Zanac
Zanac is a shoot'em up made by Compile. It has produced 3 main games:
- Zanac - 1986. MSX. Two versions, both with simple graphics, differing mostly in levels.
- Zanac - 1986. NES/Famicom Disk System, MSX2 (as Zanac EX).
- Zanac X Zanac - 2001, Playstation 1. Contains a classic version and its variations and the main game, Zanac Neo. Zanac X Zanac was one of the last two games Compile published before going bankrupt.
"First it was probably a tiny dot"
—Game story manual
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Zanac is also one of the first shoot'em ups to feature dynamic AI. Zanac series gameplay focuses on defeating normal enemies rather than bosses.
Not to be confused with a certain drug for treating panic and anxiety disorders.
Tropes used in Zanac include:
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: The System was designed for killing those who opened the Icon improperly. It was supposed to stop when the Icon was opened properly, but didn't.
- Asteroid Thicket: "Arer" 5 in the original.
- Berserk Button: The System doesn't like you to picking up Weapon 2 in the original game.
- Big Bad: The "System" in the original. The "Original system" in the Zanac Neo.
- Blind Idiot Translation: The manual of the original game tells the rather weird story of a system going berserk because "someone opened the icon improperly." Also, areas in the NES port are called "ARER"s and Compile "desinded" the game. Fixed in Zanac X Zanac.
- Chain-Reaction Destruction: Capital ships and final boss in the NES version.
- Collision Damage: It's a shmup series so it's pretty much given.
- Cores and Turrets Boss: Every boss in the original except a few capital ships.
- Deflector Shields: Weapon 2 on the original game.
- Dynamic Difficulty: One of the first in shoot'em ups. The NES/MSX games also has sprite limits to keep the difficulty level from getting too high (and to keep away flickering/slowdown).
- Easter Egg
- Expy: Some enemies from Zanac actually originate from E.I. Exa Innnova.
- Flash of Pain: Present in Zanac Neo.
- Flunky Boss: Most bosses have normal enemies fighting alongside it.
- Getting Crap Past the Radar: Weapon 4 in the original is a vibrating projectile weapon. Hence it's called vibrator.
- Idiot Ball: Someone who opened the "Icon" improperly.
- Last Ditch Move: Capital ships in the original which spawn projectiles when destroyed.
- Macross Missile Massacre: The enemies shoot out missiles. There is one enemy that shoots out an endless stream of missiles so tight that they're pretty much head against a tail.
- Magikarp Power: Weapon 5 on the original game.
- Mercy Invincibility: Inverted. Collecting power chips and special weapons is the way to grand 1 or 4-second invulnerability time.
- Nintendo Hard
- One-Man Army: It's a shmup, so what else do you expect. Handwaved of describing the "System" being able to cope with large-scale attacks, but not small-scale ones.
- Precursors: Organic Intelligence Body.
- Recurring Boss: In the NES version, 3 of the capital ships and many of the fortresses.
- Sentry Gun: Basically any surface-mounted turret.
- Sequential Boss: The final boss in the original and several bosses in Zanac Neo.
- Shoot the Bullet: Pretty much every projectile is destroyable in some way.
- Shows Damage: In the original, capital ships and boxes belong to category 1 while the final phase of the final boss belongs to category 3.
- In Zanac Neo, most of the enemies with multiple hitpoints blink red when low on health.
- Smart Bomb: Enemy Erasers and Weapon 6 in the original which clear all the non-boss air targets. Fairies are even stronger since after they're used as such, they blow up the fortress as soon as you reach one.
- Space Is Noisy
- Spy Satellites: Sarts in the original which fly around.
- Stalked by the Bell: Each boss (save for the Final Boss) is on a timer. Fail to defeat the boss in time, and you continue the stage (or advance to the next in the case of an endboss)... and the Dynamic Difficulty goes up.
- Super Prototype: Your Zanac fighter.
- Warmup Boss: The first boss in MSX and NES versions of Zanac is a simple ground turret.
- Warp Zone: Smiling Icons in the original game spawn Enemy Erasers which then turn into these. A few of them take you backwards though.
- Wasted Song: One of the songs doesn't play in any level. Although it still can be accessed by pressing certain buttons after defeating each fortress in area 10.
- Womb Level: Area 8 in the original NES version.