The illustration used in the package was used as the main visual in various media. As well as using the same pattern on the undercarriage, it is also a poster image for the X68000 version, so you may have seen it here and there.
A series corner where you can immerse yourself in the history and nostalgia of domestic PCs with nostalgic adverts and game screens from those days.
This time, we’re talking about the MSX game “Fantasy Zone,” ported from arcades and released by Ponica on March 21, 1987.
When it comes to PC software in the 1980s, many arcade ported works were released to meet the needs of people who wanted to play the games that ran in the game center at home. In particular, in the mid-1980s, popular titles such as “Gradius” and “Space Harrier” appeared, and titles ported to personal computers were also released.
Before the release, it was a version advertisement with a notification that it will be released on March 21st. After the statement, comments from celebrities and celebrities are posted. I was surprised to see a comment from Yuki Saito!?
There was a deep need to play arcade games on a PC, but in that case, there would always be parts that needed to be downgraded. It was during this period that Ponica released “Fantasy Zone” for MSX. Such a story was written in the enclosed manual (under mom).
If you leave it on the title screen, the story will flow. Although there is no background, you can see that they are trying hard to make it the same as the arcade version.
Many years ago, there was a “fantasy zone” beyond the universe. The Hero of Opaopa (here you are) has risen determined to protect this fantasy domain from the evil hands of the enemy. In space history 6216, the official interplanetary currency was disrupted, and all the planets fell into panic. An official investigation by the Space Guild has revealed that someone is manipulating the Menon aliens, stealing foreign currency, and using it to build a huge fortress in the Fantasy Zone. To thwart the enemy’s ambitions, Opaopa immediately entered the Fantasy Zone, but…
The player controls the hero Opa-Opa and aims to destroy all the bases that appear in the fantasy zone. Coins appear when you defeat enemies and enemy bases, and money accumulates when you collect them. In each stage, a balloon with the word SHOP on it will appear at any time, and if you touch it, you can enter the shop, where you can buy power-up parts. Use coins here to buy weapons and other items to power up your own machine and fight stronger enemies.
Each side is faithfully reproduced in pastel colors typical of “Fantasy Zone”. Since missiles are fired continuously, the attack power can be higher than the arcade version.
After all, the feature of “Fantasy Zone” was a system that had never existed before, where money was saved to buy weapons. At the time, it was very nice to be able to buy not only weapons but also your own machine (a leftover machine) as long as you had the money, but at first, some of the products sold, by include the remaining machine, cheaply. The price goes up every time you buy it (for example, if you have a remaining life, it starts at $2,500, and then goes up from $10,000 to $25,000 when you buy it) , so you need to think about the future when choosing items. Basic items like accelerators have a fixed price, but weapons more powerful than the standard dual shot will cost more each time you buy them, so the more times you use them, the more durable they will become. a possibility that it would be difficult to buy at the bottom of the surface.
In the arcade version, destroying 10 bases triggers a boss battle, but in the MSX version, after destroying 6 bases, the screen transitions to the boss battle screen. The background disappears, and it becomes a one-on-one battle with a huge boss, but some of them are harder than the original version, so you can’t beat them so easily. However, if you can avoid the enemy’s attack and defeat him, the enemy’s pieces will turn into coins and you can collect as much money as you want! After clearing stage 7 in this way, stage 8 will begin with all the previous bosses appearing, and at the end there will be a mysterious enemy.
A unique enemy appears in each stage and attacks Opaopa. Especially from stage 3 onwards, it is often true that an enemy that appears suddenly will make a mistake, so it is a good idea to remember the pattern of extraction sources in advance and avoid approaching dangerous areas.
When you play it, you will be amazed at how the unique pop colors of “Fantasy Zone” are reproduced in MSX. There are some parts that have been reduced, such as the lack of enemy bases and no radar, but overall I felt the atmosphere was good. However, even with a fast engine (speedup), scrolling is slow and you get hit by enemy bullets, or an enemy that suddenly appears and makes a mistake, which makes players cry Maybe the BGM is a little different too? Personally, I wanted to play with the ported versions to MSX2 and MSX2 + instead of MSX(1).
Destroy enemies, bases, and bosses to drop coins. Collect these and use them to shop in the store. After purchasing it, the equipment screen will appear, so use the spacebar to move the cursor to the weapon you want to equip, and press the GRAPH key to confirm. Up to the 4th stage, you can fight with standard equipment, but after the 5th stage, the durability of the base will increase, so it was safe to buy weapons and fight.
If you’ve played the arcade version and are used to it, you might be surprised by the rapid firepower of this work’s missiles. Since the rapid fire is so effective, you will be able to defeat the base and bosses with missiles without difficulty. In terms of boss battles, the arcade version had a technique to keep the coins from scattering by defeating them in the lowest possible position, but in the MSX version, the height at which coins appear is the same every time you will defeat the boss, so you can attack without worrying about it. It’s easy to do. If you have a pad with a rapid fire device or a joystick, you can lower the difficulty even more, so it could be fun to play aiming for 10 million points this time.
Each side boss launches a unique attack. All bosses are effective at approaching and firing missiles, so don’t be afraid to go and shoot. The final enemy feels a little different than the arcade version, so it may take some time.
