Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000

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NTSC-U NTSC-J PAL
Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000
System(s): Sega 32X
Publisher: Sega Enterprises, Ltd. (JP, EU), Sega of America (US)
Developer: CRI
Sound driver: SMPS Z80
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1995-07-14 ¥7,8007,800 GM-4012 US 1995-06 $59.9959.99 84512 EU 1995-06 84512-50 UK 1995-09-15 £49.9949.99 84512-50 AU 1995 FMOT03SXC

Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000, known in Europe as Motherbase (which was also a working title) and in Japan as Parasquad (パラスコード), is a shoot-'em-up released by Sega for the Sega 32X. Despite its North American title, the game has no connection to the arcade game Zaxxon aside from both being isometric shooters set in space.

The game runs at about 20 FPS during gameplay, with slight dips when there are too many objects on-screen.

Story

The Hive Confederation was once a peaceful planetary system of intelligent insectoids until the separation of the Ginglii clan. The Ginglii created a computer that can coordinate the production of weapons and have overtaken and enslaved numerous Hive planets. A rebellion force has begun a mission, codenamed "Motherbase 2000," to fight through the Ginglii defenses and reach the computer.

Gameplay

The game is an autoscrolling shoot-'em-up played from an isometric point of view where the player flies a spaceship, the Stinger, through enemy bases. The Stinger moves with the D-Pad and fires its standard weapon with . By default, the movement of the ship is relative to the perspective of the player rather than following the isometric view (similar to Viewpoint), but it can be changed to control similarly to the original Zaxxon. Weapons do not have rapid-fire by default, but this can also be changed in the options before starting the game. The Stinger has a rocket booster mounted to its underside and can "jump," increasing its altitude momentarily, with , which can be used to hop over enemy fire.

Allied spacecraft, called couriers, appear throughout the stages. The Stinger can take over these craft by jumping onto them with . Couriers vary in size and armor. Each is equipped with its own unique weapons systems, including a secondary weapon that is fired with . All weapons have unlimited ammunition. The Stinger exits a courier with . The game begins with the Stinger already in a courier, the Pincer, but starts subsequent stages on its own.

Additionally, the Stinger can hijack some enemy ships by docking onto them in the same manner as couriers. This requires some experimentation to learn which enemies can be docked since the Stinger is destroyed if it attempts to land on a ship that cannot be docked. Like couriers, enemy craft have unique weapons, including secondary weapons. The player receives "Hacking" bonus points for each enemy ship taken over. If the player pilots the ship until a lightning effect appears (accompanied by a voice sample saying, "Ready"), the Stinger "learns" the enemy craft's primary attack (retaining this weapon as the Stinger's secondary attack even after ejecting from the craft) and the player earns "Learning" bonus points as well.

The Stinger is destroyed by any hit from enemy fire or a collision. Couriers and enemy ships can take multiple hits before exploding (destroying the Stinger as well). Heavier armored couriers can withstand more abuse than lightly armored couriers. Ships do not take damage from hitting the walls of the stage. The game does not directly indicate how much damage a ship has taken, though couriers visually lose parts as they are damaged. The status bar flashes red when the ship is about to destruct. Ships cannot be repaired, but the player can jump to another vessel. If the ship is destroyed, the player loses a life and must restart the stage from the beginning in the Stinger (with no courier). If the player runs out of lives, the game ends, but it can be continued as long as there are continues remaining. The player earns extra lives at 50,000 and 100,000 points and then every 100,000 points after that.

The game also features a versus mode where two players face off in a small arena. Whoever destroys the opposing player's ship five times wins. There are multiple arenas, which have their own obstacles and hazards.

Ships

	924 Stinger
	Speed: Average Armor: Light Primary weapon: Light Cannon
	The Stinger is the base ship, which can dock into any of the other ships, called couriers, as well as many enemy vessels. It is capable of fighting on its own, but it is more fragile than other craft. Its primary armament is a quick-firing light cannon. It has no secondary weapon, but if it "learns" the weapon of an enemy after hijacking it, it becomes assigned to the Stinger's secondary weapon.
	Pincer 24-H
	Speed: Slow Armor: Heavy Primary weapon: Heavy Cannon Secondary weapon: Ripper Missiles
	The Pincer is slow-moving and heavily armored. Its primary weapon is a cannon that shoots two strong shots in parallel; it can have up to three pairs of shots out at a time. Its secondary weapon is firing two heat-seeking Ripper Missiles.
	Beetle 16-B
	Speed: Slow Armor: Heavy Primary weapon: Type 12 Cannon Secondary weapon: Plasma Mines
	The Beetle is slow-moving and heavily armored. Its primary weapon is a single powerful cannon; it can have two shots out at a time. Its secondary weapon is deploying two Plasma Mines that land and explode (or explode if they hit an enemy before landing).
	R95 Mantis
	Speed: Average Armor: Average Primary weapon: Twin Heavy Lasers Secondary weapon: Spitter Missiles
	The Mantis is equipped with twin lasers. It can shoot Spitter Missiles, up to two at a time, which are standard missiles that fly to the end of the screen.
	T159 Wasp
	Speed: Fast Armor: Light Primary weapon: Medium Laser Secondary weapon: Needle Missiles
	The Wasp is the fastest moving ship. It is lightly armored and equipped with medium lasers, similar to the Mantis but not as powerful. These lasers are fired singly; there can be up to three out at a time. Its secondary weapons are fast-firing, heat-seeking Needle Missiles.

Stages

	Stage 1
	Stage 2
	Stage 3
	Stage 4
	Stage 5
	Stage 6
	Stage 7
	Stage 8
	Stage 9

Arenas

These are small arenas without scrolling that are used in the two-player mode.

Map 1

Map 2

Map 3

Map 4

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Motherbase	Motherbase
English (US)	Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000	Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000
Japanese	パラスコード	Parasquad

Production credits

• Producers: Hiroshi Aso, Jesse Taylor
• Assistant Producer: Greg Becksted
• Directors: Takeshi Niimura, Shinya Izumi
• Game Designers: Toshikazu Nagasato, Yuichiro Kuroda
• Programmers: Toru Kujirai, Makoto Sato, Masanori Sato, Makoto Nakamura, Masashi Yoneda
• Music Composers: Masashi Yoneda, Naoshi Kunisawa
• Graphic Designers: Kiyoshi Fujita, Yuzi Yamashita, Emi Kurabayashi
• Test Players: Takahiro Kano, Mamoru Kobayashi
• Manual Designers: Yoshihiro Sakuta, Hiroya Tanaka
• Special Thanks: Ryoichi Hasegawa, Masahide Kobayashi, and All Players

Source:

In-game credits

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Production

• Producer: Jesse Taylor
• Assistant Producer: Greg Becksted
• Lead: Michael A. Williams
• Assistant Leads: David Dodge, Joe Cain
• Testers: Crisi Albertson, Lorne Asuncion, Mike Benton, Anthony Borba, Benjamin Briones, Robert Buckingham, Blair Bullock, Christopher Charles, Nelson Chiu, Phillip Co, Sean Doidge, Alfred Dutto, Rob Flores, Saville Gambol, Darin Johnston, Jeff Jones, Amber-Leigh Junier, Nick Katakis, John Maclachlan, Michael McCollum, Todd Morgan, Scott Morris, Neil Musser, Robert Owen, Mark Paniagua, Mark Pentek, Sam Saliba, Jeff Sanders, Roger Somerville, Eugene R. Valenzuela, Stan Weaver, Morgan Weiss, David Wood

Marketing

• Product Manager: Jaime Wojick, Ami Matsumura-Blaire
• Marketing Manager: France M. Tantiado
• Game Specialist: Clint Dyer
• Manual: Marc Sherwood
• Special Thanks: Eric Smith, Christine Bertoglio

Source:

US manual

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• JP cover artist and logo designer: Mari Koizumi

Source:

Developer mentions

Magazine articles

Main article: Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Hobby Consolas (ES) #46: "Julio 1995" (1995-xx-xx)

Print advert in Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) #1995-08: "August 1995" (1995-07-07)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score CD Consoles (FR) 40 Consoles + (FR) 80 Electronic Games (1992-1995) (US) NTSC-U 67 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 54 Famitsu (JP) NTSC-J 63 GameFan (US) NTSC-U 80 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 36 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 70 GamesMaster (UK) PAL 73 Games World: The Magazine (UK) PAL 79 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 58 Hobby Consolas (ES) 75 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 64 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 62 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 86 Next Generation (US) NTSC-U 0 Player One (FR) 70 Play Time (DE) 68 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 68 Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 71 Sega Power (UK) PAL 66 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 68 Sega Saturn Magazine (JP) NTSC-J 70 Todo Sega (ES) 77 Top Consoles (FR) 70 Última Generación (ES) 68 Video Games (DE) PAL 58 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 50

	64
Based on 28 reviews

Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000

32X, JP
Cover
Cart Manual

32X, US
Cover
Cart Manual

32X, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

32X, AU
Cover

Technical information

Main article: Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000/Technical information.

External links

• Sega of America webpage: 32X