BlaZeon
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is a horizontally scrolling
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released by
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in
1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...
and was ported to the
Super Nintendo Entertainment System 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 Eur ...
in the same year. The game's most distinguishable feature is that players come equipped with a device that allows them to freeze and control certain
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 ...
s.


Gameplay

The player is set in control of The Garland TFF-01, a sub-standard space fighter ship that is only armed with a semi-auto or rapid fire
laser A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
gun A gun is a ranged weapon designed to use a shooting tube (gun barrel) to launch projectiles. The projectiles are typically solid, but can also be pressurized liquid (e.g. in water guns/cannons, spray guns for painting or pressure washing, pr ...
known as the Beam Vulcan and the Tranquilander. Some enemy units can be captured and used in play; certain enemy robots, when shot by the player's Tranquilander, will morph into an outline of themselves. The player can then fly into the outline, and take on the form of the enemy robot, taking control of its weapons, abilities and special attacks. There is also an addition to the
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battle scoring: similar to some shooters, players have the opportunity to increase their scores by beating the end level bosses within a certain time limit. Every time a boss battle is initiated, a timer will count down and once the boss is destroyed/killed before the timer reaches zero, then the time left will add to the player's end-level score; if the timer runs out, then the score at the end of the level will remain unaffected. Extends/1 Ups were awarded every 300,000 points.


The Bio-Cyborgs

''Mars'': A Bio-Cyborg armed with the three-way firing Mega Cannon and comes equipped with three Atomic Shields which are two-second long explosive rings that protect the cyborg from harm. ''Grain Beat/Odyssey'': A Bio-Cyborg armed only with the Funnel guns which can be arranged to fire in three different forward-firing positions. ''Shadow Blade'': The fastest of the Bio-Cyborgs which comes equipped with the Twin Cannon and the Dimension Field which makes the ship invincible for ten seconds. ''Titan'': A muscular Bio-Cyborg armed with the Slice Laser and comes equipped with unlimited homing missiles. ''Neptune'': A horned Bio-Cyborg armed with the Wide Lazer and is equipped with two Hyper-Bombs, a powerful blast that fires forward. ''Baron'': A winged Bio-Cyborg armed with the Sonic Gun and is equipped with unlimited Diffusing Bombs, a bomb that fires onto ground forces. ''Hyper D'': The slowest of the Bio-Cyborgs which comes equipped with the twin, diagonal firing Beam Gun and is equipped with unlimited Vertical Shields’, a
flare A flare, also sometimes called a fusée, fusee, or bengala in some Latin-speaking countries, is a type of pyrotechnic that produces a bright light or intense heat without an explosion. Flares are used for distress signaling, illumination, ...
weapon that not only hurts enemies but also destroys most enemy shots.


Story

A united space force known as the Imperial Earth Army was launched past the
Solar System The Solar SystemCapitalization of the name varies. The International Astronomical Union, the authoritative body regarding astronomical nomenclature, specifies capitalizing the names of all individual astronomical objects but uses mixed "Solar S ...
. When the Imperial Earth Army returned, it came armed with large, living robots known as Bio-Cyborgs that it used to dominate and oppress the societies of Earth. Players assume the role of a rebel forces pilot who has launched a surprise attack against the oppressive Imperial Earth Army, armed with a recently developed weapon capable of controlling the Bio-Cyborgs.


Super NES version

BlaZeon was ported from the arcades to the Super NES. However, there were some significant differences between the two: *The animated opening from the original was completely removed from the console version. *2 Player co-op was removed from the home console port, although an option to change the game's difficulty and ship color was included. *Many enemies were cut from the home console version: in stage 3, the walker enemies were removed and placed only once in the final stage while some of the organic enemies in stage 4 were either removed or their AI was changed. *Many parts of the battleship Guanols were cut in the SNES port including a transport carrying parts of the level boss. *The design of the underground stage, Shurice, was redesigned in backgrounds, foregrounds and mini-bosses in the console port. The level was also originally the third level in the Arcade version, but switched to Stage 4 in the console port. *The ending (which only showed the game's Credits) was removed entirely from the home console version; instead, players restart the game with the same score and lives they beat the game with on a higher difficulty.


Reception

''BlaZeon'' garnered mixed reception from critics, some of which reviewed it as an import title. The
Super Nintendo Entertainment System 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 Eur ...
version holds a 42.25% rating at the
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site
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. In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed the original arcade release on their June 1, 1992 issue as being the tenth most-popular arcade game for the previous two weeks. When reviewing the Super NES adaptation, ''Joypad''s Olivier Prézeau reviewed the Super NES criticized the graphical presentation for its small sprites and jerky animations, but was fond of the ability to capture and use the enemies. in contrast, ''Consoles +'' François Hermellin also reviewed the Super Nintendo conversion and labelled the graphics as "splendid and colorful". Hermellin commended the conversion further for the lack of slowdown, soundtrack, and playability, but felt that the game lacked ambition and lambasted its overall presentation. ''Video Games'' Jan Barysch disagreed with Hermellin, writing that the SNES port was "jerky, heavy as hell, and poorly thought out." ''
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''s four reviewers found the SNES version to be "a better than average shooter", noting its capture power-up mechanic. ''
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''s three reviewers liked the ability to assume control of each Bio-Cyborgs, they ultimately regarded the Super NES version to be an average scrolling shooter. ''Play Time''s Robert Reichsmann commended the graphics and music of the Super Nintendo port, but felt mixed about its gameplay. British publication ''Super Gamer'' gave the SNES conversion an unfavorable review, stating: "Terrible scrolling backgrounds and poor gameplay ensure unhappiness." Reviewing the original arcade release, ''
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''s Brett Alan Weiss noted the ability to control captured enemies as an original element. Nevertheless, Weiss regarded ''BlaZeon'' to be an unremarkable and mediocre shooter, citing its slow action, and generic audiovisual presentation. Roger Post of ''SHMUPS!'' (a classic network of ''
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'') reviewed the SNES adaptation, finding its gameplay slow and the soundtrack repetitive. ''
Hardcore Gaming 101 ''Hardcore Gaming 101'' is an online video game magazine founded by Kurt Kalata. Kalata established the site after graduating college, when he noticed the overabundance of game strategy guides, and felt that someone should create more books about ...
''s Brett Pritchard disagreed with Weiss and Post, giving both the arcade and SNES versions positive retrospective outlooks.


Notes


References

{{Reflist


External links


BlaZeon creditsSoundtrack information
at SNESmusic.org 1992 video games A.I Company games Arcade video games Atlus games Horizontally scrolling shooters Super Nintendo Entertainment System games Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Tsukasa Masuko