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Zaxxon returns with a vengeance in the coin-op
conversion of the arcade hit follow up (wotta mouthful)
to Zaxxon. Superficially the difference between
the two looks non-existent, but Super Zaxxon has
a few different touches, including tunnels and a dragon
. . . more of them later.
For
the new 'first time readers' who don't know what the
hell Zaxxon is here's a brief summary. Just imagine
a 3D Scramble (and DON'T ask what Scramble
is) scrolling diagonally with your plane, a missile-firing
craft flying over it. The plane behaves like a real
one and is capable of climbing up and over objects,
moving round them or even through and under them in
true 3D style. The action takes place over the blue
Zaxxon fortress, with its many hazards and deadly gun
emplacements, forcefields and walls. The object of the
game is to penetrate deep into the fortress and destroy
the creature that appears at its heart; in the first
game the Zaxxon Robot, in the sequel it's the Dragon.
When you start a game of Super Zaxxon you appear
in front of the familiar Zaxxon Fortress. Climb and
go through the gap in the protective wall, the fortress
wall. Once that has been tackled, the hazardous first
run over the Fortress begins . . . destroy as many ground
objects as possible, especially fuel tanks. This tops
up your craft's fuel supply which is otherwise always
diminishing, and fuel is essential to your survival
-- if you let it deplete entirely then your ship crashes.
The
first run looks, and is in fact, almost identical to
the original's. Littered around the colourful and detailed
landscape are roads, planes, an electric forcefield,
gun emplacements, missile silos (complete with launching
missiles), radar dishes and fuel dumps. Occasionally
a heat-seeking missile will wend its way towards you
and, unless you dodge or shoot it, it will home in and
bring you down.
Once
this has been cleared, you enter a tunnel to get to
the next stage. Shoot or dodge all the advancing alien
craft before they hit you and before the time runs out
and you will go automatically to the next stage. If
you shoot all the aliens before the time runs out then
you'll get a bonus.
The
next stage is the second run over the fortress -- even
more hazardous than the first (it's almost the same
as the second run in Zaxxon). Blocking your way
are several forcefields stretching across the playing
area and extending higher than you can fly. There is,
though, a gap that you have to fly through and this
is one of the trickiest parts of the game. The best
tactic to use is to keep shooting until your laser blasts
go through the gap, and then you can safely follow them
through.
Littered
over the terrain are more fuel tanks, radar dishes and
missiles, but thankfully no heat seekers. If you manage
to negotiate this sector then you'll move onto the final
screen and meet the Zaxxon dragon. The idea is to shoot
him before he opens his mouth and breathes fire all
over you. If you manage, finally, to destroy him (it
takes quite a few goes), then you'll go back to the
start and start a more difficult run, with thinner gaps
to fly through and more hostile aliens.
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