is a 1993 Japanese

Super Famicom The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

video game.

Story

Dr. Hell's

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

army has destroyed

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, and now only Kouji Kabuto, and the giant robot

Mazinger Z is a Japanese super robot manga series written and illustrated by Go Nagai. The first manga version was serialized in Shueisha's ''Weekly Shōnen Jump'' from October 1972 to August 1973, and it later was reissued in Kodansha ''TV Magazine ...

, can stop them from taking over the entire world.

Gameplay

''Mazinger Z'' was a vertical

shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs ) are a sub-genre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of chara ...

with three selectable characters : Mazinger Z,

Great Mazinger is a Japanese manga comic book and anime television series by manga artist Go Nagai. The story is a sequel and direct continuation of ''Mazinger Z'' series after its initial success. The series was aired on Japanese television in 1974, im ...

and

Grendizer , known as '' Grandizer'' in the United States, is a Japanese Super Robot anime television series and manga created by manga artist Go Nagai. It is the third entry in the ''Mazinger'' series, however it is non-canon due to '' Mazinger Z: ...

. Animated

cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

s between levels tell the story of the game. The Mazinger Z comes with a full armory of anti-robot weaponry, from super-powered

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the ...

moves to missiles, Breast Fire, and its signature Rocket Punch. Special moves deplete a regenerating

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...

meter, while Rocket Punches can be performed at any time. However, Mazinger would be unable to punch until its

arm In human anatomy, the arm refers to the upper limb in common usage, although academically the term specifically means the upper arm between the glenohumeral joint (shoulder joint) and the elbow joint. The distal part of the upper limb between the ...

s return. Each level contains several varieties of enemies, all of them from the show and unique to each level, that must be defeated to progress. Some enemy robots would fire

projectile A projectile is an object that is propelled by the application of an external force and then moves freely under the influence of gravity and air resistance. Although any objects in motion through space are projectiles, they are commonly found in ...

s from a distance while others would rush in an attempt to grapple the Mazinger. Sometimes, more than one enemy must be fought at once. At the end of each level is a fight with a stronger

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

robot with more dangerous attacks. The player is given six continues to complete the entire game before having to start over again.

Release

The game was released on June 25, 1993.

Reception

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'' reviewed the arcade version of the game, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "For those ''Shogun Warrior'' fans, this game is fantastic, for everyone else, it's OK." ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' gave it a score of 17 out of 40.

References

{{reflist 1993 video games Bandai games Japan-exclusive video games Platform games Science fiction video games Side-scrolling video games Single-player video games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Super Nintendo Entertainment System-only games Video games about mecha Video games based on anime and manga Video games developed in Japan Winkysoft games