I used to love this game when I was growing up. I played it at the Dream Machine arcade in Portsmouth New Hampshire. It was there until 1989 I think. I also played it for the c64 which is okay but the arcade version is still the best.
Anyway, the game was made in 1985 from Sega by Yu Suzuki and it is set in a world called the fantasy Zone. You play as a rocket man who can run fast or fly because of this rocket pack he's wearing.
You go up against different enemies such as prehistoric beasts, Chinese dragons, Alien pods, Giant robots ETC. Another thing is you fly through different obsticles that may get in your way such as giant trees, ancient ruins or bushes and the like. You can jump over bushes but it slows you down and you risk impact. Some obstacles can be shot away. Some enemies are invincible. The 3d action is the best part of the game. There is also digitized voice and sound. There are approximately 18 levels in this game, not including bonus rounds on levels 5, 8 and 12 I believe. On the final level, you fight all the bosses again at once. After this you go back around again. There
is no plot to my knowledge just like in most arcade games. To me its just another great arcade classic from days gone by...
This is no easy arcade game however. The levels can be very challenging especially when going up against the dragons. You have to shoot them in just the right place and time in order to have an impact. Also in some levels the speed can go very fast and you can slam into obstacles very easily without knowing it. It took me years to get the hang of it and to get up to level 9 or 10. Also sometimes the enemies can get even tougher and invincible. Some levels you just fly through obstacles; on others you have to fly through both obstacles and enemies many which could also be invincible.
This game is one of the first 3d arcade games and was a precursor to After Burner, another great hit from Sega of America. There have been several awesome sequels made to the game and it has been ported to several game systems such as the NES, SNES, Genesis, atari st Atari XL Commodore 64, Sega Saturn, and a few others. there have been some remakes I think but most aren't that good and are more two dimensional like one I played for Commodore 64.
