Fantasy Zone

Screenshot from the game Fantasy Zone. Note the bright colors and unique enemies.

Fantasy Zone is a surreal arcade game created by Sega in 1986. It was later ported to a wide variety of consoles, including the Sega Master System. The player controls a sentient spaceship named Opa-Opa who fights nonsensical enemies in settings atypical of the traditional scrolling shooter, thus it is considered a cute 'em up.

In the game, the player's ship is placed in a level with a number of bases to destroy. When all the bases are gone, the stage boss appears; when the boss is defeated, the player moves on to the next level. There are two buttons: shoot and bomb; the normal shot is generally useful though weak, while bombs are powerful though of narrow use. One major difference between this and many other shooters is that the player can turn around and fly the other way; the screen will scroll along with the player. There is also a shop that occasionally can be accessed. The player can buy items and weapons from it using coins from defeated enemies.

The game Space Harrier, also by Sega and released the previous year, supposedly takes place in "the Fantasy Zone" as well (Space Harrier begins the phrase "Welcome to the 'Fantasy Zone'! Get Ready!"). It includes the same bright pastel color scheme, although the game scrolls into the screen as opposed to horizontally. However, this may be just a coincidence. A game called Space Fantasy Zone was supposed to launch to the PC Engine CD console, but it was cancelled before completion. It combines the world of Fantasy Zone with the back camera and controls from Space Harrier. Although it's not in its final stage, a ROM can be found lurking the net and run in a PCE emulator.

Trivia

• Opa-Opa first appeared in the Japanese anime series called Zillion. The video-game Zillion that was based on this anime series was available on the Sega Master System console. This game also featured Opa-Opa, where it served as an item that boosted your character's abilities.

• One of the Gear in Sonic Riders is named the Opa-Opa, a reference to this game.

• An Opa-Opa figurine is available in the capsule machines in the Dreamcast game Shenmue.

• In the arcade and Sega Master System versions of the game Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars, the goal of the second stage is to find Opa-Opa.

• In the Sound test screen for the Sega Master System adaptation of Quartet (arcade game), Opa-opa can be seen flying horizontally across the top of the screen. You can also see Teddy Boy, Pit Pot and Alex Kidd in this screen as well.

• Several of the enemies from Fantasy Zone II appear as attack waves for the final boss in the cult Dreamcast game Segagaga.

• In the Muppet Babies episode, It's Just a Pretendo, Baby Gonzo, Baby Animal, and Baby Miss Piggy were playing Fantasy Zone. During their imagination in Fantasy Zone, Gonzo and Piggy both fought over the controls to the Opa-Opa, while Animal spotted an enemy approaching and destroying the Opa-Opa.

• In Arcade Gamer Fubuki one of the challenges Fubuki had to do was get a higher score than the opponent in Fantasy Zone.

• Intentionally making over one hundred strokes in the Sega Genesis game Arnold Palmer's Tournament Golf allows the player to play a short, one-screen-long version of Fantasy Zone as an Easter egg, albeit one which continually loops until the console is either reset or turned off. The Opa-Opa also appears as a cursor in some selection screens within the game.

Series

• Fantasy Zone (Arcade, 1986)
  • Sega Master System, 1986
  • MSX, 1986
  • Nintendo Famicom, 1987 (by Sunsoft in Japan),
  • Nintendo Entertainment System, 1989 (by Tengen in America)
  • NEC PC Engine, 1988
  • Sharp X68000, 1989
  • Sega Saturn (part of larger collection), 1997
  • Mobile phone, 2002
  • PlayStation 2 (part of larger collection), 2003

• Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (Arcade, 1987)
  • Sega Master System, 1987
  • Nintendo Entertainment System, 1988 (by Sunsoft in Japan)

• Fantasy Zone: The Maze (Sega Master System, 1987)

• Fantasy Zone Gear (Sega Game Gear, 1991)

• Super Fantasy Zone (Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, 1993)

Notes

The Japanese and English versions for the NES are different from each other.

There was an unreleased game in the series called Space Fantasy Zone that was to have been released on the NEC PC Engine around the year 1990 that was to have finally bridged the gap between the Fantasy Zone series and the Space Harrier series by having a gameplay similar to Space Harrier, but have the layouts of the stages to be directly based on their Fantasy Zone counterparts. The game was never released because NEC developed the game without first getting permission from Sega to use the Fantasy Zone property, when the game was finished they contacted Sega who promptly told them not to go any further with it. Although the game was never released, a gameplay video of a prototype of the game has been found. An ISO of the SuperCD does exist and has been leaked online in the past.

External links

• Fantasy Zone at MobyGames
• Fantasy Zone at Hardcore Gaming 101
• "The Fantasy Zone Sky" A rather detailed website on the Fantasy Zone series