Zaku

Here's some impressions I found on Digital Press from Shooting Love. It's sounding good.

Quote:

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I'm very impressed with Zaku.
After a half hour of play I'm pretty sure it's one of the best Lynx games ever.

I don't know how it will be received by shooter die-hards, but as a game enthusiast I'll say it is one of most awesome releases this year.

The controls are very solid, with an auto rapid shot, 2-stage charge shot, and reverse (thruster) shot.
Despite the Lynx's broad and flat d-pad Zaku moves quick and responsively. While there are not many enemy bullets in the 3 levels I've played there is still plenty to dodge - though I suspect once a player has a pattern memorized, the charge shot could be used to clear all enemies before they become a threat of collision.

There are 4 levels selectable right from the start and I did not notice any difficulty adjustment between playing the levels back to back, or selecting individually from the start screen - what I mean to say is the difficulty didn't really feel like it ramped-up. Each of the bosses I've encountered did wipe me out on the first couple tries, and there appears to be unlimited continues (from the start of a level).

An options screen offers 4 difficulty levels, and BGM & SFX tests. I've only played Normal and Expert and didn't notice any difference besides a shorter life bar. I wanted to think the enemies were moving faster, but I'm not sure. And I unfortunately didn't see more bullets. Though considering the potential for blur and angle glare issues with the Lynx screen it is probably the best design choice to not have a lot of projectiles flying around the screen.

Now the best part is the graphics. We've all seen the colorful screenshots and the video clip. Playing this on a Lynx is incredible. The screen is filled with motion: swift moving enemies, large cleverly designed bosses, racing parallax landscapes, tons of bright colors, clear text dialogue and storyline, clever cinema screens - Zaku holds up with most 16-bit console games.

I highly recommend Zaku for anyone who can appretiate the best of early 16-bit design sensibilities.

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Good deal. Lynx really seems to have better luck with posthumous homebrews than any other post-1983 system.

Got my copy today. Packaging is impressive - going to try it out here shortly.

Update: shit is fun.

Yeah, mine arrived and I played a bit. It's what I expected from the video, a neat little shooter with a TG16 vibe. Music's weak but other than that, it's good stuff.

I got mine too, but I still don't know when I'm going to go get my Lynx, and this game has driven up the price/demand on ebay to boot.

The packaging/manual/cart are super high quality, though. Feels like a real Lynx release, which none of the other late releases ever did.

I got my copy of Zaku last weekend, but I haven't had much of a chance to play it. However, what I did play of it was gold. It really does feel like something released back in the early 90's, kind of like it was a lost commercial game that we never saw. The controls do mimic Air Zonk, but the game has a completely different feel from it, it is very unique. I'd definately say it's worth the cash to anyone willing to fork out new game cash on an old system (and I am.)

Frog: Do you want my old Lynx so you can play it? There are some lines in the screen, but everything is perfectly playable. I'd give it to ya cheap.

Offer appreciated, but I just ordered one the other day. Got a decent deal on it ($40 shipped, with 7 pretty good games), too on a lowball Buy it Now. Can't wait to get it.

Cool, I'll keep it for spare parts then, or maybe I can even figure out how to fix it. I think I'm going to look at Ebay for some more Lynx games, the only good games I've got are Zaku, California Games and Ninja Gaiden, and I've never played anything on the system that I don't own. I'm probably missing out on a lot of good stuff that never saw release on anything else.

Make sure to get Blue Lightning. Also, since you're already obviously willing to fork over the extra money on a good homebrew, snag CyberVirus, it's the best post-mortem release on the system. It was a commercial game meant for release in the mid-90s, but finished and released as a homebrew, so it really has that classic Lynx feel, and really impressive graphics.