The Fantasy Zone is a solar system consisting of eight brightly colored, fantastic planets. The evil Menons are trying to take over all of the planets in the Fantasy Zone by using misappropriated foreign currency to build their forces. It is the player's job to recover all of the coins and save the solar system! Fantasy Zone is an arcade style shooter for one or two players. The goal is to destroy all of the creatures on each planet and collect as many of the lost coins as possible. At the end of each level is a large enemy that will have to be defeated before moving on to the next world. At various points in the game, the player will be able to find a parts shop, which allows purchasing improvements for his spaceship, including better weapons and faster engines.
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This review contains spoilers
Sega's just like that sometimes.
BUT I would 100% play this over space harrier so
It's a pretty game that sounds well and has a great trippy aesthetic, but everything that makes it an arcade game is also everything that hurts it. Your ship is always moving meaning you have to account for that in your positioning. Bullets can flurry at you from the other side of the screen without you even knowing they are coming. Hitboxes also aren't exactly lenient, meaning one touch is your doom.
It's also a what I want to call "Momentum shmup". As in, if you manage to get the ball rolling you're good to go, but if you don't then you're out of luck, especially in later levels where even with modern gaming's rapid fire (a rapid fire weapon was an upgrade but imagine the pain of pressing shoot every time you wanted to fire) the main ships are super bulky as you're barraged with homing shots from all angles. You also need money to buy upgrades, which you get by going to the ground after defeating enemies. But if you're fast, you'll get more money. Play the stage slowly, and you won't make all that much. In the shop itself you have very little time to actually think, as you only have 30 or 10 seconds seemingly based on how the game feels. That doesn't acocunt for cursor navigation time to even click and buy your item, and the items aren't even all on one screen, it has to scroll too! You aren't allowed to use Continues in Lost Judgement, but I doubt I could 1CC it like this.
Also to any shmup with foreground elements hazards can hide behind: Stop doing that.