What if I told you that Sega made a dark series focusing on a protagonist who was forced to kill his own father to save the day and then in the sequel has to kill the greatest enemy of all, his depressed and murderous self who has been unable to deal with the death of his father….. THAT IS THE PLOT OF FANTASY ZONE AND FANTASY ZONE 2: THE TEARS OF OPA OPA.
Fantasy Zone is a game that I have heard about for years. It’s referenced and easter egged in lots of Sega properties, and the story of Sega can’t be told with out mentioning this game. For whatever reason, people talk about OutRun, Space Harrier, and the racing games all the time. Fantasy Zone, which is Sega’s flagship side scrolling shooter, doesn’t get that kind of love. That’s a shame.
I was not hip to Fantasy Zone until recently. I tried playing it growing up on various systems and it never clicked immediately so I just dropped it. I actually became really curious about this game after watching a YouTube video chronicling the history of Fantasy Zone and it’s importance to Sega. The video did a great a job of highlighting the gameplay loop and it touched on the story (comparing it to Star Wars). After seeing the video, I grabbed the 2 games on the 3DS to see what this was all about. I became hooked.
Fantasy Zone is a side scrolling shooter starring a sentient spaceship named Opa Opa. You can move all over the screen (left and right), shooting a blaster and with bombs. Your goal is to bow up all of the bases in a level, and then you face a boss. Killing enemies drops currency, and you can use that currency to buy weapon upgrades. The game is stunningly beautiful, and is just so vibrant with color. The movement has a momentum system with the ship but its predictable and works well. The biggest between the first and 2nd games are that the second game has 3 endings and you can warp from the dark zone version of a level to a light version (ala Sonic CD). It’s a really interesting effect that lends itself to replay value. The games are hard. They are clearly arcade games. The 3DS versions have lots of quality of life changes, allowing you to bank money that progresses for every playthrough. You can also add more lives, enhance the map, and use an autofire. These make the game infinitely more playable without ruining the experience.
What fascinates me about this series is that the story is not in your face, but they use text at the beginning of each level to convey what is happening and what Opa Opa’s motivations and feeling are. You are trying to save the Fantasy Zone from a warring army led by your father in the first game….and by you? in the 2nd (I only have one ending in the second game, and it was the bad ending so….not sure what the others hold). The ending of the first game has you question via text was it worth killing your father to save this Fantasy Zone, and then the second game is basically Opa Opa dealing with his depression. It’s call the Tear of Opa Opa….that’s so sad. He is just languishing in depression from killing his father and becoming a heartless killer in the processes of saving the Fantasy Zone again. Killing his father made Opa Opa callous and then he becomes the thing he had to kill…it’s so good. The dark story is in complete juxtaposition with the glorious upbeat visuals. Like with every Sega arcade game, the music is fantastic. I hum the tunes all day after a play session.
If you have a 3DS and 14 dollars, I think these games are worth checking out. The stories are really fun, the gameplay is fantastic, and the music alone is worth the price. Sega is a special company that has truly exceptional history in arcades. We live in a golden era where we can replay these games without wasting quarters or leaving the house, take advantage of it. I have been searching for a game to get lost into, as this season of my life has been really challenging and this game has been a light in a relatively dark tunnel.
Thanks for reading. Peace!
J3Blackgamer 