Fantasy Zone

Wii review by Jonathan Glover, published on Thursday 17th April 2008

Despite the best efforts of the Brazilian people, the Sega Master System’s failure elsewhere means that much of the console’s library serves as nothing more than a historical footnote. While some games were ported to half a dozen platforms (see: Wonder Boy), others are consigned to linger in obscurity. Only a handful of the Master System’s titles remain not only playable, but relevant. Fantasy Zone, a cute ‘em up Defender riff, is one of these titles.

The game seems rather simplistic, and it is. You zip around in your spaceship on a free-scrolling, horizontal plane in an effort to blast enemy generators, destroying creatures to collect coins which can then be used at a sporadically appearing, airborne shop that sells ship upgrades. Kill a boss and progress to the next level. Rinse and repeat. While admittedly very fun, it’s quite derivative of the aforementioned Defender.

However, the magic isn’t in the mechanics but the panache with which everything comes together. As sentient spaceship Opa-Opa, you fly about in a Neapolitan nightmare gunning down smiling, bug-eyed creatures in a hyper-cute survival of the pastels. Impressively vivid greens, pinks and blues dot the landscape while a granular, chirpy soundtrack propels you along on your voyage across the fantastic planets. The design holds up incredibly well; it did quirk over a decade before Japanese wackiness became most hip and, in turn, almost seems like an intentionally kitschy retro experience.

But for all its aesthetic strengths the game isn’t without its problems. Your ship’s inertia is often battling with the camera, a floaty beast which has trouble keeping up with the direction of your movement. Flying up against the screen while hordes of twirling creatures flutter about is the cause of many frustrating deaths. Also, due to the limitations of the SMS, the game’s large bosses are not only pared down (and sometimes completely different) from their respective arcade versions, but you fight them set against a lifeless, solid colored background.

While the few niggling problems do little to rain on the game’s parade, there’s one huge caveat: the far superior sequel, Super Fantasy Zone, has been rated by the ESRB, USK and OFLC. Given Sega’s prolific presence on the Virtual Console, it could end up on the service at any point in time. The third game in the series (the second is a bit of an oddball, suffering from the 8-bit terrible twos), while essentially the same gameplay experience, is the superlative cute ‘em up, improving upon every aspect of the previous titles.

With that in mind, Fantasy Zone is a tough sell. Fantasy Zone fanatics and folks wanting to support the recently launched SMS section of the Virtual Console would do well to drop 500 points, but for everyone else, it’s probably worth waiting. Regardless, anyone who decides to shell out for the game will find a wonderfully whimsical shmup unlike anything else seen outside of Japan. Just don’t be surprised when it’s bested in the upcoming months.