''Zaku'' is a homebrew

scrolling shooter In computer displays, filmmaking, television production, and other kinetic displays, scrolling is sliding text, images or video across a monitor or display, vertically or horizontally. "Scrolling," as such, does not change the layout of the text ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by PenguiNet and published by

Super Fighter Team Super Fighter Team is a video game production and publishing company whose primary focus is on producing and publishing new video games for classic systems such as the Sega Genesis and Atari Lynx, among others. The company was founded in 2004 by sa ...

exclusively for the

Atari Lynx The Atari Lynx is a hybrid 8/16-bit fourth generation handheld game console released by Atari Corporation in September 1989 in North America and 1990 in Europe and Japan. It was the first handheld game console with a color liquid-crystal disp ...

on 24 October 2009. Taking place on a

futuristic The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ...

setting Setting may refer to: * A location (geography) where something is set * Set construction in theatrical scenery * Setting (narrative), the place and time in a work of narrative, especially fiction * Setting up to fail a manipulative technique to eng ...

where Captain Bran and his minions plan to oversaturate the worldwide market with poor quality

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated documentation and data. This is in contrast to hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. At the lowest programming level, executable code consists ...

using the "Rarity 9"

programming tool A programming tool or software development tool is a computer program that software developers use to create, debug, maintain, or otherwise support other programs and applications. The term usually refers to relatively simple programs, that can b ...

, players assume the role of the titular character in an effort to retrieve the stolen tool from Bran. ''Zaku'' was conceived by Osman Celimli at a young age during his time working at PenguiNet, who wanted to create a project for a

handheld game console A handheld game console, or simply handheld console, is a small, portable self-contained video game console with a built-in screen, game controls and speakers. Handheld game consoles are smaller than home video game consoles and contain the cons ...

, initially focusing on the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

before shifting towards the Atari Lynx and was influenced by ''

Air Zonk ''Air Zonk'', known in Japan as , is a horizontally scrolling shooter released for TurboGrafx-16 in 1992. ''Air Zonk'' was an attempt to update the company's image via a modern, punkish character called Zonk, who bears a purposeful resemblance t ...

'', lasting over a course of six years under development prior to release. The game was met with positive reception from reviewers since its initial release, with praise towards the presentation, audio, plot and gameplay, but criticism pointed to its length and some of its design aspects. As of 2018, the title has sold over 1,000 copies in total.

Gameplay

''Zaku'' is a futuristic

science fiction Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel unive ...

-themed scrolling

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 ...

game reminiscent of ''Air Zonk'', where players take control of the titular character through sixteen stages across five worlds, each with a

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 ...

that must be fought to retrieve the "Rarity 9" programming tool from Captain Bran.''Zaku'' game manual (Atari Lynx, US) At the title screen, players have access to the options menu where various settings can be changed such as the difficulty. Players are free to proceed with the game's worlds in any order. Zaku can charge her shots to fire a more powerful attack and charging longer causes to activate a force field capable of damaging enemies. Zaku is also equipped with rear thrusters to attack enemies from behind. There are no

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

s to acquire besides capsule-shaped

item Item may refer to: Organizations * ''Instituto del Tercer Mundo'' (ITeM), the Third World Institute * ITEM club, an economic forecasting group based in the United Kingdom Newspapers * ''The Item'', an American independent, morning newspaper ...

s. Zaku can sustain a number of hits before her

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

depletes and the game is over but players can choose to continue playing after dying.

Development and release

''Zaku'' was the creation of

programmer A computer programmer, sometimes referred to as a software developer, a software engineer, a programmer or a coder, is a person who creates computer programs — often for larger computer software. A programmer is someone who writes/creates ...

Osman Celimli, who started development of the project in 2003 at the age of 14 working at PenguiNet. Both Celimli and PenguiNet wanted to make a game for a handheld game console, initially targeting the Game Boy for development but focus was shifted towards the Atari Lynx instead due to the former platform's lack of

documentation Documentation is any communicable material that is used to describe, explain or instruct regarding some attributes of an object, system or procedure, such as its parts, assembly, installation, maintenance and use. As a form of knowledge manageme ...

and programming tools, while the Lynx had an already established homebrew community. Super Fighter Team founder Brandon Cobb wanted to work on a project for the Lynx that showcased the system's technical capabilities and after being impressed with an early build of the project, contacted PenguiNet for a production and publishing arrangement. ''Zaku'' was created over a six-year period using an official Lynx development kit, consisting of an

Amiga 2000 The Amiga 2000, or A2000, is a personal computer released by Commodore in March 1987. It was introduced as a "big box" expandable variant of the Amiga 1000 but quickly redesigned to share most of its electronic components with the contemporary Ami ...

, as well as

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

Paint Paint is any pigmented liquid, liquefiable, or solid mastic composition that, after application to a substrate in a thin layer, converts to a solid film. It is most commonly used to protect, color, or provide texture. Paint can be made in many ...

and

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programs for

pixel art Pixel art () is a form of digital art drawn with graphics software, graphical software where images are built using pixels as the only building block. It is widely associated with the low-resolution graphics from 8-bit and 16-bit era computers a ...

and coding respectively, among other tools. Celimli stated that the team at PenguiNet finalized the gameplay mechanics and general plot before completing the first and last stages. Environments and enemies were first designed as hand-drawn sketches before being transposed to pixel graphics. Celimli also stated that ''Air Zonk'' played an important role during development due to being a favorite of him and wanting the project to resemble it. ''Zaku'' was first showcased to the public as a

playable demo A game demo is a trial version of a video game that is limited to a certain time limit or a point in progress, which leads to the player buying the game if they liked it. A game demo comes in forms such as shareware, demo disc, downloadable sof ...

at the 2007 Retro-Gaming Connexion convention in

Congis-sur-Thérouanne Congis-sur-Thérouanne () is a commune in the Seine-et-Marne department in the Île-de-France region in north-central France. Demographics The inhabitants are called ''Congissois''. Schools The communal preschool and elementary school is the É ...

, France. The finished game was published on 24 October 2009 by Super Fighter Team. The title was the first new release for the Atari Lynx whose

game cartridge A ROM cartridge, usually referred to in context simply as a cartridge, cart, or card, is a replaceable part designed to be connected to a consumer electronics device such as a home computer, video game console or, to a lesser extent, electron ...

has an authentic "curved lip" plastic shell, reminiscent of officially licensed Lynx titles. It shipped with a

packaging Packaging is the science, art and technology of enclosing or protecting products for distribution, storage, sale, and use. Packaging also refers to the process of designing, evaluating, and producing packages. Packaging can be described as a co ...

mimicking those of licensed Lynx releases. A second print run was launched in May 2012, while a third print run occurred in August 2016.

Reception

''Zaku'' received positive reception from reviewers since its initial release. Heiko Poppen of German

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''neXGam'' noted the game's comical plot, controls, graphics and music as positive points but criticized various design aspects. Travis Fahs of gaming website ''The Next Level'' praised the presentation and gameplay but criticized the repetitive boss patterns. Olivier Blaszczyk of ''Pockett Videogames'' praised the presentation, visuals, audio and gameplay but noted the short length to be the title's only negative point. ''ReVival'' magazine's Kiwi and Cyril Denis gave it a 9 out of 10 score. ''

Retro Gamer ''Retro Gamer'' is a British magazine, published worldwide, covering retro video games. It was the first commercial magazine to be devoted entirely to the subject. Launched in January 2004 as a quarterly publication, ''Retro Gamer'' soon became ...

'' score ''Zaku'' with an overall 75% score. ''Zaku'' has sold over 1,000 copies as of 2018, according to Super Fighter Team's Brandon Cobb.

References

External links

* at PenguiNet * at

{{Homebrew 2009 video games Atari Lynx games Atari Lynx-only games Homebrew software Science fiction video games Scrolling shooters Side-scrolling video games Single-player video games Super Fighter Team games Video games developed in France Video games featuring female protagonists Video games set in the 1980s Video games set in the 20th century Video games set in the future