Fantasy Zone 1986

Is it still worth playing?

Sega's 1986 horizontally scrolling arcade shooter, the first Fantasy Zone, later ported to home consoles such as the Master System. You control Opa-Opa, a sentient spaceship that fights an invasion of the group of planets called the Fantasy Zone. Each level has a number of bases to destroy, and when all are gone the stage boss appears. There are eight stages, and in all but the last the camera is not fixed: you can fly left or right, and the stage loops. The final one is a rematch against all the earlier bosses. Opa-Opa has bullets and bombs, and can land and walk by sprouting feet. Defeating enemies, bases and bosses earns money, and touching a balloon opens a shop for better weapons, bombs, engines and extra lives. Losing a life loses every upgrade. It still has a rhythm of its own, from flying both ways and spending between waves.