Watching the long play of this game I am realizing that I simply didn’t play this game all the way through. Also, I feel as though this is the first game I ever really played. I would play in the morning while waiting to go to school. As I’m watching this it dawned on me that the game I played was actually Super Zaxxon and it was released in 1984! So technically this review is appropriately placed in the timeline of reviews after all. Miracles happen every day! Huzzah!
I digress. The gameplay in these games is actually fairly fast paced for a game from this era. The isometric perspective is ahead of its time. It’s slightly difficult to control but once you get the hang of it, it’s not terrible.
The part of both of these games that I find comical is the end of stage boss battles. In Zaxxon the boss appears to be some sort of blocky fellow that looks sort of like a short and wide isometric Gumby. While the boss in Super Zaxxon is an absolutely adorable looking dragon? Dinosaur? Whatever, I want him on a T-Shirt. Apparently the boss in the C64 cartridge version of the original Zaxxon is also different, and looks less like blocky pirate Gumby and more like your average giant evil robot. Boring.
I can say with certainty the part that tripped me up the most in this game was the floaty zappy beams and gapped walls. I couldn’t quite get the hang of the altitude and side to side positioning. If I got close to making it through, the zappy beams were likely to nuke me. I also guess I didn’t realize that the point of the game was to blow stuff up along the ground, I feel like I just flew over things.
Needless to say this wasn’t quite one of the games I played for an extended amount of time. My older brother played this fairly often and I recall watching him play – but only barely. All in all, I think I’d like to give it a go again at some point.
If you’re hoping to experience gaming history this is a solid game to pick up and play. While not the most pivotal or earth shattering game on my list it’s definitely worth the time!
And that’s all I’ve got for today. Next on the list is “Dr J vs Larry Bird”, my first sports game! (There really aren’t many on the list).
You take care of yourself!
-NG
