Section Z is a shmup under the Capcom umbrella where you take the role of a lonely astronaut. With a gun in hand and various weapons and forms of aid in the distance, you make your way from the introductory Section A to, hopefully, the titular Section Z.

The game's gimmick lies in its second button. Instead of changing weapons or allowing you to jump, it gives you the ability to change the direction you're facing. It's a neat little quirk that allows you to shoot at a direction while flying at the opposite and it's a great way to clear enemies off the map.

Other than that gimmick, the game doesn't have much going for it so if you get bored of switching from side to side, you'll find little enjoyment in this game. Or you could end up having too much fun mashing the side switch button like I did, leaving the astronaut in a haze and always shooting at the wrong direction!

In the mid-2000s, Pierre Bayard theorised the concept of 'anticipatory plagiarism' (plagiat par anticipation). The term is certainly a bit provocative, but it evokes a constant in the discovery of cultural works: we are always forced to compare with what we already know, even if we compare with something subsequent to it. For Bayard, from this gap a 'third text' is born. Thus, Fort comme la mort (1889) by Maupassant does not appear entirely as a text by Maupassant or a text by Proust – the resemblance with À la recherche du temps perdu (1913-1927) is somewhat striking – but as a text written by Maupassant and read through the lens of Proust. I find this concept particularly interesting when I think of Section-Z (December 1985), as it prefigures some themes developed by Metroid (August 1986), both in terms of aesthetics and a certain idea of non-linearity in gameplay. To achieve this sense of freedom, the title offers two different exits at the end of each level. Sometimes, one of the portals will be condemned and you will have to destroy a generator, present in another level, to open it. The idea has its merits, but it ultimately creates blocks of levels that follow each other in a rather rigid order, as there is no reason to explore more than necessary. Indeed, the environments are very similar and the encounters remain broadly the same – either a fast-paced level or a slow-burning gauntlet. The title proposes three different zones, which correspond to chapters headed by a singular boss, but a weariness sets in quite quickly. It should also be noted that the game is an auto-scroller, so exploration is not part of the gameplay philosophy: it further circumscribes its diversity. Though a prefiguration of Metroid, Section-Z cannot bear the comparison and appears above all as a Gradius clone with a semblance of freedom in the choice of levels; Tomoshi Sadamoto is one of the designers, which also explains similarities with Trojan in the formal and somewhat innovative approach of game-design. Fairly insufficient, however.