Been playing this off and on when perusing the everdrive, and it's pretty novel. Pac-Man with Fantasy Zone's mechanics sewed in: Collect all the coins in the maze while avoiding enemies. The shop system - and by extension, weapons, - have been brought over from FZ, and the collectibles count towards your cash to spend on them. Killing enemies isn't mandatory to get a board clear, but you're encouraged to with how aggressive they become if you keep letting 'em spawn. On the flipside, item prices still permanently increase each time you invest in them, so if you grab items willy-nilly, you'll price yourself out as the levels get harder. It's that push-pull of 'can I beat this maze without using the Invincibility grab?', which makes it all the more beautiful when you optimize your run to perfection, reap huge cash bonuses, and get to spend like it's your last day on earth.

I think my main grievance with this game is the double-edged sword of having dedicated worlds and levels to clear. The fun of something like Pac-Man or Dig Dug is that there's no pressure from the game to complete everything here - you just gotta do the best you can and see how your scores improve. But Fantasy Zone: The Maze has a traditional 3-stage world structure, featuring locales from FZ1, and that puts on the pressure to see and do everything, which makes the end of a premature run feel sour. You can technically jump ahead to the later levels from the start - not dissimilar to Atari era games like Tempest or Black Widow, - but my brain couldn't muster up the energy to spoil the levels for myself. I'll get there when I get there, y'know.