Quem quer que tenha dito que “cute ‘em ups” são mais fáceis que os shoot ‘em ups tradicionais estava, pelo menos, inebriado. Fantay Zone pode ser colorido e fofinho, mas não quer dizer que segura a sua mão. Depois de uma hora sofrendo e morrendo infinitamente, simplesmente pedi arrego e coloquei alguns cheats para poder completar o jogo, tamanha a insanidade de inimigos e balas. Com a dificuldade removida, a música e visual são até terapêuticos.

Falando nisso, crédito ao game por usar o espaço sideral como uma vazão para a criatividade fantasiosa em vez de mais um ambiente sci-fi genérico.

A shockingly well-aged shooter given how old it is, though I think Super and II DX make this one obsolete. Those games are really just the same game but with more good stuff and fewer low points, so it's hard to recommend this one even if it is an all-around good game regardless. The enemy patterns of FZ1 are pretty uninteresting and can get downright irritating thanks to the weird screen scrolling and odd ship momentum. The music is also just nowhere near the excellence of the sequels.

The SEGA AGES port is the way to go if you do pick this up. The Master System port is decent, but has a lot of sprite flickering that makes it hard to see oncoming enemies.

A pretty solid standard shmup starring a vaguely egg-shaped little man who buys things with money retrieved from other, equally odd little men.

I like how dying isn't as much of a setback as it is in other early shmups; once you come back, a shop balloon usually shows up to let you power yourself back up as needed, provided if you have enough funds. The Laser and 7-Way shots absolutely tear through things, but make bigger dents in your gold; the Wide shot is sort of just there but is the least costly, so I only get it if I really have to.

Said funds you will need for the second half of the game which picks up the pace by a surprising amount, throwing more dense amounts of enemies at you to keep you on your toes. Since lots of these guys like to give chase or close in on you, it's also around this point where you're expected to take advantage of the wrap-around as much as possible, something I like a lot.

I think the one thing that's stopping me from wanting to go through multiple loops are the weird extending tubes which serve as the final boss. It's sort of a puzzle; you're pretty much guaranteed to die against the last one unless you brought a Heavy Bomb or two with you. The problem is, since your special bombs replace regular ones in this game, it's not likely you'll make it there with one before dying anyway given all the bosses you have to go through first.

That being said! I think Fantasy Zone is really nice. Most of this series is nice, really. It might be a Scrimblo Bimblo series to you, but I have no regrets trying it.

played through yakuza 0, i thought it was a pretty neat shmup, but i don't know if it's one i have it in me to actually try and dedicate myself to beating. i definitely like aspects like the way the main gameplay loop is and the fact there's an entire shop with upgrades for your ship which i was not expecting at all, but man after level 2 or 3 i get my ass whooped in this game and it is pretty annoying to lose powerups i just bought in the shop after losing a life. i might try and come back to this one though, i think it may just take some time to appreciate more because i think there's definitely something here

It took a while for me to remember play this since I mixed the name up with Space Harrier (Welcome to the Fantasy Zone!) and the character with Twinbee so I kept thinking I played it already.

It's a pretty game that sounds well and has a great trippy aesthetic, but everything that makes it an arcade game is also everything that hurts it. Your ship is always moving meaning you have to account for that in your positioning. Bullets can flurry at you from the other side of the screen without you even knowing they are coming. Hitboxes also aren't exactly lenient, meaning one touch is your doom.

It's also a what I want to call "Momentum shmup". As in, if you manage to get the ball rolling you're good to go, but if you don't then you're out of luck, especially in later levels where even with modern gaming's rapid fire (a rapid fire weapon was an upgrade but imagine the pain of pressing shoot every time you wanted to fire) the main ships are super bulky as you're barraged with homing shots from all angles. You also need money to buy upgrades, which you get by going to the ground after defeating enemies. But if you're fast, you'll get more money. Play the stage slowly, and you won't make all that much. In the shop itself you have very little time to actually think, as you only have 30 or 10 seconds seemingly based on how the game feels. That doesn't acocunt for cursor navigation time to even click and buy your item, and the items aren't even all on one screen, it has to scroll too! You aren't allowed to use Continues in Lost Judgement, but I doubt I could 1CC it like this.

Also to any shmup with foreground elements hazards can hide behind: Stop doing that.

Probably my favorite shmup of all time, I've played this on-and-off for years at this point. The fact that levels are open-ended and side scrolling plus the upgrade system being currency-based means you really can set your own pace at which to play the game, and it makes speeding through the game super fun and rewarding. The final boss is kinda dumb tho ngl and was the thing keeping from me marking this game as complete all this time. The visuals and music are top-notch as well, the songs are catchy and upbeat and the game is vibrant and colorful. It may be a bit on the easy side of things in the realm of shoot-em-ups but it's still a solid challenge for those unacquainted to the genre, so it works well as a good beginner shmup too. shoutouts to opa opa