Fantasy Zone recommendations?

[thetallguy24]

I've got a Sega Genesis with the Power Base Converter.

 

I've never played any of the Fantasy Zone games, but read a lot of good things.

 

Any recommendations on which game to get to break my FZ cherry? Lol

[moodorf]

Both are supposed to be good. I think two might be a bit more colorful.

[Torr]

Yeah, there's only 4 Fantasy Zone games on the SMS, and of those only 2 are "Fantasy Zone" Games, 1 was a clever Pac-Man clone (Fantasy Zone: The Maze/Opa-Opa) and 1 was a spin off more similar to Asteroids (Galactic Protector).

So I'd say go with the 1st one 1st! It's easier, and after playing the second game you'll be spoiled by it's better colors and advanced level layout! But I find Fantasy Zone 2 to be so hard it's not quite as fun... however with practice the 1st game gets so easy it's not really fun either. You'll be able to loop in indefinitely and the score rolls over pretty quick so unless you play it to just beat the final boss once and call it quits, it ain't bad, other wise it's hard to break a previous "record". Then again, I've been playing it for 25 years, maybe you won't get THAT good at it right away!

 

Plus there were 2 More on Game Gear and Sega Megadrive (never came over to North America): Fantasy Zone Gear and Super Fantasy Zone. They were pretty good too, Fantasy Zone Gear of course suffers from poor view distance of course.

[Raccoon Lad]

Fantasy Zone II is a little better than the first, so go with that one.

[thetallguy24]

Fantasy Zone II is a little better than the first, so go with that one.

 

What makes it better than FZ 1?

[Austin]

Start with the first one. It's simple, easy to get into, and isn't as difficult as the second. For a SMS game, the first one is still very colorful as well.

 

Part 2 is the better game, IMO, but it's harder with more aggressive enemies, longer stages, etc. It's also much tougher to make it to the end. The game pretty much requires you to find hidden items and shops that give you better weapons/options for taking on the later parts of the game. Part 2 is also more confusing because of the warp zone element.

 

Basically, start simple, then move on to the second game after you are comfortable with the first.

[Gredler]

Somewhat off topic, but I first played this on the TurboGrafx 16 and most other versions have been a disappointment after that.

[thetallguy24]

Somewhat off topic, but I first played this on the TurboGrafx 16 and most other versions have been a disappointment after that.

 

Which one? Better than the SMS versions?

[Gredler]

 

Which one? Better than the SMS versions?

 

Yeah, the NES version and SMS versions are the only ones I've played aside from the TG-16 Version. I've not played Super Fantasy Zone (Mega-Drive), The Maze (SMS), or Fantasy Zone II (SMS), so I can't speak to those.

[7800fan]

TG-16 version does have higher res and/or more color than SMS version and NES version. So they would look much better while staying close to original gameplay.

 

I haven't done any of later FZ games though.

[+wongojack]

 

What makes it better than FZ 1?

 

I've played FZ 1 in MAME and on Sonic's Ultimate collection for 360. However, I managed to find a FZ 2 cart for SMS, and I like it better than FZ 1 primarily because the "shops" are consistently in the same places, and the upgrade inventory is handled in a way that makes A LOT more sense. In FZ 1, you can accidentally buy the wrong thing and then not be able to adjust what your ship has equipped. It is much harder to make a mistake like this in FZ 2 because you can easily go back to a shop and sell items or change your ship's loadout. I also think that FZ 2 is a bit more fair because the value of the coins doesn't decrease after they are dropped. This means you aren't in as much of a hurry to grab them and it just feels like a more fair way to reward the player.

 

Also - If you play the SMS version, invest in a Genesis controller with rapid fire.