Fantasy Zone - Where a couragous hero called Opa-Opa fought in a valiant cause

[Berto]

SEGA Talk Podcast #53: Fantasy Zone (1986)

If you have never played a Fantasy Zone game, you take control of a sentient spaceship called “Opa-Opa” (sort of like 1986’s “Flight of the Navigator”) that is trying to save the Fantasy Zone from invading armies.
You will traverse a stage filled with enemies and the goal of finding all the enemy bases on the map and taking them down.
Apparently Opa-Opa’s species can procreate as Opa-Opa has a father that looks like him, but is much bigger.

Article : http://segabits.com/blog/2020/09/18/sega-talk-podcast-53-fantasy-zone-1986/

[Berto]

Four Free Mini Games including Endless Zone (a Homage to Fantasy Zone) coming to PC for a limited time

While SEGA of Japan kicked off the SEGA 60th anniversary celebrations earlier this year, SEGA West has officially started celebrations today with a 60 day long GO SEGA event and a dedicated website, SEGA60th.com.
During the next 60 days, there will be let’s plays, competitions, employee interviews and content covering the company’s history.

Article : http://segabits.com/blog/2020/10/14/sega-west-celebrates-60-years-with-limited-mini-games-and-60-days-of-content/

Armor of Heroes (a Retro Take on Company of Heroes) : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368440/Armor_of_Heroes/
Golden Axed (a Cancelled Prototype) : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368460/Golden_Axed_A_Cancelled_Prototype/
Endless Zone (a Homage to Fantasy Zone) : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368450/Endless_Zone/
Streets of Kamurocho (a Mashup of Streets of Rage 2 and Yakuza) : https://store.steampowered.com/app/1368430/Streets_Of_Kamurocho/

[Berto]

Endless Zone Announce Trailer :

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEKKvDtt624

[Berto]

Analogue Duo All-in-One NEC System Will Launch in 2021

The Analogue Duo is described as an all-in-one NEC system, as it can use CD Roms, HuCards, Super CD Roms, and TurboChips to play PC Engine, SuperGrafx, and TurboGrafx-16 games. (It is region-free.)
Some of SEGA games on PC Engine, SuperGrafx, and TurboGrafx-16 :   
After Burner II, Altered Beast, Columns, Fantasy Zone, Golden Axe, OutRun, Power Drift, Shinobi, Space Harrier, and Thunder Blade

Article : https://www.siliconera.com/analogue-duo-all-in-one-nec-system-will-launch-in-2021/

[Berto]

Fantasy Zone Gear
a Fantasy Zone experience that can only be had on the Game Gear’s pint sized screen

Fantasy Zone Gear is a significant visual upgrade comparison to the other 8-bit Fantasy Zone games, and also introduces new enemies, new power ups, and the ability to switch between power-ups in a menu.
In order to accommodate the Game Gear’s smaller screen the action is zoomed in, which takes some getting used to but does nothing to get in the way of the fun once you do.
Despite the game’s box art simply saying “Fantasy Zone”, this is a Fantasy Zone experience that can only be had on the Game Gear.

Article : http://segabits.com/blog/2014/01/17/weekly-five-five-game-gear-games-that-need-to-come-to-eshop/

[Berto]

The Analogue Pocket Is Designed To Play Games From All Game Boy Systems
and Through Adapters It Could Play Game Gear Games including Fantasy Zone Gear

Essentially, the system is able to play 2,780+ Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games, and through adapters, other systems like Game Gear, Neo Geo Pocket Color, Atari Lynx, and more.
The Analogue Pocket is also set to have a dock that will connect it to the TV via HDMI.
In TV mode, 8BitDo controllers can be connected via Bluetooth, as well as wired USB controllers.

Article : https://www.siliconera.com/the-analogue-pocket-is-designed-to-play-games-from-all-game-boy-systems/

[Berto]

SEGA News Bits: SEGA 60th Anniversary Mini Games Reviewed

On this SEGA News Bits, we share our thoughts on the newly released mini games as a part of SEGA’s 60th anniversary.
How do the games play, which is our favorite and what is all this drama around the Golden Axe game?

Article : http://segabits.com/blog/2020/10/20/sega-news-bits-sega-60th-anniversary-mini-games-reviewed/

[Berto]

Fantasy Zone is Playable in Yakuza: Like A Dragon

For Yakuza: Like A Dragon, you can expect to find arcade units for Space Harrier, Fantasy Zone, Out Run, Super Hang-On, Virtua Fighter 2, and Virtua Fighter 5: Final Showdown.
Different arcade units within each arcade offer varying difficulties as well, so make sure you pick the right one.
Also, you will have to pay the in-game currency of yen to play, so you cannot actually play infinitely.

Article : https://attackofthefanboy.com/guides/yakuza-like-a-dragon-where-to-play-classic-sega-arcades/

[Berto]

SEGA on which games were most popular in the SEGA Ages series on Switch

In Japan, it’s definitely Virtua Racing. In addition to the sales numbers, I believe that everyone was able to see the technical capabilities of M2.
But in terms of the number of tweets, Fantasy Zone was actually more popular than Virtua Racing.
For overseas, it’s more diverse. However, in terms of sales, Sonic the Hedgehog was by far the biggest seller.
The second most popular title was OutRun – especially in Europe.

Article : https://nintendoeverything.com/sega-on-which-games-were-most-popular-for-sega-ages-switch/

[Berto]

Happy 33 Years Anniversary For Galactic Protector !

33 years ago today SEGA Mark III owners were tasked with keeping entire planets safe and smiley in what must be one of the cutest save ‘em ups ever: Galactic Protector!
But remember, this game is built specifically for the Paddle Control, and therefore cannot be played on a standard Master System Control Pad.

Source : https://t.co/YZCyHuWQDB
Link : https://segaretro.org/Galactic_Protector

[Berto]

Limited Run Games releasing an English package version of the SEGA Astro City Mini

The Limited Run version of the SEGA Astro City Mini will only be limited to 3,500 units, which will probably make this version sought after in the collectors market compared to the regular Japanese version.
As far as I know, the SEGA Astro City Mini unit included inside the English packaging is exactly the same as the Japanese retail unit.

Article : http://segabits.com/blog/2021/03/22/limited-run-games-releasing-an-english-package-version-of-the-sega-astro-city-mini/

[Berto]

SEGA is #1 on Metacritic’s Annual Game Publisher Rankings List

Metacritic has released their list of the publishers with the highest average metascore for games released in 2020, and it comes at no surprise that SEGA is NUMBER ONE.
We here at SEGAbits have seen SEGA’s 2020 output and can easily see why they’d take the top spot. Release good games, get good results!

Article : http://segabits.com/blog/2021/03/25/sega-1-on-metacritics-annual-game-publisher-rankings-list/

[Berto]

Fantasy Zone – 2002 Developer Interview
originally featured as part of the sega.jp meisaku album series
+
Fantasy Zone – 1997 Developer Interview
originally featured in Sega Saturn Magazine

There was pessimism from all quarters, from the top executives to the sales departments. “Why are they making a game like this…”
Once it was released, though, both the pcb sales and the arcade income were very good.
It’s pretty rare, for a game that’s unpopular internally to do that well commercially. 

Read the full interview here : http://shmuplations.com/fantasyzone2/

[Berto]

Protopa Opa - SEGA Forever Fan Art

"I love the early concept art of Opa Opa (or as pcwzrd13 coined him "Protopa Opa") revealed on shmuplations so much I had to draw him!"

Source : https://t.co/S75KOhNV2x

[Harpoon]

Berto, thanks for the introduction to the series. I am in a little weird position here because I have never had any console just Commodore and Amiga and then PC, but I always wanted to. I am now an adult, an old to it but I finally have both time and money to dive into console gaming. I like the Fantasy Zone series the most I think and so if you could give me a heads up - what console should I purchase and which part of Fantasy Zone to start my console adventure?