When you’ve got shooters of the calibre of Gate of Thunder, Soldier Blade and Super Star Soldier to choose from, it’s not unreasonable to question the sanity of downloading a NES blaster; surely anything available on Nintendo’s crusty old 8-bit couldn’t possibly compete with the aforementioned genre classics?
Gameplay, as they say, never goes out of fashion. That is certainly true when it comes to Zanac. Crafted by shooter experts Compile (of Aleste fame), this title may not look like much but in practically every other aspect it’s just as worthy of your time as the other games mentioned above.
The visuals are pretty basic but when the game is in motion things look a lot better. The screen is often awash with enemy sprites and bullets, but there’s no slowdown – an impressive feat considering the hardware limitations of the time. The scrolling is also fast and silky-smooth.
Sonically, things are pretty average; there are some excellent tunes here but as always the primitive NES sound chip can’t really do them justice. Of course many fans will argue that the ‘retro’ sound is what makes these tunes all the more appealing, so it’s largely down to personal taste.
Easily the most impressive facet of Zanac is the level of challenge. The game pioneered a unique AI system that adapted to your playing style; if you succeed in powering up your weapons, things become harder. This means that potentially each session on Zanac is different depending on how well you’re doing.
Considering the humble nature of the host hardware and age of the game, this is a pretty amazing achievement and it’s something that even modern-day shooters ignore almost completely. It helps make the game incredibly challenging, but it’s worth noting that over the years Zanac has gained a reputation as being a very frustrating game to play. I like my shooters tough, so it obviously didn’t concern me too much!
The NES isn’t exactly famed for having many essential shooters, but Zanac is undoubtedly a must-have download. If you’ve experienced all the other blasters on the Virtual Console and want to try something that will challenge and entertain at the possible expense of graphical and sonic splendour, then this is highly recommended.
1. Bass X0
28 Sep 2007, 20:53 GMT
doesn't look to be anything special. maybe its one of those games that plays better than it looks... but i doubt it.
2. Jonno
01 Oct 2007, 20:39 GMT
It looks pretty good but considering we have three of the Star Soldiers, Blazing Lazers, Galaga, Galaga '90, StarFox 64/Lylat Wars, Sin and Punishment, Xevious, Ordyne, Gradius, Gradius II (soon enough), Gradius III and so on... it seems unneeded.
3. Greg G.
12 Oct 2007, 04:11 GMT
I had this on NES when I was younger and played it a ton. It is a fun and addictive game. If it's 500 points I'll probably add it to my VC collection when it is released in the US.
4. GS
22 Oct 2007, 03:52 GMT
This game is good, but if you are looking for in my opinion the greatest shooter, you would be better off downloading "Blazing Lazers" for the turbo grafx for a little more money.
5. Kelvin
03 Dec 2007, 13:13 GMT
If this is anything like its Master System cousin, Power Strike, it'll be a good pick for anyone who fancies a tough challenge!
6. deggs
03 Dec 2007, 14:34 GMT
i'm happy this has finally been released as i'll probably buy it now... still, i really hope that we're one step further to getting Guardian Legend released... at this point though, things don't look that promising for a Guardian Legend vc release in North America, which is sad because I always wanted that game but couldn't find it until after my nes got stolen...
this game will tide me over until then i guess...
7. PresidentLeever
04 Dec 2007, 17:05 GMT
This game is awfully repetitive and insanely hard. I much prefer the Aleste games (MUSHA, Power Strike 2, Super Aleste) that built on the same concept.
8. KhaoShar
25 Mar 2008, 11:13 GMT
This needs some fixing, I daresay?
9. TRON
27 Apr 2008, 06:48 GMT
I downloaded this game after reading an article about people still playing this in competition, and it being such a great shooter. Well... I was left pretty uninterested after a few plays (deaths more like it) and don't see myself playing it too much more. Shooters really came into their own during the 16 bit era for me, and it's hard to recommend this when there are several shooters on the TG-16 that are better and more fun than this for only a 100 points more.
(I would note that I found the gameplay frustrating and that really affected my enjoyment of this game, but maybe I just suck... apparently it's some of the hardcore schmup fans life goal to see the credits run on this one).
10. lordbowser
04 May 2008, 23:41 GMT
Isn't this the game that if you reset it 13 times you get a different ship and some various other weird cheats too.
11. AlphaNerd01
06 Jun 2008, 04:48 GMT
Downloaded this today out of pure curiosity - and I love it! This isn't for casual schmup fans though; it's merciless. That's why I love it so much. If you're into insanely hard schmups, look no further. This is for you.
Thanks for the excellent review, Damien. Can't believe I passed this over the week it was released!
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