π Written: April 14th-May 1st, 2021 π
I scored it: a 6.5 out of 10, decent
Do I agree with the score I gave? It tracks, honestly; I stand by what I said, but I still enjoying playing it
It's no secret that Sega's Space Harrier was a very influential arcade fantasy rail shooter as it has served as the basis for certain games (such as Infogrames' Drakkhen when it came to its overworld exploration and occasional battles, SquareSoft's Tobidase Daisakusen/The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner, Namco's Bunring Force, and today's game, et al). HyperZone was the second game HAL Laboratory developed and published for the Nintendo 16-bit console (after Jumbo Ozaki no Hole in One/HAL's Hole in One Golf) and it has got the distinction of being the first rail shooter made for the system preceding the console-exclusive likes of Argonaut Software's Star Fox and its long belated sequel, Genki's Accele Bird, and Pandora Box's YamYam.
Left: Contending with the Hidarmas in Blast Furnace | Right: Shooting at the Super Famicontroller's face buttons
As a hybrid of Sega's Space Harrier's core gameplay and Nintendo R&D1's F-Zero's futuristic aesthetic and power strips plus borders at the edges of the area HyperZone works for what it is and honestly the more I think of it the more I appreciate how inspired this combo is for the gameplay is simple yet intuitive and I like how you upgrade your ship depending on how much score you had by the time you start the next area where each new ship augments not just potency but decreases the amount of time it takes to charge up your powerful blast (plus the change in HUD design and warning messages with each ship for when you're dangerously low on power is another nice touch); and I like how after you press Start after the credits are done you'll loop the game again but with the best ship the BM 4 Reform until you lose your last life.
Left: Amazing-looking water in Ripple Field | Right: Taken a hit
Like many Nintendo 16-bit games produced in 1990 and 1991 there were many games in the console that tried to utilize and/or take advantage of (either minimally or to the max) the system's trademark scaling and rotating Mode 7 effects and this one is no exception. I still attest to the notion that HyperZone has got some of the best Mode 7 in the system, it is absolutely brimming with polish and when seen in motion it just looks incredible as you see backgrounds skew in the direction you go and the way the enemies fly towards the screen, bounce off and/or ricochet from the sides, or how on occasion they'll fly in from behind you all at fast speeds.
Left: Making the transition from the RW 91 to the gaudy-looking X-003 | Right: Recharging power
Blast Furnace looks appropriately sizzling, Material Factory is literal eye candy with all the fun colors abound, Grass Land and Ripple Field are engrossing to look at and watch in motion with the green foliage and waters respectively, but my favorite area in terms of design is the last one--the titular Hyper Zone--as there is a mesmerizing simplicity to it as the background is mostly enshrouded in darkness except for the stream of stars to the sides signifying that you are accelerating at very high speeds. Nearly three decades later and it still holds up incredibly well visually, though I think it helps that HyperZone was made with Mode 7 purely in mind.
Left: Admiring Material Factory's multitude of colors as I'm flying past them | Right: No! Pollen!! Go away!!! π€§
Jun Ishikawa's music is fantastic, and really I expect no less from the same musical genius behind the majority of the Kirby franchise for there is always that trademark sound quality any time that name shows up which ensures that your ears are in for a total treat; the final area theme is the most Kirby track in the package (even though the puffball wouldn't make his debut until his cameo in 1992's Card Master: Rimusaria no FΕ«in/Arcana and his own game one month after the fact) it just borders on epically supercharged and the vibes are so similar. π
Left: Whizzing past Ripple Field's UFOs | Right: Fighting against a water dragon
On the subject of Kirby, I love that this game would eventually serve as the basis for some of its namesakes and elements (such as "Grass Land" and "Ripple Field" for Hoshi no KΔbΔ« 2/Kirby's Dream Land 2 and Kirby's Dream Land 3/Hoshi no KΔbΔ« 3, in the latter there is the final area called "Hyper Zone" named after today's game once you procured all the Heart Stars, and a few of the future installments in the series would incorporate a battle or two in the vein of this game's rail shooting structure).* I'm afraid of misinterpreting Jun Ishikawa's gender as I don't even know what it is, because while it's true that "Jun" can be a female name (like the wildlife organization officer/fighter Jun Kazama in Namco's Tekken 2) it could also be a male name too, so to avoid any mistake I'm just going to repeat "Jun" again and again out of not wanting to make a fool of myself if I get it wrong π
I love too that HAL incorporated their Halken logo as a couple of this game's enemies, in fact I love how whenever the occasional new Kirby game comes out they make a subtle (or obvious) callback to one of their earliest games (no matter how relevant, be it Kirby-based or not). It's very endearing and shows how much they care about their catalogue, they're a very clever company. ππ I also found it clever that the boss of the third area (Material Factory in the original Super Famiversion) comprised of the face buttons of the Super Famicom controller which you must fire at.
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Right image cropped from the NTSC SNES Super Mario World cover on GameFAQs
'course, nine times out of ten the changes Japanese video games experienced in localization during the '90s made no sense so that really doesn't say much as they were spurred on by myopic nonsense. And remember: Nintendo R&D1's Super Mario World had a red-blue-yellow-green theme that was frequently prevalent throughout it which was complemented by the Super Famicom controller's (and the PAL SNES') colorful face buttons but instead got greeted by two of the dullest hues of purple ever in the North American continent (with half its buttons concave and convex instead of having the same feel on all four). π Even if Nintendo of America's reported fears of the original flat-topped console design being used as a coaster by fecklessly irresponsible people resulting in the change in console design (to something comparatively clunky) were confirmed to be true and warranted, what did changing the colors (and feel of half) of its face buttons have to do with anything? π€¨ Pre-internet video game localization was a mistake... π
There is a "Reverse" option as well
There is a code to enable HyperZone's 3D mode by pressing Select, Select, A, B, Select, Select, X, Y, Select, Select, L, R, up on the title screen (after you see the "Start" and "Normal" options on the screen), and when entered correctly the color of the title will go from yellow to
There is a sound test as well, but it's not accessible in the original Japanese version, so that's a bummer
red. Now the playing field (outside the HUD) will be viewed in stereoscopic 3D which can be enabled and disabled any time you want by pressing the Select button in-game. Apparently at an early point in development this was meant to be a 3D title much like SquareSoft's Highway Star/Rad Racer on the Famicom/NES before it, but because it wasn't fully incorporated and no 3D glasses were made for the Nintendo 16-bit console to accommodate the effect it just was not meant to be.
Playing the game with the stereoscopic 3D turned on is interesting when viewed in motion but maybe not practical in the long run because unless you're fully familiarized with the areas' layouts and enemy patterns it could tend to make the proceedings harder than they actually are (especially with the double imagining); that being said HAL Laboratory was definitely ambitious in their attempt but the technology was not yet up there.
Left: Neo Megalopolis' charging zone | Right: A brainworm is in the midst in the slightly strobe light-esque BioPlant Zone
As HAL Laboratory fare on the Nintendo 16-bit console is concerned HyperZone is probably one of their weakest objectively speaking; I can't say on the whole where it ranks as a Nintendo 16-bit HAL Laboratory title (I have not played Jumbo Ozaki no Hole in One, Special Tee Shot, the Kirby no Omochabako games, Itoi Shigesato no Bass Tsuri No. 1, and Metal Slader Glory: Director's Cut) as it's largely manageable to play and not that challenging lest you're not paying attention, there are no alternate difficulty settings, it's got no plot in-game as you're just thrust into the action, and rather than having a conclusive ending sequence after defeating the final boss it fades to credits.
Left: It has all led up to this, a one on one confrontation with the Star Child | Right: Don't mug the camera, Zunko
At its heart HyperZone is an arcade game (albeit console-based), much like Telenet Japan's Super Valis: Akaki Tsuki no Otome/Super Valis IV, Affect's Makeruna! MakendΕ/Kendo Rage, Hori Electric's Run Saber, and Arcade Zone's Nightmare Busters are arcade games at their core given their approximate half-hour in length, et al. But it's a fun arcade game and while I primarily play games for fun, it's exciting to see if I can beat my highest score and see how long I can last before getting a game over. Maybe not the greatest game there is, but for all its shortcomings HyperZone is a pleasantly well-made experience that is fun to play in short bursts once in awhile and is pure unadulterated Mode 7 bliss. πd(^-^)bTO EACH THEIR OWNd(^-^)b
● My newest high score: 687,720
● Why was the title font altered in the Western version? What was wrong with the circuit board perpetually scrolling at fast speeds inside its letters? They even came in one by one via Mode 7 scaling.
● I recently ewatched WandaVision, and it is still an enjoyably fantastic and incredible show that was better the second time around, and for the past several weeks I watched the second of the MCU's shows on Disney+, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier which I thought was really great; I found the buddy dynamic between Anthony Mackie's Sam Wilson and Sebastian Stan's Bucky Barnes to be very endearing, I love that the show devoted time to these characters giving us a deep understanding of them and where they come from, its direction was bold and at times unpredictable, was glad to see Emily VanCamp's Sharon and Daniel BrΓΌhl's Zemo again since we saw them last in Captain America: Civil War, and the final episode was so empowering. I am loving Phase Four of the MCU so far, I eagerly look forward to the next Marvel show Loki this June (by that point, Raya and the Last Dragon will be freely available to watch on Disney+, so that's two things to look forward to that month). π
Thank you for reading, please leave a comment and let me know what you think (neither spam nor NSFW allowed); hope you have a great day, be a nice human, keep yourself protected during this pandemic, and take care! π
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