A flawed yet very admirable effort that combines several genres all into one game while having a genuinely solid story. This game is a good example for of an nes game with a ton of passion but maybe not the complete budget to support it and that’s ok. This game tries and it’s consistently fun. You have elements of a shoot ‘em up, shooter, action platformer and even metroidvania all rolled into one. Having different segments cross the different style changes In each act. It’s flawed sure and doesn’t excel in its attempts but it’s still fun and very admirable while being cohesive. This game does feel like one big adventure and I appreciate the attempts at the story. Offering some genuine stakes and an interesting set up. I like everything this games attempts and playing a game like this that’s ambitious and innovative over other nes games is pretty exciting even if it’s not a perfect experience. Perfect game for anyone getting deeper into the nes library.
Last year I played this game and gave it a very short review. At first I was content with just that but after replaying, I feel like maybe I should at least try to do a longer one. This game in Japan is called Chitei Senkou Bazolder and has an interesting release. Now I can’t really confirm it to be true as I was only told this by some random youtube comment a few months ago but the designer for this game named Shoichi Yoshikawa had some web page where he talked about this game saying he not only translated this whole game for the US release but supposedly this was meant to be released in possibly 1989 instead of 1991 with the reason being bug testing was why it took so long. Though he sadly told me it only might be on the Wayback Machine so I can’t really say if it’s believable but if so, it’s certainly interesting. There’s also the developer named Cyclone System, now who are they? Well idk the most I could find was that it had former Aicom people and they barely worked on much else. Their first game released was Zoom! for the Mega Drive. The last game they worked on was a Mega Drive port of Cadash.
The game is certainly an interesting one that features 4 different gameplay styles. This is interesting because Shoichi Yoshikawa also worked on the first Golgo 13 game for the Famicom which also had many different gameplay styles. Though you won’t find nudity and sex here. The first type of gameplay is where you drive a vehicle that you can shoot with, drill through specific areas and even allow it to fly around. In some ways it’s kind of like a horizontal shmup. The flying form of it can be activated by holding A and then pressing up. If you want to use an ability it has then hold A and press right or left. Later on you’ll get a new one that can transform into a fighter jet thing and it has some strong abilities you can earn. The thing relies on fuel and shield which you’ll need to refill for the fuel especially if you use the abilities which drain more. Enemies can drop fuel for you. The shield will restore on its own if you get hit but once it goes to 0 then it is game over. Though for the whole game you have infinite continues so don’t worry. These sections are probably the hardest in the game but are pretty easy after a few tries. You don’t get the best firepower but your shield can survive pretty well that one mistake won’t screw you over. It also helps that none of them are long meaning a game over won’t do too much progress from you.
The second type of gameplay is the 3D battles. God how do I even explain these? So you first start talking to your team which can help give you more health or up the possibility % to killing the boss. Getting it to 100% is what kills the boss. You’ll need to either hit the boss or keep talking to the people to get it to 100. You can move the cursor around the area as you’re fighting the boss as it does two different attacks. None of them are challenging but they really are boring to me. There’s just not much skill to it and you’ll never be afraid of dying. To me these are the low points of the game even if the graphics are pretty cool and the actual gameplay is rather creative.
The third type of gameplay are the on foot missions where the girl named Moby will fight these weird creatures with her kick and gun. You’ll need to travel around to find items, other people or the leader of the weird alien creatures. There’s also story to be read here because this is a game that has cutscenes and story but because I’m unprofessional, I wasn’t able to read them. I will point out that apparently the dialogue is rather odd, at least according to the Famidaily video about the game. One example being Moby at two different points will say “NEVER GIVE UP” in a game where almost all of the dialogue is in Japanese and there’s even one time a robot says “MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU…” which is weird. Anyway back to the gameplay stuff. The areas you travel in are pretty simple to navigate and you’ll know if you can travel through a gate if you have the appropriate item or event triggered. The gun you have has limited ammo but you don’t need to worry about running out almost all of the time. The kick and airkick still work fine but make sure to press up to do those. Sadly a lot of the level design is pretty samey and there’s only like 4 different enemy types and only one of them is used 90% of the time. Though despite that they never feel boring and I can’t explain why. There’s also the leader you fight but it never feels like an actual boss fight. Overall this stuff can be simple and fun but if you’re not here for simplicity then you’ll be very disappointed.
The last gameplay style is similar to the first one but done in the vertical shmup style. Honestly it’s pretty impressive how this feels exactly like those horizontal ones in controls. Though this one autoscrolls unlike the horizontal ones. There’s not really much to be said here as they work and the challenge is about the same and getting fuel is simple enough, maybe even easier to get here if you ask me. Though I’m still confused why in the last level the small blocks instantly kill you.
Once you’ve seen it all, it goes through a very samey loop with even the cutscenes going through the exact same motions most of the time. Bazolder really doesn’t try to surprise you as once you see everything, you get a good idea what the rest of the game will be. While it’s nothing complex and can be fun, I can’t see most being too into this game nowadays. I could be wrong obviously and while I enjoy it except maybe those 3D battles it is something I know won’t be for everyone. I wish I could praise the music but it’s kind of hit and miss to me. It’s not bad but I’m not too big on the sound driver for the instruments. The graphics however do look nice even if the standard was a little higher in 1991. Though keep in mind this could have been made for 1989 standards. The game nowadays goes for a ridiculous price probably due to Moby being on the cover which is unfortunate. While I probably won’t ever replay this game again, it’s certainly an interesting game for the console and one I think shouldn’t go unnoticed for trying to be a jack of all trades.
The game is certainly an interesting one that features 4 different gameplay styles. This is interesting because Shoichi Yoshikawa also worked on the first Golgo 13 game for the Famicom which also had many different gameplay styles. Though you won’t find nudity and sex here. The first type of gameplay is where you drive a vehicle that you can shoot with, drill through specific areas and even allow it to fly around. In some ways it’s kind of like a horizontal shmup. The flying form of it can be activated by holding A and then pressing up. If you want to use an ability it has then hold A and press right or left. Later on you’ll get a new one that can transform into a fighter jet thing and it has some strong abilities you can earn. The thing relies on fuel and shield which you’ll need to refill for the fuel especially if you use the abilities which drain more. Enemies can drop fuel for you. The shield will restore on its own if you get hit but once it goes to 0 then it is game over. Though for the whole game you have infinite continues so don’t worry. These sections are probably the hardest in the game but are pretty easy after a few tries. You don’t get the best firepower but your shield can survive pretty well that one mistake won’t screw you over. It also helps that none of them are long meaning a game over won’t do too much progress from you.
The second type of gameplay is the 3D battles. God how do I even explain these? So you first start talking to your team which can help give you more health or up the possibility % to killing the boss. Getting it to 100% is what kills the boss. You’ll need to either hit the boss or keep talking to the people to get it to 100. You can move the cursor around the area as you’re fighting the boss as it does two different attacks. None of them are challenging but they really are boring to me. There’s just not much skill to it and you’ll never be afraid of dying. To me these are the low points of the game even if the graphics are pretty cool and the actual gameplay is rather creative.
The third type of gameplay are the on foot missions where the girl named Moby will fight these weird creatures with her kick and gun. You’ll need to travel around to find items, other people or the leader of the weird alien creatures. There’s also story to be read here because this is a game that has cutscenes and story but because I’m unprofessional, I wasn’t able to read them. I will point out that apparently the dialogue is rather odd, at least according to the Famidaily video about the game. One example being Moby at two different points will say “NEVER GIVE UP” in a game where almost all of the dialogue is in Japanese and there’s even one time a robot says “MAY THE 4TH BE WITH YOU…” which is weird. Anyway back to the gameplay stuff. The areas you travel in are pretty simple to navigate and you’ll know if you can travel through a gate if you have the appropriate item or event triggered. The gun you have has limited ammo but you don’t need to worry about running out almost all of the time. The kick and airkick still work fine but make sure to press up to do those. Sadly a lot of the level design is pretty samey and there’s only like 4 different enemy types and only one of them is used 90% of the time. Though despite that they never feel boring and I can’t explain why. There’s also the leader you fight but it never feels like an actual boss fight. Overall this stuff can be simple and fun but if you’re not here for simplicity then you’ll be very disappointed.
The last gameplay style is similar to the first one but done in the vertical shmup style. Honestly it’s pretty impressive how this feels exactly like those horizontal ones in controls. Though this one autoscrolls unlike the horizontal ones. There’s not really much to be said here as they work and the challenge is about the same and getting fuel is simple enough, maybe even easier to get here if you ask me. Though I’m still confused why in the last level the small blocks instantly kill you.
Once you’ve seen it all, it goes through a very samey loop with even the cutscenes going through the exact same motions most of the time. Bazolder really doesn’t try to surprise you as once you see everything, you get a good idea what the rest of the game will be. While it’s nothing complex and can be fun, I can’t see most being too into this game nowadays. I could be wrong obviously and while I enjoy it except maybe those 3D battles it is something I know won’t be for everyone. I wish I could praise the music but it’s kind of hit and miss to me. It’s not bad but I’m not too big on the sound driver for the instruments. The graphics however do look nice even if the standard was a little higher in 1991. Though keep in mind this could have been made for 1989 standards. The game nowadays goes for a ridiculous price probably due to Moby being on the cover which is unfortunate. While I probably won’t ever replay this game again, it’s certainly an interesting game for the console and one I think shouldn’t go unnoticed for trying to be a jack of all trades.