is a vertical

scrolling shooter Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain types of character m ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed and published by

T&E Soft T&E Soft is a brand used by two former video game development companies. The original incarnation, have made games with a wide variety of genres, they are primarily known for their action role-playing, List of golf video games, golf and puzzle ...

for the Nintendo

Game Boy The is a handheld game console developed by Nintendo, launched in the Japanese home market on April 21, 1989, followed by North America later that year and other territories from 1990 onwards. Following the success of the Game & Watch single-ga ...

exclusively in

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

on December 18, 1992.

Story

Sometime in the 21st century, humanity leaves

Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun and the only astronomical object known to Planetary habitability, harbor life. This is enabled by Earth being an ocean world, the only one in the Solar System sustaining liquid surface water. Almost all ...

for

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...

due to a legacy of

environmental pollution ''Environmental Pollution'' is a peer-reviewed academic journal covering the biological, health, and ecological effects of environmental pollution. It was established in 1980 as two parts: ''Environmental Pollution Series A: Ecological and Biologi ...

on their home planet. Nobody inhabited the Earth until a group of super-intelligent robots from another galaxy suddenly took over. They have changed the once-proud planet into something that they can inhabit on. An impromptu liberation army was set up to save the planet from the robots, who somehow got rid of the pollution on Earth.

Gameplay

The gameplay is done in a style similar to ''

Gradius is a series of shooter ( shoot'em up) video games, introduced in 1985, developed and published by Konami for a variety of portable, console and arcade platforms. In many games in the series, the player controls a ship known as the Vic Viper. ...

'' and ''

R-Type is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the ''R-Type'' series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in its efforts to destroy the Bydo, a powerful a ...

''. Players proceed through the game; shooting enemies while dodging obstacles and collecting

power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a Game mechanics, game mechanic. This is in contrast to an Item (game), item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that ca ...

s for their shooting weapons. The game uses the basic configuration for the ship's control; with one button doing the shooting. As a complex scrolling shooter, this game attempts to emulate multiple dimensions using the limitations of the Game Boy console.Basic information about ''Chikyū Kaihō Gun ZAS''
at GB no Game Seiha Shimasho The

parallax Parallax is a displacement or difference in the apparent position of an object viewed along two different sightline, lines of sight and is measured by the angle or half-angle of inclination between those two lines. Due to perspective (graphica ...

backgrounds and elaborate detailing in the sprites help to create a unique Game Boy experience; any distinctions between the scenery and the bad guys are clearly shown through different shades of the same color. A higher degree of difficulty exists in this game as opposed to most Game Boy scrolling shooters of that era. Timing is essential to clearing most stages and for defeating the end-level

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, ...

es. There are five levels in the game. While the first four levels can be freely chosen, the fifth level in the game is unlocked after finishing the first four levels. Video gaming website ''Blame the Control Pad'' praises ''Chikyū Kaihō Gun ZAS'' for its innovative gameplay along with its integrated levels and player-friendly control scheme.Game Boy roundup: Shoot'em-ups
at Blame the Control Pad

Credits

* Tadashi Nakatsuji (Director, Sub Program, Sound Effects) * M. Nagashima (Main Program) * M. Takahashi (Main Designer) * T. Ishida, S. Nishimura (Sub Designers) * Yumi Kinoshita, Shigekazu Kamaki (Music)

References

External links

''Chikyū Kaihō Gun ZAS'' (review by Chris Covell)

''Chikyū Kaihō Gun ZAS''
at

Giant Bomb ''Giant Bomb'' is an American video game website and wiki that includes personality-driven gaming videos, commentary, news and reviews, created by former ''GameSpot'' editors Jeff Gerstmann and Ryan Davis. The website was voted by ''Time (maga ...

''Chikyū Kaihō Gun ZAS''
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a video gaming website that hosts guides and other resources, as well as an active Internet forum, message board forum. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and has been owned by Fandom (website), Fandom, Inc. since October ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chikyu Kaiho Gun ZAS 1992 video games Game Boy games Game Boy-only games Japan-exclusive video games Science fiction video games Scrolling shooters Single-player video games T&E Soft games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in the 21st century

Story

Gameplay

Credits

See also

References

External links