BlaZeon

Did You Know?

• The Imperial Earth Army, a united space force launched past the Solar System, returned with large living robots called Bio-Cyborgs to dominate Earth.
• Players assume the role of a rebel forces pilot armed with a recently developed weapon capable of controlling the Bio-Cyborgs.

Gameplay

The player controls The Garland TFF-01, a sub-standard space fighter armed with a semi-auto or rapid fire laser gun called the Beam Vulcan and the Tranquilander. Certain enemy robots, when shot by the Tranquilander, morph into an outline; the player can fly into it and take on the enemy's form, gaining its weapons, abilities and special attacks. Boss battles include a countdown timer: if the boss is destroyed before the timer reaches zero, the remaining time adds to the end-level score. Extends are awarded every 300,000 points.

The Bio-Cyborgs

Mars carries a three-way Mega Cannon and three Atomic Shields, two-second explosive rings. Grain Beat/Odyssey uses Funnel guns that can fire in three forward positions. Shadow Blade, the fastest, has a Twin Cannon and a Dimension Field granting ten seconds of invincibility. Titan wields the Slice Laser and unlimited homing missiles. Neptune fires the Wide Lazer and carries two Hyper-Bombs. Baron uses the Sonic Gun and unlimited Diffusing Bombs. Hyper D, the slowest, has twin diagonal Beam Guns and unlimited Vertical Shields that destroy enemy shots.

Super NES version

The Super NES port removed the animated opening and two-player co-op, but added difficulty and ship color options. Many enemies were cut: walker enemies in stage 3 appear only once in the final stage, and some organic enemies in stage 4 were removed or had their AI changed. Parts of the battleship Guanols were cut, including a transport carrying level boss components. The underground stage Shurice was redesigned in backgrounds, foregrounds and mini-bosses, and moved from stage 3 in the arcade to stage 4 in the port. The ending was removed; instead, players restart with the same score and lives on a higher difficulty.

Reception

In Japan, Game Machine listed BlaZeon as the tenth most-popular arcade game in its June 1, 1992 issue. Micom BASIC Magazine ranked it eleventh in July 1992. AllGames' Brett Alan Weiss found the capture mechanic original but considered the game mediocre due to slow action and generic audiovisuals. The Super NES version received generally unfavorable reception, with a 42.25% rating on GameRankings. Electronic Gaming Monthly's four editors called it a better than average shooter, praising the capture mechanic. Nintendo Power's three reviewers liked controlling Bio-Cyborgs but deemed it average. Super Gamer criticized its scrolling backgrounds and gameplay. Roger Post of SHMUPS! found gameplay slow and soundtrack repetitive. Hardcore Gaming 101's Brett Pritchard gave both versions positive retrospective reviews.