Zillion for Sega Master System - A Review | hungrygoriya
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 28 ส.ค. 2024
- For a full retrospective on the Zillion franchise including the games and the anime, check out @st1ka 's video here: • The Complete Zillion R...
Zillion for the Sega Master System is a great adventure game that sees you rescue captured comrades and overthrow the evil plans of a hostile group called the Norsa Warriors. It's an incredibly challenging action platformer that is packed with puzzles and problem solving that I personally enjoyed overall. I often hear it compared to Metroid for the NES, but apart from the bookends of both games, I just don't see it. 🍖
Check out this great piano cover of the main underground tune by RedAuxPDX: • Zillion (Sega Master S...
The introductory animation and outro text were created and designed by Saad Azim.
Twitter: @hungrygoriya
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#retrogaming #zillion #segamastersystem
When I was a kid, Zillion was the jewel of my Master System game collection. It was the hardest game I owned, and yet the one I came the closest to finishing.
Space Harrier was impossible to beat. I thought this game was fairly easy.
@@kennethwyant9813 Yep, Space Harrier was impossible to beat, I only reached Level 16 of 20 or so... and threw the gamepad away many times, heh. But Zillion was possible to beat. One of the best games of all times, and re-play factor is very high. Zillion rules! The music can make me cry, too. Nostalgia!
3:45 "Defunct elevator shenanigans"...That's like, the best band name ever.
It was the story of my life for this game :)
If you ever played the 80s game elevator action I’d have been tempted to try to squish the bad guys with the elevator like you could in that game.
I played Zillion in 1988 on my SMS, since then, I'm a huge fan of the game. Never seen the series except for one or two episodes. Zillion is a fantastic game, with very high replaying factor. I played and beat it countless times, draw own maps, invented fantasy terms for the 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0 cards (6 was "shuttle", we called it that in 80s). Oh, I miss the good old gaming days, I miss my childhood friends from 80s, too... was a simpler time. Sniff. Nostalgia for the win! \o/ :D SMS and Zillion rules! :)
Hooray! Thanks for sharing your experience with this one. If someone hadn't mentioned that the symbols were inverted numbers early on, I might've also nicknamed quite a few of them for myself!
@@hungrygoriya Yes exactly! :D I only found out years later, that they were inverted numbers, so we nicknamed all of them as said. Wonderful gaming experience. The wonderful soundtrack is kinda melancholic too, makes me cry when I really get into it! Thanks for playing the game and making a review of it! :)
This is one of my favorite games ever, it's really stood the test of time imo. I had more fun playing it as I got older than when I was a kid. I wish there were more games like it.
Yeah I can't think of anything else quite like it. That music is so good too!
Dude, not even its own sequels could equal the quality of this game. I just got done showing my kids a playthrough of this game and they were so impressed by it. I spent hours and hours mapping the whole game out with graph paper when I was their age. I'm so thrilled to see other people loved this game as much as I do.
All aboard! Next stop: Hehehe Town!
You bet. I heard it's terrible there.
This game is based on an anime. The title music for Zillion is the theme music for the show. If I remember correctly, you can find some of the episodes on here.
There is also a sequel game called Zillion II: The Tri-Formation.
Yep, I've been waiting until after finishing this video to sit down and watch a few episodes. It looks like a pretty competent show from what I've seen and heard so far.
Zillion was my first introduction to Japanese animation (back when it was called “Japanimation”), so I grabbed the game for my SMS shortly after. By far one of my favorite SMS games ever.
I remember trying Zillion out when I was younger but got frustrated because I had no idea what to do. I should give it another try. Speaking of Zillion, I did watch the anime adaptation and I recommend checking that out if you're looking for a good retro sci-fi anime. The complete series is available on blu-ray.
I hope you will give it another try sometime. It's definitely manageable with practice. Good luck if you give it another go!
I've heard that the anime exists and was waiting until I got this video finished to watch it... I hope I can catch a few episodes this weekend.
You need to go get zillion and play it. It’s a great fun game. I first played in back in 87-88 I just finished the game again. Gonna play it again. Just so much fun. I just hope they will come out with zillion III. Zillion II is a big disappointment.
I had this. Never understood this game.
Loved this game as a kid, still remember picking it up from Woolworths :P In hindsight, it's a total knock-off of Impossible: Mission, (made even more obvious when a really good port of Impossible: Mission was released on the Master System a few years later) but I suppose you could call it a proto-MetroidVania in some respect.
Zillion II was utter trash though.
There's also speculation that the game Assault City was originally meant to be Zillion 3, after Sega realized they were doing heavy promotion of their light gun in the Zillion anime, but didn't have an actual Zillion light gun game.
I wish I had been into Master System when it was new... I'm jealous! I haven't yet played Impossible Mission but I did pick it up a few months ago. I'm so slow at getting through my games, but knowing I have more Zillion-likes to experience is an exciting prospect.
I'm horrible at Zillion II... I can't get very far into the first stage (? not sure if that's how the game's broken down), but that's interesting about Assault City. I was wondering if there was a Zillion game released later on that used the actual light gun, even on the Genesis or something. Definitely a missed opportunity.
@@hungrygoriya I actually played the sequel first. 😂 My dad and I found the original in toys r us one day and bought it. We had a lot more enjoyment out of it than the sequel because of the crawling mechanic and the exploration.
@@burntsauce9136 The crawling's pretty funny... I never really chose to walk anywhere if crawling was an option :)
@@hungrygoriya so many of those soldiers died of ankle wounds when I was a kid. 😂
If you think "Impossible Mission" is a better game than Zillion 1, it has been many, many years since you attempted that comparison: without the rose colored glasses on, "Impossible Mission" is UNPLAYABLY awful (but nostalgia may make you feel otherwise).
The character as 7:10 reminds me of Evil-Lyn from He-Man cartoon. True about the soundtrack, once i heard it while you were playing this I knew it had to go on my IPod. Very catchy!
I haven't quite taken the leap to portable listening yet... if I do, I don't think I'll ever have a quiet moment in my life again!
Great video, I remember this as one of my childhood favs on the Master System, however I'm pretty sure that I didn't make much progress back then and probably got frustrated with the code system, that I probably didn't understand as a kid :D Such a shame Zillion didn't become a franchise or at least get an updated port to a 16bit/32bit console.
Thanks very much! I think I would've loved the exploration as a kid but the code inputs, not so much! I still need to sit down and watch the anime one of these days.
@@hungrygoriya same! I’m on the lookout for a copy of the series on eBay, with English subs.
the hatred in your voice when you said "hehehe town" was just awesome :)
hehehe town is the worst place... :(
On the subject of the computer codes, as I recall you had to place them in the same order you find them into the system to open the doors to the next room. That is basic puzzle logic which is fun because it utilizes your ability to remember codes orderly. I learned a lot of patience and order from this game. I still love it to this day. It opened a world to my childish eyes that I never knew existed before this.
I don't think the order matters because I'd often put them in order as I went for simplicity's sake so I didn't have to maneuver all over the number pad more than I had to. And I agree about this game being an eye-opener. Very fun and different!
"Find 5 floppy disks", a challenge any of us who lived through the 80s can relate to. Interesting though, I came here after talking about Zillion 2 with excellent YouTubist Synyster Graves and I hadn't realised how different the 2 are.
Those landmines certainly made my life miserable. Thank you for validating my hatred of them.. but thank you more for getting me to play this game, as it was really a fun experience, and great job on another very well-written and composed review.
They hurt my feelings too... I wish I could've gotten the level 3 gun way earlier to destroy them sooner.
And thanks so much for the support and the kind words. Watching you play through the game so soon after my playthrough was a great way to round out some feelings and opinions about it, so thanks for playing it!
Consistently exploding in my face or jumping directly on them, until I threw my controller in rage. Ah the memories.
Interesting to hear at the end that the computer screen tune had an extra phrase on it... never noticed it during the playthrough because you were usually pretty quick on those screens. :)
After one zillion codes, I suppose I did get too speedy for this world. It's a pretty neat tune in such a small soundtrack!
I absolutely love your videos! I've never owned a Master System growing up and i love listening to you tell me about all these wonderful games i missed.
Keep up the great work!
Too kind! I'm glad you found the channel and are enjoying it so far. Thank you very much :)
@@hungrygoriya it took a second for me to sub. I don't know why. But i love these bit tunes from sms. Love your content
I absolutely loved this game. I never actually played it during my childhood with the Master System, I remember seeing Zillion II in the rental store and it never appealed to me, so when i DID finally play this it would've been about 2011, it was a pleasant suprise! Often times I try and immerse myself in the time period something came out, try and imagine what it would have been like to own the game in 1988 for example, and I can only imagine being blown away at that time. I think I only got about 1/3 of the way through this so I plan to come back to it one day. Also the code being mirrored numbers, I didn't know when I played it, I found this out a few years later! I had names for them all, 'infitity, heart, M etc"
I especially liked the Opa Opa and Light Phaser making cameo's I like it when Sega did that. A Harlot Lizard would have been a cool addition to this game as well I think 😄 again thank you for your video's 🌠
Thank you for taking the time to watch this! I can appreciate your efforts to immersing yourself in the time period something came out to really try to experience it how people did back then. That's awesome! I hope you do try to finish it sometime. It's worth it!
@@hungrygoriya Oh you're welcome. Your video's often come up on the side and it's clickbait to me seeing all these old games from my youth! The SMS is my weakness.
It's good to know also that Zillion get's easier, because I remember about 1/3 through it was getting quite hard and I thought it might take a lot of patience to beat :)
Tried this out on an emulator once, but had no idea what I was doing. Clearly the manual would have helped. Fun to see Opa Opa in there. People say Alex Kid was Sega's mascot before Sonic, but I get the feeling Opa Opa was the real mascot.
Thanks for breaking down how the game works. Maybe if I get back to it, I'll actually get somewhere with it.
The manual's definitely a must. I find I'm all out of sorts without it for most games, but it was especially helpful here with the map outline, the codes, and basically how all of your stats impact your exploration and resilience. Definitely worth a read!
It also says how Opa Opa is Sega's mascot... so I think you're right :D
This is such a great review of one of my favorite games of all time. I was just searching for zillion on TH-cam and your review popped up and something told me to watch it and I'm so glad I did. Thank you for taking me down this memory lane journey. I'm going to look through your videos and see if I seen any other gamestop I enjoyed when I was younger. Have you ever gotten a chance to review Super Metroid or Blaster Master? I'm going to look for those in particular, but I hope you did, definitely made a new fan and subscriber just now with this review. Looking forward to seeing more Master system games in your catalog
It's my pleasure! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch, and sorry for the late reply.
I've played Super Metroid and Blaster Master, and I did talk about Blaster Master in a list video about the hardest NES games I've finished. I loved it and it's easily my favourite game from that bunch! Not sure if you ended up seeing that by now or not!
My favorite Master System game!
TH-cam stopped giving me alerts for this channel. Glad to see it's still running. Not a whole lot of deep dive SMS videos with humor and...well...content.
Sorry to hear you weren't informed about the new video. I usually put one out every 2-4 weeks depending on what's going on in my life, but I appreciate you coming back to see what's what here. And thank you about the review... I'm glad you're enjoying the channel! Zillion was a great game.
Didn't know this game had so much depth. Thanks for the great review.
It's very fun! My pleasure, and thanks for watching!
I feel like I would become very familiar with Hee Hee Town. This is another showcase of your devotion. I don't know if I'd have the desire to continue with all the codes and seemingly endless chances for a cheap death. But that's just what makes your channel so unique! Great work once again!
Thanks so much! It's an exercise in patience sometimes, that's for sure. I'm just extremely stubborn... it translates well to games like this I suppose!
I'm glad to finally know what this game is all about. ...And did I spy 5 consecutive perfect landmine jumps in the ending card footage?!? Go you!
Thank you!! It was a glorious moment for me. I sometimes try to show progress in different ways in my videos even if it's not me pointing a finger at it and going, "Look what I did!" but it's nice to see resolution and let people know that struggles come and go!
Very nice! This was a really tough game when it first came out. I've always considered Zillion of Rolling Thunder on steroids. Surprisingly, a lot of these classic Sega master system and NES 8-bit games had some very catchy music.
Zillion's definitely still tough, at least to me. It took a lot of practice to get to the end and win. The music is top notch good. I think the music that plays int he compound is my favourite from the entire SMS library that I've played so far.
Loved this game when I was a kid. And had a rockin' theme song too.
The Zillion music's still stuck in my head all these years later.
I loved this game when growing up . Sega Master System was my second console. I was blown away with the graphics compared to Atari 2600 . Zillion wasn’t easy but I became good and beaten the game 4 times .
I've still only finished it once. I nearly beat it one other time but I died trying to escape because I panicked and couldn't remember where to go, haha
Your voice is so soothing. It's really nice to hear you talk, even about games I've never played.
Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying the channel!
You are my only source for info on lesser known SMS games. And boy, this one's rough and tough.
That's too kind! I'm glad to talk about some of these because they're worth being talked about... there's so much fun to be had in the Master System library and I've really been enjoying it so far.
This one definitely started out rough and I seriously wondered if I'd be able to finish it given how many times I died at first, but it's worth playing for sure!
@@hungrygoriya I never had much interest in SMS because people rarely bring it up.
So I'm really thankful that you cover the games from this genre.
Bonus points for the Faxanadu intro theme music 🎵
Faxanadu's the best!
Your grid map! I love it! I made one just like it when I was a kid. It really was necessary for me to beat the game. Otherwise I would get completely lost.
Yes! I found the light blue area towards the end so confusing even with a map. I had to erase a bunch and redo it at one point because I made a few mistakes. This was such a fun game!
Thank you for this review, you brought back quite a few memories for me. This was one of the first games I ever played as a kid. Of course I never did get very far as I was only around 7 years old trying to figure out what these symbols meant, yet I kept playing anyway lol. Your "he he he town" comment cracked me up. Great video!
And what a first game to play! Wow! I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Do you think you might ever pick it back up again and see if you can finish it? It's tough but a lot of fun. There's a certain point where I felt things levelled out in terms of difficulty late in the game.
@@hungrygoriya I often thought about trying it out again. I loved the Sega Master System. Another one I want to go back and play again was Ghost House and Alex Kidd in Miracle World. Those are the 3 games I loved and played the most. I know Alex Kidd is being re-released as well which is great news!
@@luminayre6227 Right on! And thanks for the reminder about Alex Kidd! I totally forgot that was happening. Maybe it's time I finally play the original.
Ghost House was so much fun when I played it. Frustrating, but a good time nonetheless! My manual for that one's water damaged and some of the pages are irreversibly fused together.
@@hungrygoriya I'm sorry to hear that. I wish I still had my original systems & games. I had sold them on eBay years back when I needed the money. Gotta love financial struggles lol.
Awesome and fairly easy game once you get the flow of it.
I've completed it many times.
One of my favorite SMS games ever.
The soundtrack is seared into my brain and recall it all these years later.
I could have listened to this review a zillion times.
It's the music, right?
Fantastic review as always. I look forward to actually trying this one, especially since I realized that you had to map it! Always a fan of making maps 👌
Become the map master! I'm sure you'll have a blast!
It’s a must game!! I love games like this.
My my my oh yes! You're finally covering one of my favorite SMS games. The music for this series (and the anime) are so great.
Thanks so much for sharing!
Inside Planet is permanently playing in my mind. I need to check out some of the anime now... I was avoiding it until I finished this video up but now's maybe a good time to watch some episodes.
@@hungrygoriya Yes its difficult not to have that one stuck in the head on repeat :D
Pure stone is my all time favorite.
Also, for an added treat check out the studio recordings by Risa Youki/ the Zillion soundtrack. It's really fun hearing those 8 bit tracks the way the composer intended!
@@m.x.1800 Well, here I go down the rabbit hole now... this is SO COOL! I love how this music sounds. Thanks for pointing me in this direction!
Great review! I really need to go back through Zillion soon.
Enjoy and good luck if you do!
Thanks for the info on this one, HG. I've been wondering if I should give it a shot, but the mapping aspect kind of scared me. Now that I know it at least has a map template in the manual, I think I'll add it to my to-play list. 🙂
I hope you enjoy it. If you stream it, I'll definitely be there dancing along to that one really good song that plays the entire time.
GREAT! A day that starts with a Hungry Goriya video is a good day!
I had a Master System growing up, but I was never able to rent Zillion :( I only played Fantasy Zone (with Opa Opa), which btw has some amazing graphics!
Congratulations on another video! Keep up the good work!
Awwww that's very kind of you! Hopefully my next video's a little more timely!
Sorry you never got to play Zillion... it's a pretty fun time and I'm happy to atl east be able to experience these things later in life at this point. I've dabbled a bit in Fantasy Zone II but I'm pretty terrible at it. They are absolutely gorgeous games though, you're right! So bright!
@@hungrygoriya Wow, you answered! Thanks for that! And thanks for these videos, they're very thorough! I like to find videos like yours. Your researches are complete and you express your point of view in a very clear way. If anything, your videos should be longer, because when they start I don't want them to end. You talk about the guides, that's a great differential. And your exposition is always improving. I don't know what other youtubers you use as inspiration, but your delivery has improved and I believe you'll be huge one day. Sorry for the long reply. Have a great day!
@@Rod_Silva Thank you so much... those are some high praises and I'm honoured! One of my favourite parts about these videos are the comments people leave and getting to talk about the games some more. Thanks for taking the time.
I spent hours playing this game as a kid. I think I beat it twice. Haha. Great channel.
I was seconds away from surfacing during the ending sequence and didn't make it the first time I tried... I got back to it a few nights later and finally got it. It was exhilarating!
I will never get this music out of my head thanks to you. I hope you are proud of yourself HG. Great review BTW. 👍🏻
First of all, you're welcome. Secondly, thanks very much! I'm happy to have this one out of my brain!
Zillion will probably always be that game that inspired the Master System's Light Gun design to me
Yeah it was a direct tie-in eh? Their guns in the character art in the manual even shows a cord!
@@hungrygoriya look up the zillion anime opening. 😂
LOVE THIS GAME! As an 8 year old, it was the first game experience where note taking was a thing. It engaged me way more than any other game at the time. I never switched characters though. Who else came up with the silliest descriptions of each symbol? Still remember mine: M, heart, 8, harp, grenade, alien, Y, eggs, "...hehe", and egg.
I think I would've loved this game as a kid too for all the reasons you mentioned
I always wanted to play Zillion way back when. The manual fascinated me, but that was the sum total of my experience with it. The anime was pretty great though, so I have that at least. Oh, and watching Hungry waste those two guards at 3:05 was pretty great. With moves like that I bet Hungry would be great at Rolling Thunder. Thanks for another great retro review!
Rolling Thunder eh? I'll have to check into that one!
I hope you'll give this one a go someday. It's a blast!
@@hungrygoriya I think you will enjoy it quite a bit. Between the arcade and NES soundtracks for the game, I think I prefer the NES Ost. I feel inspired by your review to seek Zillion out now. Thank you for replying!
I've not had a chance to give this a shot yet - but it's got that vibe which kind of reminds me of Impossible Mission for some reason. There's that challenge for sure with the mapping, so it sounds like nabbing a complete copy'll be handy for mapping inspiration.
Not quite a fan of how close *some* of those traps are, and the mines looks like they were a large source of pain, but sounds like one worth putting some serious investigation time into.
Great video as always!
Yeah I was surprised impossible mission wasn't mentioned. No big deal but it seems like an obvious touchstone.
A good reason for this is that I haven't played it yet! I picked it up recently but haven't had a moment to try it out for myself yet.
I've seen some gameplay of Impossible Mission so I agree it definitely seems similar... I just didn't have the personal experience to comment on it myself. I have the SMS game lying around at this point so it's only a matter of time until I give it a whirl as well.
Oh those traps... I can't tell you how many times I lost almost all my life accidentally standing inside of a laser barrier that I got too close to by accident. They really don't joke around! I hope you have a fun time with Zillion though... it's totally manageable with some practice and I had fun with it despite the many, many deaths.
music here is so catchy.
It was taken from the anime theme song.
I collect retro video games and I have a lot for the sage master system, but sadly I don't have this game and I have never found a sage master system neither. And other great review. I love your videos.
My favorite game on the SMS. I love it.
It's a great one! I love the music!
I'm proud to say I beat this game when I was a kid
Right on! I wish I'd gotten to try this when I was younger. I think I would've loved it!
To this day the theme song gets stuck in my head.
It's way too catchy for its own good.
One way ticket to he he he town 😂😂 that one caught me off guard
Haha, I hated going there
Man, this is kind of a fascinating one, it's almost like a Metroidvania.
Limited continues in a game like this are always a kick in the face, though.
No matter what the game's flaws are though, I absolutely love that in-game character art, and the option to plug in controller 2 to use as a pause button and not have to reach across to the console deserves a medal
EDIT: Oh, it was based on an anime at the time. That explains the awesome art design!
Yes! There's a whole cool anime that I haven't seen yet, but I had a hard time figuring out whether the game or the anime came out first. I think they were a hand-in-hand thing from the impression I got.
It's interesting because the only thing that really changes throughout the game is your ability to open up more kinds of canisters as you level up the gun... you don't get any other real powerups or new skills. The only real limiting factors are your flimsy early defense and how many cards you have in your inventory that you have to find. If you were super good, as long as you level up your gun and had enough cards, you could get to the end of the game right from the beginning.
@@hungrygoriya Interesting. Like you stated in the review, I have no doubt the codes were in there to keep players from blazing through xD
Hey HG thanks for another insightful video. I think a lot of good Sega Master System games were like this a few bad parts but a lot of,good ones too.
I think they did random codes because of programming and space constrictions. I never programmed for the Master System but I know most cartridges held 128,000 bytes of data. Less than 10% of a 3.5” high density floppy. If they used an array of fixed codes they’d probably use 5% or more of their storage on the cartridge just storing the codes. Trade offs had to be made in those 8 bit days.
Thanks again HG it was fun to watch you stream this game.
I hadn't considered the storage issues, but that makes sense! I'm glad you enjoyed the video and the streams too. It was fun to play with people there to watch me blow myself up.
I’ve been blowing myself up in video games since the Atari 2600. I believe H.E.R.O. was the first game I ever did it in.
I really like your style. Keep up the good work.
Thanks so much :)
Wow epic review. I'll have to thank Erin for sending me this way.
Erin's a great person, and I'm really grateful she thinks to mention me. Thanks for stopping by!
Happier times when a floppy disk could save the world!
Nice review. Worth the wait. 👍😄
Thank you! Hopefully I'll be able to get stuff out a little more regularly going forward.
Right on! Thank you for this review.
It seems like a very flawed, but yet fun. Quite the conundrum Goriya! Seems interesting enough to me to try it out one day. Great review as always.
I hope you have a blast with it when you try it out. It's definitely fun!
Pretty enjoyable review! I really like Zillion. I watched the anime when I was a child! Even though I played more the sequel in my teens, "Zillion II, The Tri Formation", this first game remained as a serious challenging fun that I play sometimes in emulation. I had the very same frustrations that you had on the gameplay, and I think the game was expertly designed for the player to fail many times. It isn't a very original game, it moves further on what Impossible Mission brought before. The fact that it has three playable characters is something that precedes Castlevania III (NES), and I think it's the best contribution that "Zillion" gave to the side-scrolling adventure genre.
I definitely failed on my first escape attempt... I died moments from the surface and it was so discouraging, but working up to getting through the whole ending sequence and nailing it was such an exhilerating experience! I loved it!
I really need to play Zillion II some more. I was stuck for the longest time in that autoscrolling section right at the beginning but I haven't been too far past that yet.
I had this game. Every time I loaned it out to friends, they all came back to me stating how much they hated this title.
That's surprising to me. I thought it was a lot of fun and think I would've enjoyed it as a kid as well.
Excellent review as always :D
Thank you for watching! I appreciate it!
I've never played this one, but the second song is one of the best I've heard from video games
It's really good eh? It's permanently stuck in my brain!
I used to have this one when I briefly owned a Master System years ago! This and Choplifter were so much fun! If only my MS hadnt fried itself on me a week after buying it. :(
Whaaaaaaaaat :( That's so sad! I'm sorry you lost your system back then. Have you ever considered buying another one these days and replaying any of these old classics? I think some of them must be available on a Sega Collection compilation somewhere...
Choplifter is an awesome game. I think I first played it on the Vic20, but the Master System version's awesome!
@@hungrygoriya Ive seen one sitting around the game store I frequent, but it's behind my price range at present. I'm more focused on getting a Sega Saturn again at present. I really miss that console!
@@SparkyMK3 I hear ya! In many ways, I feel nearly priced out of the rest of the collecting I'd like to do. All the best on the Saturn hunt!
this game is soooo nostalgic for me
I'm glad you enjoyed it. The game music's permanently playing my head.
I love this game so much. Been enjoying it since 1987. If you're lucky you can find the soundtracks (CD and vinyl) of the anime, because the soundtrack is incredible.
Are the vinyls recent releases or vintage? That would be neat to own.
Opa Opa! I thought Opa was just in Fantasy Zone.
I was surprised to find him here too! Sega probably stuffed him into some other games as well. There's a whole anime that was released around the same time as this game so I wonder if he's in there too.
Randomized codes are the weak point? Not according to security experts! :D Good job, bad guys.
By the way, you're making me wonder if I realized I could return to Amy for health and cards...
Loved the music too. :)
Security experts are a thorn in my side in real life too... too much "change your password or else" stuff.
I definitely popped back up to see Amy for health, but I don't know if I ran out of cards much to check, but the manual said it should work at least!
@@hungrygoriya Yeah, I probably returned for health too. It's not really my genre, but I was eagerly trying out SMS for more-or-less the first time. This is one of the games that charmed me. Spellcaster was another.
@@bowmanencore I really, really loved the ambience of Spellcaster. I haven't found something quite like it!
@@hungrygoriyaHmm, true. I'm not sure about ambience equivalents, but another very interesting multi-genre game I stumbled upon is Star Cruiser. For 1990 MD, it impressed me very much. I'm sure your backlog is substantial, but maybe fire it up one day (100% English translation exists).
th-cam.com/video/fu_UqLMK83U/w-d-xo.html
I remember the only way I was able to beat this game as a kid was to use the invincibility cheat. I loved the game as a kid but cannot play it anymore the codes drive me crazy. It was the only thing somewhat like Metroid for the SMS. Great review like always.
I'm curious to know why you think it was like Metroid. Apart from the beginning and the end of the game, it didn't feel much like that at all to me throughout.
@@hungrygoriya I agree now but at the time I was grasping for for anything like all my friends had been playing on the NES. Don’t get me wrong I loved my SMS but in USA the NES ruled the 80’s and the tiny SEGA fan base felt a little left out sometimes. 🙂
@@ace3093 Fair enough! I've just heard so many folks mention Metroid to me, and the whole time I was playing Zillion, I was really trying to understand where they were coming from. I can just imagine feeling left out with the NES being so big back then. I didn't even know about the SMS until I was much older, so there you go!
Fav game of all time.
I'm so glad you reviewed this!
I had a VHS tape of this as a kid, it was called Photon Phazer. Only recently rediscovered the anime.
I still need to watch the anime actually... I haven't heard of Photon Phazer before though! I'll have to check into that.
@@hungrygoriya I looked it up it was actually red photon zillion. I was close though.
I like the look of this game a lot! I can definitely see why it might be compared to Metroid, but it looks a lot more like Impossible Mission on the C64. I've heard of the game, but never actually seen what it was like. Thanks for this, another great video!
Impossible Mission is something I own now for the Master System but haven't played myself. I think I'll try to give it a go soon though! Thanks very much :)
Is a great game that I enjoyed a lot when I played it.
Me too!
What an excellent game! I had heard this game was the Master System's answer for Metroid but couldn't really get into the game play and wasn't sure what I was really doing. I watched your video, said, ahh, now I get it and I couldn't put the game down. Ton of fun but quite complicated finding your way and I'll admit I used an online map but next play through I'll pull out the pencil and paper and do it myself.
I will say it is a bit annoying that they reversed the jump and shoot buttons but it's not so action heavy that I couldn't get used to it. Thank you for the review.
It takes a little getting used to, that's for sure! I'm glad to hear you came around on it and eventually crushed it! No shame in using online maps either. I'm a sucker for making my own but I ran into a couple of roadblocks with this that really had me wishing I'd checked one online, especially in the lowest region!
The reversed controls really confused me too, even after playing for many hours. It's not something I can easily get to stick in my head!
*Super Wonderboy and R-Type used the 2nd controller to PAUSE or get status screen* 💡
I love when that kind of convenience exists. Good to know!
Cool review. I've wanted to try this one since I saw that it includes the Light Phaser as the main weapon, as I'm a big fan of the light gun games on SMS after trying them all this past year. I planned on trying this one at some point, but your review has made me bump it up the list a bit.
This is great news! I hope you have a good time with it. Since you've played all the light gun games, any recommendations? I have a few, but I wonder if there are some I should definitely try to find in case I'm missing them.
@@hungrygoriya The most unique (and my favorites), are: Rescue Mission, Gangster Town, and Wanted!
For shooting gallery style games, there's Marksman Shooting/Trap Shooting, Safari Hunt, and Shooting Gallery
For Arcade-style light gun games: Rambo III, Space Gun, Assault City, and Operation: Wolf. These ones are kind of weak. Space Gun has some decent pixel art, but besides that is a rather slow and boring slog. Operation: Wolf is a PAL only release, so you may have issues with that one, but its not a very good port anyway. Assault City is also pretty bland, but not too terrible. Rambo III is decent enough and my favorite of these four.
@@WalrusFPGA This is awesome! Thank you :) I'm definitely missing a few of these so I'll see what I can find.
This is a game I've been wanting to get into for a while now, especially because I love the 80s anime aesthetic, and do love a lot of these very early "almost metroidvania but not quite" games. I've made multiple attempts, but it just hasn't clicked yet. I've watched your video and multiple others but I just cannot quite grasp how the whole key thing works in practice. 😶
Do you mean the codes? In most rooms you enter, there are multiple containers that you need to blast open to reveal a 4 digit code. You put that code into the computer to do one of many things: drop a laser barrier, open a locked door, etc. There are a bunch of codes in the manual as well that do other things too but most of the time, you need to reveal the numbers in order to move forward.
@@hungrygoriyaThank you! Time to give it another try! You make it sound so simple, and I really want to beat that game, so I hope it clicks this time! I did not know the Master System existed until I started watching your content. My library of physical SMS games is still quite small (only about a dozen games), but Zillion and Wonder Boy III: the Dragon's Trap were the first two games I bought for it because they seemed right up my alley (my system actually came with Lucky Dime Caper somehow which I really enjoy too)! I've since also added Golden Axe Warrior to my collection due to your recommendation and I loved it so much! The beautiful bright color palette always gives me a good feeling when I play Master System games. There is a look that SMS games have that's very typical for that system and make you almost instantly recognize it as an SMS game, and I think it's mostly down to the colors being so bright, beautiful, and lush. 😁 Thank you for helping me discover so many wonderful games I otherwise wouldn't have found out about!
Kudos to you for not making the blunder of comparing this game to Metroid! They are similar only at the very first glance. Also, comparing a pretty good game to an awesome, legendary game does the former no favors. But Zillion does have its charm. Sort of.
I went in with the expectation of something way more Metroid-like just based on what I'd heard from around the internet and just couldn't see it the entire time I was playing... apart from the beginning and the end of course, but the rest was just so different.
I did find Zillion charming despite how often I blew myself up here. The music alone is a great reason to play it, but I did find it genuinely challenging. My stubbornness won out too... I couldn't just not finish it, you know? I'm glad I did.
Woo, Opa opa!
Reminding me once again, difficult games are a pain in the butt only because someone was having a bad day 😅
I'd like to get inside of someone's mind and see what they were thinking behind some game choices. Maybe a bad day, maybe a desire for the suffering of others... maybe someone who likes to see others rise up to a challenge... who can say?
@@hungrygoriya perhaps because games would be too easy and people would say there is no challenge, recently I had the chance to play the touched up crash bandicoot games and I swear they were never that impossible and infuriating when I was ten 😂 but what got me was they make it all look nice, wavy grass, fur texture, and the hit boxes are still a mile wide and the controls are still sloppy, just why!
I hope you have been having a nice week, incase you aren't around soon, I hope you have a nice Christmas too 😊
If you made a game, and you musssstttt have thought about it, what would it be like
@@phonotical I think some people like the idea of a game with less challenge though... different strokes for different folks, right?
And I'm honestly not sure what kind of game I'd make if I could. I haven't put too much thought into it, though I imagine it'd have to be adventure-driven, maybe an RPG... that's as far as I've gotten though!
Fun fact : Zillion Anime main character has a cameo on Michael & Janet Jacksons official MV : Scream (skip at 1:11) . This game could add more depth to the anime 🤠
I discovered your channel through Pam! Great videos. We need MORE women in th retro video game scene. Your‘re videos are so good researched and full of informations! And not so much about own egos...
Thanks very much for checking out the channel. Pam was very kind to mention me!
Merry almost Christmas!...or whatever it is you celebrate....
I'm a Christmas person, so thank you! Same to you if you celebrate as well!
I would love to hear an FM Sound Unit version of the soundtrack for this. That uses a YM2413 chip. I recommend the Zillion anime series, songs of which are present on my channel. The song that you like is 'Saizensen'; it is the instrumental version of 'Break A Trap For Yourself'. This song is not on my channel because copyright bots; I already got dinged for putting 'Pure Stone' up, although that was mysteriously restored months after I protested and asked them to put it up again.
One of the most annoying things about this game is having to duck every time you get in line with an enemy in order to avoid getting hit. I sometimes just crawl on my belly like a snake instead of bothering to walk. That is a major pet peeve of mine.
I've been meaning to watch some of the Zillion anime just to see what it's all about. I checked out an episode back when I made this review and liked it, but the music is also one of the best parts. I'm glad your copyright situation got resolved.
I thought crawling along was actually pretty funny, especially because how fast they crawl. It's like they have little wheels on the front of their suits to help them roll along or something! I hear you though... it does make the game a little bogged down in some spots.
@@hungrygoriya It's more annoying than anything to have to duck immediately rather than being able to get the drop on an enemy at least once in a while.
I loved this game
Me too! It was really fun figuring it all out.
The Master System looked so much better than the NES graphically speaking. When I was little my parents got me the Master System and I was mad because the marketing monsters of Nintendo had gotten into my brain. Lol
It's a beautiful system. Have you ever seen Deep Duck Trouble? That one's so gorgeous that it looks like it's part of the next console generation!
Marketing's a powerful thing. I didn't really get into the console wars per se, but I had an NES and a Genesis growing up and missed the Master System completely. I've been enjoying more 8-bit adventures.
@@hungrygoriya Yes, exactly. Deep Duck looks almost as good as Quack Shot.
I remember having pages of codes written down... Wish I knew they were mirrored numbers tho... (I was only like 6 or so at the time) XD
I hope you'll get to come back to it some day with that knowledge. It makes it so much easier!
The zillion anime and this game were a huge hit back in the day, though not so much in the west. Did you know the SMS light gun was actually modeled on the zillion?
I did know! I really need to watch the anime. It looks pretty well done!
I didn't realize the codes were mirrored numbers! Still doesn't help me very much, for I don't do numbers...
If you think Zillion on the Master system has catchy music, watch the actual anime. Master system Zillion is just a chiptune of the Anime intro and it's actually really good but once you hear the actual music with the Japanese vocals....your brain will never let you forget you heard it.
I will definitely check it out! I knew the anime existed, but I haven't had the chance to check it out yet.
Zillion always felt like Impossible Mission to me, but like, done good? I will say that I enjoy Zillion II more though. That one has more of an arcady approach, with you blasting down enemies on foot and riding the vehicle from the show, while infiltrating the enemy base! I don't know why, but it just sort of feels more.. Zillion:y? :D
I wish I'd played Impossible Mission to be able to compare... it seems a lot more bare bones than Zillion from what I've seen online at least, so I'll agree with you :)
I've played a smidgen of Zillion II and always die right away, so I think I need some more practice with it. I'd definitely like to spend more time with it though! It seems fun!
Zillion the original Metroidvania
It was an amazing adventure. I loved it!
I clocked many hours with my brother on this game. He and I came up with names for the code symbols. It wasn’t until several years later that I realized they were mirrored numbers when I saw the same gimmick used elsewhere 🤦♂️
Oh those land mines were horrible.
Well, better late than never! I'm glad you have some good memories with it from childhood. I think I would've liked it as a kid as well!
Elevator Shenanigans lol makes me think of Zelda 2…
Absolutely... so many shenanigans!
i loved zillion as a child, but never really got far.....now as an adult i'm pondering one of two routes....either find a map online(which is kind of cheating, but fast) or mapping it all out myself.....which is more honourable.....but much much slower.....my backlog of old games is quite massive, so time is a real consideration.....in the meantime i still have final fantasy 2 on the works, and crono cross, and wizardry 1-4......and also in the process of curating my arcade roms.....i need longer days....24 hours just isnt enough
For what it's worth, there are some really beautiful maps available online if you decide to go that route! Either way, I hope you enjoy your time with the game. I'd say if you're feeling pressed for time, there's no shame at all in looking up a map.
ZILLION!!! Awesome. As always, OUTSTANDING review here. I still have (and LOVE) Zillion II: The Tri-Formation. \m/, (*o*) ,\m/
Woooo! This game was tons of fun after I got a handle on things. Not gonna lie though, I'm horrible at Zillion II... so far anyway. I need to try again sometime!
@@hungrygoriya (Zillion II) Do your best to time the jumps while on the bike; you can almost establish a rhythm since the bike levels are on rails, and it’s a real advantage that you can change direction mid-air (unlike SOME games)… I won’t name any names... *cough* *cough* CASTLEVANIA *cough* *cough* oof, pardons. ;p Good luck, if/when you re-visit it - hopefully, that’ll be another video review. :) Cheers!
@@fernfernacelli Thanks for the tips :) I'll keep that in mind when I get back to it!
I was about 6 or 7 when first got this game, and I remember playing it more than most other Sega Master System games I owned even despite having actually finished it twice. Nothing like it at the time, and the two main themes would get stuck in my head for days afterwards, driving me to play more.
Also: I never realized that the codes were mirrored numbers! I mean, I sorta caught on with a couple of them, but yeah, I always just forced myself to remember them at face value, usually with a notebook on hand to copy down codes haphazardly so that if I played again a few months later, I wouldn't know which code went with which room. Yeah, it was the simplest solutions that always eluded me... oops.
Thanks for uploading this review! Barely a minute and a half in and I learned something new. :)
I'm happy you were able to make it through the game eventually. There was a time when I first started it out that I wasn't sure at all that I'd ever get to the end, and on my first attempt at the count down escape, I died. It was so deflating, but I came back raring to go the next time and I made it. It would've eaten away at me if I hadn't finished it.
That music in the underground area is SO GOOD! I think I must've played this game for at least 12ish hours if not more in total, and I never got sick of it. If I'd had this growing up, I could've seen myself falling in love with it. I love these slow burn games where you learn a little more each time you venture out. So much fun!
@@hungrygoriya
I think being a 7-year old who absolutely refused to give up and who had to perfect every game that I got had a lot to do with my completing Zillion, to be fair. I was an extremely dedicate gamer in my childhood all the way through to my late teens, so something as "insignificant" as cheap mines, elevator shenanigans, and enemy "tactics" only drove me to find the best methods to deal with them (without taking damage, if it could be done). For example, with elevators that ended in a single hallway with enemies, I'd just use the elevator to rise/sink out of the way of shots while blasting as soon as I was at the proper level. I never bothered getting out of it unless I had someone I wasn't using who could eat the damage (obviously a late-game tactic).
Zillion is one of those games that I cherish in my memories because I know that late-30s me would probably get just as frustrated as you did, probably even more so because I know I've beaten the game 30 years ago with little effort (after a while).
I'm glad you stuck through it even if just for the sake of the review. As you mentioned: it really is an incredibly rewarding game so long as you stick with it. I still can remember how excited I was the first time I saved Apple; I refused to switch back to JJ for quite some time, even though it meant having to return to the ship to heal more often.
@@LordSephleon Do you think you'll ever revisit it again? You never know... it might be like getting back on a bike after so long. It sounds like you had a great time honing in on a successful strategy for this one. Getting Apple was honestly the worst stretch of the game for me. That red area kicked my butt more than I care to admit. I did like playing as her a lot too, but Champ felt like a sack of potatoes. I wish he came up earlier in the run.
@@hungrygoriya
Yeah, I have very little memory of playing Champ except as a damage sponge because he feels slow in comparison. Apple or JJ were always my choice for weapon upgrades anyway, so one of Champ's real benefits is quickly made moot.
About revisiting Zillion... I dunno. I recently (within the past few weeks) played F-Zero on SNES for the first time in over 20 years. I remember I used to be really good at the game, and I put in a lot of time trying to keep the fastest times on each track compared to my friends (Mute City 1 was constantly contested). When I barely got through the Knight League on the easiest difficulty a few weeks ago, I realized that some games are better left in my memories (and on TH-cam). Sure, I revisit a lot of RPGs as some of my favorites are from the 16-bit era, but games that actually require skill and training that I once had unending patience to acquire? I'm an old fart these days with too much of a backlog of games to complete, and unfortunately modern games aren't short games that just require time to master. I can't really justify having to put in hours of practice (again) into games that I mastered and beat as a kid.
Of course, having said that... I 'm sure I'll end up getting into an argument with someone about Zillion and have to beat the game in front of them to prove a point or something, which would mean I'd have to get back my old skills really quickly. That or when I eventually retire, I'll live out my twilight years remastering and recompleting all the games from my childhood in order to complete the cycle. ;)
@@LordSephleon Ah yeah, I can totally understand that sentiment. I will say this: I thought my gaming skills had gone off the rails trying to play on modern TVs, but when I got my systems plugged into a CRT, it was like something magical happened. I'm not sure what your setup is, but that little bit of input lag totally destroyed my ability to even play Super Mario Bros. 2 for NES a few years back, one of my favourites.
I hope you come back to Zillion on better terms than throwing down with folks, but heck... whatever gets you back into it I guess!
Might be my favourite game - not the best, just my favourite. :) the sequel is an average at best side scroller and a let down. But not as big a let down as the mediocre anime it’s all based on. Oof. Glad you found some fun in it and great video!
I'm glad it's your favourite... it's a ton of fun and I can see why anyone could rank it highly! I can't get very far in the sequel yet, but I haven't spent a ton of time with it. Hopefully some day!
And thanks so much for watching! I really enjoyed my time with Zillion.
Oh man, I love this game. It's one of the best games on the SMS and no one knows about it. That map in the manual was very helpful but I also figured out the map was missing a row and screwed me up. Still a great game. They ruined the sequel, though, by just making it an action shooter.
I haven't played much of the sequel, but from what I've experienced, I died a lot so far. That's not much different from my first go at this one either though. Par for the course for me!
@@hungrygoriya I haven’t played the second one, only seen videos but all the exploration has been taken out which sucks. That what made the first game so fun. I should pop in the second one to just see how it is.
I always wondered about the suicide code's objective.
Yeah, you can die so easily so why have a code, right? Secrets, apparently!
Can't you just play with a Genesis controller and pause with the start button?
You can't!