Fantasy Zone -- All In One.

The original arcade game Fantasy Zone was released by SEGA in 1986. It was a sidescrolling shooter designed for the System-16 arcade board.  The ship could scroll in eight directions while the borders of the screen would scroll up and down. You could turn the ship around to be facing left or right and play either to the left or right though a wrap-around level. The objective was to avoid the enemy fire and destroy the ten enemy producing bases within that level. After destroying the ten bases, a boss would appear. What set this game apart was its music and art direction. There has never been a shooter with music quite like it before or since. It's predominantly happy Latin music. The art design was all pastels. Pink, yellow, green, and blue Day-Glo coloring. The game also features a shop. The enemies in the game drop coins used as currency in the shops. A red balloon would float around the level and if you collided with it you would enter the shop. You could buy wings and engines to speed up your ship. You could buy different bomb types. You could purchase new weapons like a seven-way shot or a wide beam.  You could also buy extra men. The game features rather erratic flight patterns for its enemies who tend to come in packs. It could be considered frustrating to some people but I loved it. The PlayStation 2 game was released in Japan as SEGA AGES 2500 Series Volume 3 ~ Fantasy Zone. This is the best game in the collection thus far. It features the best reproduction of the arcade game seen on any console. The art and music and play mechanics are all faithfully represented. They've added a Normal mode. It features the addition of bonus stages wherein you follow a 3D representation of the boss of each level as it drops coins for you to collect before it eventually breaks apart and dies. They've also added four new stages with new music and bosses. They surprisingly fit right in to the classic arcade game. The best addition by far though is the absolutely great challenge mode. In that you can select single stages to play in. In these challenge stages enemies will sometimes drop red coins. Collecting the red coins and holding them until the completion of the stage will earn entries in the gallery for the enemy the coin came from. In the gallery you can see 3D versions of all the enemies and bosses in the game. It's rather cool, and it has sort of a Phantasy Star Online vibe to it in waiting on that red coin. Much like you'd kill a thousand Hildebears just waiting on that red SPECIAL WEAPON drop. In the challenge mode you also earn the normal money dropped by the enemies. This can be used for purchasing special items in the challenge mode shop. They range from auto rapid fire, to continuing on the boss instead of having to play through the whole level, to the sound test, to unlimited smart bombs, to unlocking the new levels from Normal mode. It's a really well done update. I am thoroughly impressed and surprised. I'm giving it a 9.5. 

Next up will be Alien Syndrome.