, Opa-Opa. With
a jet booster, a strong pair of little wings, an insane amount of
ammo and a nippy pair of legs, Opa-Opa takes off to stop the Menon
forces dead in their tracks. It might not be a tragic, emotional
tour-de-force, but it gets the job done.
The player controls Opa-Opa with an eight-way joystick and two buttons,
one for main weapons, one for bombs and super weapons. Each side-scrolling,
free-roaming stage contains ten 'carrier' enemies which take a lot
of punishment and release tiny, annoying enemies when Opa-Opa gets
close to them. Also trying to stop you are swarms of normal enemies
that take one shot to kill, and can get very numerous very quickly.
To advance to the next stage, you must destroy all ten of the carrier
enemies and defeat the end boss. This can be made fairly difficult
by the scrolling of the screen, which requires Opa-Opa to be dangerously
close to the edge for it to scroll at a reasonable speed. Then of
course, there are the bullets. Oh dear God, the bullets. There a
times in the later stages when I wonder if this is what being a
spoon in a mass of peas is like.
But wait, there's more! You'll notice that carrier enemies and certain
little enemies will drop coins of various sizes when they die. Once
you've collected one or two, you'll see a SHOP balloon float down.
This is one of Fantasy Zone's most interesting features. Touching
this balloon and going into the shop will allow you to upgrade Opa-Opa's
speed, firepower and defenses. Things like bigger wings and rocket
engines will increase your speed, while lasers and wide beams help
you take out enemies with greater ease. Why, you can even buy extra
lives, although they do tend to get a bit pricey if you buy too
many. It's not all good though. Most of the weapons either have
a time limit, or one use only, so you'll definitely need to plan
ahead in order to get the most out of your hard-earned cash. (How
exactly a shop can function like this in the middle of a interplanetary
depression, however, is beyond me. Chalk it up to that old Sega
magic.)
The graphics in Fantasy Zone are very pleasing to the eye. You're
going to be flying through lush green alien forests, delicious-looking
deserts, and glorious fields with towering pillars covered in beautiful
flora and sparkling waterfalls. If it weren't under siege, this
would be a very nice place to live. The characters are very good-looking,
too...well, as good-looking as flying marshmallows, mutant mosquitoes
and really, really angry bricks can be. There are plenty of enemies
in this game that only the special magic of an acid trip could help
create. However, in my opinion, the sound is where Fantasy Zone
really shines. This game runs on the classic Sega System 16 hardware,
so the sound effects and especially the music have that pleasing
old-style 'twang' that most of us love so well. I am not exaggerating
when I say that this game has one of the most beautiful, spine-tinglingly
excellent ending/high score tracks ever to grace an arcade. It's
that good.
Fantasy Zone is a treat for any self-respecting gamer who isn't
afraid to dig through a fairly large pile of cute to find a sweet,
tasty, caramel-filled treat inside. From the beautiful settings,
to the memorable music, to the original and unforgettable little
hero, this game is a true underdog in every sense of the word. Absolutely
worth playing despite its flaws.
Fantasy
Zone - Sega
