Super R-Type: 3HN Mindless Frustration

Call it a compulsion to extend my family's classic game collection or an odd desire to expose my boys to the finer, less modern games out there, but I'm always on the lookout for classic Super Nintendo or Genesis games. I read reviews and watch players' recorded longplays to isolate those games that exemplify the best of those consoles. Sometimes, I hit gold with games like Super Metroid or Super Mario World, but I also encounter duds, like OutRunners (which I may review in the future - it's a dull, split-screen racing simulation on the Genesis). Before Christmas, I turned my sights on side-scrolling spaceship shmups (shoot-em-ups) because our collection didn't feature one. There are several out there, including the venerable Gradius series and the R-Type series (both of which spanned the NES and SNES). I vacillated between Gradius III and Super R-Type for the SNES; what swayed me towards Super R-Type was the price on eBay, where it was 50 cents cheaper that Gradius III. I must admit that this is a dumb reason to choose between games, but I bought Super R-Type, wrapped it up, and gave it to my sons as one of many Christmas presents.

Okay... I'll just summarize my thoughts: Super R-Type is poor. Yes, the graphics are colorful, the aliens are eerily eye-popping, and the in-game sounds are crisp. My issues with this game are not the presentation of it, but the gameplay. As one may expect, side-scrolling shmups are no-brainers: you fly, move top to bottom, shoot things with your basic weapon, acquire stronger weapons, and then blast more baddies to smithereens with those powerful, acquired weapons. Super R-Type is no different, but (as far as I can tell) you only use three of the six available gameplay buttons on the SNES controller - that's a waste. Also, I must say that the second mini-boss is just too HARD to beat; I had to watch someone else's longplay on YouTube just to figure out how to destroy that spinning metal gyromite (Do you like the NES reference?). The first level should ALWAYS be a breeze when the game is set to the EASY setting; but, in Super R-Type, I have yet to get past it, so one can imagine how discouraged my boys were playing the game.

Super R-Type is almost exactly what I would expect from a side-scrolling space shmup: one lone ship, some power-ups, endless squadrons of baddies, and loads of mini-bosses. Considering this, I cannot fathom why I felt it necessary to add such games to our family collection because, honestly, I have always found them dull and pointless (except for Zanac, which continues to grow on me). My boys seemed to agree as they gave up on the game after 10 minutes of frustration. I can't blame them, though I will revisit this game in a feeble attempt to pass that second mini-boss. So, don't believe the hype. My advice is to stay away from side-scrolling space shmups, and avoid the confounding, mind-numbing blandness of Super R-Type.

Zanac: 1HN Fun Frantic Shmup

Ah, Zanac. Wuh, you've never heard of Zanac? Well, it wasn't one of those well-known classics in the NES library -- just a vertical bottom-to-top shoot-em-up flying game with power-ups, lots of bad guys, and stage upon stage of bases to destroy. Just imagine 1942 in the future... And, like most shoot-em-ups (shmups), the action gets frenetic and the projectiles keep coming... and coming... and coming.

Zanac would not stand out too much if it weren't for one bit of programming: apparently, Zanac was programmed with artificial intelligence that made Zanac more difficult the better you played. So, if you start out strong, the enemies come out in droves. The stronger you are, the more the enemies come out. If you die, your ship reappears, but the enemies come out fewer than before. For a long time, when I played Zanac, I believed that this programming existed, but that was when I was a teenager. Recently, I played Zanac again and realized something: the enemies that come out, and the amount that come out, is almost directly related to which power-ups you get and how many you get.

Here's how it works... There are eight possible power-ups numbered 0-7. You start out with 0, which is a special orb-shooting weapon. If you pick up another 0 power-up, you shoot two streams of orbs and more aliens emerge. I noticed that when I picked up 3, which is an orb that circles your ship like a defensive shield, special kinds of enemies that launch barrages of missiles and eject indestructible shells attack. Whichever power-up you get, you get certain enemies; if you get another power-up of the same type, more baddies attack.

So, Zanac is a fun shmup with some cool power-ups, fast-paced action, and lots of chaos, but the aliens are unspectacular and, like most shmups, the cheese is poured on thick. Nothing is worse than dodging a bunch of foes and projectiles only to explode because one stray projectile grazes your ship, as in passes one pixel from your ship. To become really good at Zanac, you have to enter a mental state in which you just focus on dodging while holding down both the standard fire button and the special weapon button. Just move and shoot... Oh, and never, ever get anything but 0, 3, or 7. The rest are a waste of time, especially 2. Trust me.