A long time ago, I decided to take a ride on the wild side by checking out the very first title in the Fantasy Zone series, and I still cannot believe how much fun I ended up having with that game at the end of the day, because it is genuinely a wonderful time. Sure, the last stage may have been a pain in my own fantasy zone, but most of the game was very unique for a shmup at the time, both in terms of presentation and gameplay, and it managed to keep things entertaining and engaging with its simple, yet fun combat, the rewards you can get from both killing enemies and the shops you come across, and some pretty fun boss fights that do keep you on your toes at all times. However, because I don’t like having fun, I hadn’t played any other game in the series after that experience I had with the first title, but now, THAT’S FINALLY GONNA CHANGE! Because today, ladies and gentlemen, I actually took the time to sit down and play the second game in this series, Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa.

So, admittedly, the reason why I didn’t play this game soon after I did the first one was because I thought I would encounter my worst fears when it comes to playing the sequel to any shmup I have played so far, and that is that it would change up nothing, and be boring as a result. I REALLY didn’t want to feel that way about Fantasy Zone, as I did end up really loving my time with the first game, so it put me off on the sequel for quite a while. However, I figured it was about time to finally bite the bullet, so I played through the second game, and…….. yeah, no, this shit STILL fucking rocks, dude. It is just as good as the original Fantasy Zone, if not BETTER in some aspects, and while I can’t say it doesn’t need any improvements, it was great to finally check out this game and have a blast with it as a result.

The story is very basic for this kind of sequel, where it has been 10 years since the events of Fantasy Zone, and Opa-Opa is still recovering from having to face his father at the end of the last game, when suddenly, he hears that the new Nenon Forces are invading the Fantasy Zone and spreading chaos wherever they please, so it is up to Opa-Opa to set out once again to take them all down, which is, once again, a fairly simple set-up for a sequel, but the way that it is presented with this adorable little ship does make it a lot more appealing, especially with another element to it I will get into later. The graphics are… pretty much unchanged from the first game, which does kind of suck, but it still looks pretty good regardless, full of plenty of pretty colors everywhere and great enemy and boss designs, the music is pretty good, mostly consisting of plenty of bright, fun, and bouncy tunes, but some of them can be menacing when they need to be, and they were all very pleasant to listen to, and the gameplay/control is pretty much the exact same from last time as well, which I would complain about, but that would make me a certified Fantasy Zone Hater, and I don’t wanna be anything close to that.

The game is a horizontal shooter, where you take control of Opa-Opa once again, go through a set of 8 different zones, each one being just as colorful, vibrant, and dangerous as the last, shoot down any of the adorable creatures coming your way while you make sure to destroy the main bases so that you can proceed forward, gather plenty of money so that when a shop appears, you can go in and purchase either temporary or permanent upgrades for yourself like upgraded shots, more powerful bombs, and boosts in speed, and take on plenty of whacky bosses that will not only still challenge you in plenty of ways, but will also differentiate from each other in terms of what they do and how you have to go about defeating them, implementing another layer of complexity to these fights….. even if they aren’t complex at all. You all have seen this from Fantasy Zone 1 to some extent, which could make this feel like a pretty pointless sequel, but I am way too busy having fun to care about that sort of thing, as the gameplay is still just as addicting and satisfying as ever before.

It truly does feel wonderful to just get into the groove of a game like this, y’know? You have a simple objective, you know exactly how to go about it, and your main concern is getting as powerful as you can, so you spend as much time getting all the money as you do taking out all of the foes, getting all of the best gear, and then going out to clear through the game like a CHAMP! It’s the best kind of way to approach any game like this, and I was having a great time through the whole thing. Not only that, but there are some new elements to this game to make it stand out from the original, and by that, I mean only one new element is here: the warps. Whenever you defeat certain bases, they will uncover warp gates that you can go into, which take you into a different version of the stage that is slightly altered by appearance and the enemies that you will fight in there. This does… pretty much nothing to change the main gameplay around, but depending on what zone you clear these stages in, it does determine what ending you get at the end of the game, which does make for some good replayability for those that wanna see everything that this game has to offer, even if I’m not so key on going for it myself.

However, despite how much fun I was having with this Fantasy Zone revisit, I can’t say that that will be the case with everyone, because this is, in many ways, just Fantasy Zone 1 again. Yeah, it’s got new bosses, some slightly interesting and new gimmicks, and multiple endings, but aside from that, it is your same ol’ Fantasy Zone affair, meaning that if you didn’t like what you got in the first game, you aren’t gonna like this one either. Also, whaddya know, the Boss Rush Last Stage makes a return in this game too, so that really throws a damper on my fantasy zone, but y’know what, I actually… didn’t mind it all that much this time? Maybe it was because I was more skilled at the game and killing the bosses more quickly, but that doesn’t make it any less of an annoying boss rush, especially with some of the new bosses added in having some pretty dirty tactics to take you out……. fucking spiders, man…

Overall, despite a lack of change and that final boss rush still being a blight on this series, Fantasy Zone II still manages to be just as fun and enjoyable as the original Fantasy Zone in just about every way, having a simple, yet VERY effective set of gameplay that was able to hook me in immediately, plenty of powerups to get and try out, and many challenges ahead that make you feel like a true champ for overcoming them. I would definitely recommend it for those who loved the first game, or for those who want a new shmup to play, because while I can’t say it is for everyone, it definitely feels like it stands on its own in the best way possible, which definitely warrants a quick look-at at the very least, I feel. Hell, I just hope that I feel the same way about every other game in this series moving forward, but, knowing me and my high standards, I assume this won’t last all too long………………. or maybe it’ll become my new favorite thing of all time, I dunno, we’ll see.

Game #606

The sequel to Fantasy Zone is more Fantasy Zone. A lot more Fantasy Zone. Maybe too much more Fantasy Zone.

The core game is exactly the same—search horizontal scrolling levels for special enemies, which you have to destroy before fighting a boss—but this game shakes things up by adding warp icons that take you to new screens within levels. Every new screen multiplies the length by that much, and it can be tedious to navigate the warp system. The icons are always blue, and there's usually two on a screen—there's no way to tell where you're going without memorizing what each icon leads to, so you'll often jump from cleared screen to cleared screen looking for the screen that still has enemies to destroy on it. Even though the warps persistently take you to the same place, it feels like the Lost Woods or something because of how easy it is to get lost—the only distinguishing feature between the two jumps on each stage are if they're on the left or on the right. When you land in another stage from these jumps, you're somewhere away from the warp icons, so you can't really tell which one will take you back to the one you came from. This system makes the game really tedious—not only is there a lot more enemies to kill before you get to the next boss, but the warp system is confounding. I wish there was something in place to stop you from getting lost—either have the warp always take you to a level with enemies to kill, or use different colored warp icons so I can distinguish them easier. Once you kill all the enemies, the boss room unlocks—these have red warp icons, but you still have to navigate to the stage with the boss icon. There's no indication that you've killed all the required enemies either, so you might try the boss icon, find it doesn't work, then have to search the level for the remaining bad guys to kill.

The bosses themselves are as fun as the first one. They're usually pretty interesting shooting game bosses where you have to hit a weak spot or a bunch of weak spots to take them down. The exception is the final boss, which moves to the left and will crush you if you can't kill it fast enough, which you can't unless you're way better at this game than I am, or unless you're beefed up on upgrades before going into it. In general in this game it feels like buying upgrades is a lot more necessary than it was in the first game, as the required enemies are real bullet sponges for your regular attack but will melt away if you've got an expensive weapon. Money is never an issue, but its tedious to go back to the store constantly.

I have to say I like the sequel to the Fantasy Zone a bit less than I liked the original, but it's still bright and feels pretty fun, even if it gets a little tiresome. I played the Master System version, but the arcade version looks pretty different (and less tedious), so I might check that one out.

Another nice Egg Boy Shmup. DX might blow the Master System one out of the water but it's still very enjoyable, on par with the first arcade game.

Levels are a bit slower paced and more segmented than they were before; now you have to go through warpgates to be able to get rid of all the bases. Shops are also at fixed points rather than just coming in when the game feels like it. If you die, it's a bit tougher getting to where you were beforehand, so naturally it's way easier once you remember which gates lead to where. Also important are the Red and Blue bottles which are costly, but let you take more than one hit if you can find them.

The game gets really crowded from round 5 onwards like the first Fantasy Zone did, though even before you get to that point, you'll likely find yourself getting walled by bullets once or twice. It's kind of intense, but I eventually figured out how to put up with it! Also like the first game, you'll want to actually rely on special weapons more; it's really satisfying to get rid of half the bases in Chaprun with two or three Fire Ball shots, for instance.

Most of the bosses are easier than the stages for some reason, but they're still nice. Once you've made it to Wolfin, you could tear through like half of them with the aformentioned Fire Balls if you wanted to. You can actually beat the final boss without needing a special bomb this time, which is a plus.

Fantasy Zone II. Good game. Not much else to say.

Like the last game, but now you can just get lost in all the warp zones, things move even faster, and this game has learned absolutely zero lessons of the last game, even down to the boss rush and final boss requiring the heavy weight to beat the game.

It's not learning anything from Fantasy Zone and slapping another gimmick on top that makes me rate this lower than the last.

Increased shop variety in that they're spread out across shops, but it's still a "good luck beating this without relying on it" game.

Played via Lost Judgement.