Zanac A.I.

The game is a blast to play, and there's no sign of slowdown even when dozens of objects fill the screen. Zanac's background graphics are attractive renderings of planet surfaces and space stations, and the high-energy soundtrack will really get the blood pumping. With little fanfare, Zanac's gameplay achieves that perfect balance few other shooters can match.

It truly baffles me that Zanac is as obscure as it is. In the years of evolution in the shooter genre since Zanac is released, nobody has quite managed to top it for sheer twitch value (Space Megaforce, Raiden II, Gun*Nac, and a few others came close, however). That, combined with the AI (an innovation that this reviewer would like to see more of), deep weapon system, and dead-on control make Zanac a true game for the ages. No red-blooded NES gamer should be without this one; if you are, go seek it out immediately. Kill if you must.

Zanac may not be the most difficult shooter ever. I even hesitate to say it's the most difficult on the NES (crappy games like Alpha Mission notwithstanding). But it is very challenging, engaging, and exhausting. I have seen many gamers talk about how difficult Zanac is, but it's certainly not impossible to master. Although I tend to have a love-hate relationship with it, I can't deny that it's a masterpiece on both a technical and artistic level.

Zanac will please hardcore shooter fans but will alienate beginners and those looking for a pleasant gaming experience. If you've think you are gamer enough to give it a shot, be my guest.

They didn't make many good vertical scrolling shoot-'em-up games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, but one of the best was Zanac. Originally published for the NES in 1987, Zanac is an exciting space shooter that broke new ground in the genre with its rich weapon options and adaptive difficulty that makes more enemies appear depending on how you play the game. The busy graphics seemed pretty extravagant back then too. Now, this classic shooter is available for the Wii's Virtual Console at a cost of 500 Wii points, and while the competition for shooters on the VC is about as stiff as stiff gets, Zanac still manages to stand out.