Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (System 16)

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Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (System 16)
System(s): Sega System 16
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega, M2
Supporting companies: Basiscape (audio)
Genre: Shooting
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 2008 ¥? ?

Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa (System 16) is a special Fantasy Zone game first seen in the Sega Ages 2500 series entry, Sega Ages 2500 Series Vol. 33: Fantasy Zone Complete Collection. It is a remake of Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa running on emulated Sega System 16 arcade hardware. As of MAME version 0.146u2, the game is currently available to play in an emulator.

Fantasy Zone II DX was re-released with additional features in 2014 in Japan and 2015 worldwide as 3D Fantasy Zone II W on the Nintendo 3DS.

Gameplay

Fantasy Zone II DX borrows many of the features seen in Fantasy Zone II, though is not a straight port of the game. It re-introduces the radar missing from the home ports of Fantasy Zone II and adds/tweaks various features to make the game more similar to the original arcade Fantasy Zone. Many of the backgrounds were re-invented, music and bosses altered and there are only two sections to each level - a "Bright Side" and "Dark Side" variation, both having a different name for the planet. In the Dark Side variations, the enemies are more numerous and aggressive, and the regular shop balloons are replaced with hidden ones that must be found, but the player can earn more money from defeating enemies. Depending on which side the levels are finished in, the game will result in one of three different endings.

Special weapons function differently in this game. Instead of being limited in ammunition, the player has to hold the Bomb button to charge a gauge, then release it when the gauge is full to activate it. The player can hold on to a Special weapon for as long as they like until they lose a life. Additionally, primary shot upgrades now double as an extra hit point, replacing the extendable life bar; should the player be hit by an enemy or bullet while using a primary shot upgrade, they will survive the hit, but will instantly lose the upgrade and revert back to the Twin Shot.

If the player dies while fighting a boss, they will be sent to a special Parts Shop that only sells engine upgrades, allowing them to repurchase the engine they just lost.

Another notable change is that if the player takes too long to finish a level, an invincible gray drone-like enemy will appear and will begin to chase Opa-Opa throughout the level, even into boss battles. The player will be able to outrun the enemy with certain engine upgrades, and the enemy will only disappear if a boss is defeated.

Levels

	Pastaria / Postaria
	The planet Opa-Opa visited was abundant in nature. Finding Advance Bases were constructed, immediately he started to investigate. The first planet Opa-Opa arrives at is the lush rainbow-filled grassland as it initially appeared in the 8-bit original, but with a 16-bit upgrade. Its Dark Side variant features hills and trees like Plaleaf's, but at night. For this planet only, the regular shop balloons resemble their original appearance in Fantasy Zone, and will even play the same music. The boss of this planet is Woodpole, who now sports a nose that acts as its weak point, and can now change the direction of the flying logs. In the Dark Side, the logs move more wildly and will even move the other way.
	Sarcand / Sarcard
	The moment Opa-Opa dismantled the Spirit of Tree apart, the Unknown Gate appeared and teleported him. The Bright Side of this planet features plenty of blue mechanical structures, while the Dark Side is filled with crystals and purple structures, reminiscent of the Tabas level from the original Fantasy Zone. The boss of this planet is Hangmerudia, who now shoots lasers out of its segments. Like its 8-bit counterpart, the segments must all be destroyed to defeat the boss. In the Dark Side, the boss's head will also toss hammers like its 8-bit counterpart did.
	Hiyarika / Hiyarican
	This planet was also under the domination of the Nenon planet forces. Would he be able to find out his father? The typical ice planet features a lovely purple aurora-filled sky with snowy mounds and curved crystals in the Bright Side, and green crystals and an icy canyon in the Dark Side. The boss of this planet is Iceburn, who chases Opa-Opa around in an ice cube like in the original version. This time, however, Opa-Opa must break the ice cube, then shoot the exposed eyeball to damage the boss while avoiding the snowflakes. In the Dark Side, the boss will even shoot out the snowflakes while it's in "eyeball mode".
	Bow Bow / Vow Vow
	Opa-Opa felt something wrong. Small-sized boss have a function for collecting fragments of boss's information. It was not possible that Boss Poppo wasn't yet restored after 10 years had elapsed. This fiery planet features a scorching orange sky in the Bright Side, and a magma-filled canyon under a purple sky in the Dark Side. The gun turret that chases Opa-Opa in the Dark Side is also more persistent than before here. The boss of this planet is Bombdran, who is completely different from the 8-bit game's boss. This boss attacks by swinging its arms and lobbing bombs that explode into fiery pillars when they hit the ground. The boss has a shield covering parts of its body, so the player must shoot the exposed parts to cause damage. In the Dark Side, the shield covers different parts, the boss has a different face, and the bombs are thrown more wildly.
	Chaprun / Caprifta
	It struck Opa-Opa as incongruous that one planet had a dual structure. Indeed one planet has a multiple structure can exist, but generally its areas don't interfere each other. This watery planet sees Opa-Opa fly above the water in the Bright Side, and take the fight underwater if he visits the Dark Side, where the bases are inside bubbles. The boss of this planet is Buubuuman, who now splits into multiple segments like IDA-2. The segments will now shoot a shower of bullets (or "danmaku") at Opa-Opa, like a typical "bullet hell" boss. The player must shoot at these segments to destroy them and find the core (which looks like a face) in order to inflict damage. The Dark Side version is much more aggressive in its movements and shots.
	Fuwareak / Fuwaread
	Opa-Opa was feeling that some unknown will was conducting him. If so, who was it and why...? Taking to the skies on this planet, Opa-Opa flies over canyons in a blue-green sky in the Bright Side, and among clouds shaped like Poppos in the Dark Side. The Dark Side's gun turrets are at their most aggressive starting from this planet. The boss of this planet is Accordlon, who is also completely different from the planet's boss in the original game; and despite its name, it doesn't look much like an accordion. This boss attempts to crush Opa-Opa with giant pistons, and the player must move out of the way and shoot the pistons as they land to destroy them. When a set of pistons are destroyed, turrets will emerge from them to shoot at the player and keep them on their toes. The boss is more aggressive and takes more hits in the Dark Side.
	Sbardian / Sbardius
	Now, Opa-Opa was sure that the gates he had passed through wasn't normal warpgate. The observer who was judging something certainly existed. But, he couldn't return yet... This cosmic planet is set within a cavern in the Bright Side, and has an open sky depicting space in the Dark Side. The desert and lake backdrops from the 8-bit game aren't featured here. The boss of this planet are the Halorings, who are another boss that wasn't in the original game, and are somewhat inspired by the game Ikaruga. This is a pair of bosses, one white and one black. The white Haloring will shoot swirling black danmaku that will fly towards the black Haloring, prompting it to shoot a bullet at Opa-Opa if they touch it. Shooting the black danmaku will turn them white, harming the boss instead. Like every other boss, their attacks and movements in the Dark Side are more aggressive.
	Wolfin / Volfine
	Is this place really the "Fantasy Zone"? Opa-Opa talked to himself unconsciously. Where am I...? The final planet, like all Fantasy Zone games, simply puts Opa-Opa against all of the bosses he's encountered so far, before having him face the end boss. The seven regular bosses all employ their Bright Side strategies regardless of which side Opa-Opa came from in the last planet. Depending on which routes the player takes to get here, the final boss battle will be slightly different, and the ending they get will be different.

History

Developers M2 adhered to the restrictions of the System 16B board when creating Fantasy Zone II DX, meaning the game was able to be officially released in Japanese arcades. According to the manual, the developers claim it to be running on "System 16C" hardware, as it uses a RAM upgrade with the System 16B specs.

The game exists presumably due to fan complaints regarding the quality of Fantasy Zone II. The original Fantasy Zone II release was developed with the Sega Master System in mind, with later ports to the MSX and Nintendo Famicom, unlike the original Fantasy Zone which was built for superior System 16 arcade hardware. This means there is a tremendous drop in "quality" between the "best" version of Fantasy Zone and the "best" version of Fantasy Zone II, even though the two games are very similar in design.

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		2008	PlayStation 2 disc