Finally, it's taken him long enough- I asked my henchman to come up with a guide for this site months ago. Anyway, here it is. If you'd much rather just have something basic to read without having to faff about with pretty but worthless pictures, then you're best to download this instead- it's basically the same thing in a nice little .txt. Also, the European version of the game was used for this guide- the Japanese version is exactly the same as far as we're aware, except for the fact that Sunsoft get their logo on the title screen, instead of just a tiny bit of text.
WRITER'S NOTE:
Hey, I finally get to use this cool lil' font for once! Anyway, two things I want to mention- first, I use the captions for something useful for once, so hover your mouse over enemy pictures to get some basic facts about them. There's never much to say about them, and I had to make the names up, but eh, it's better than nothing. Secondly, you'll notice that before each stage, I've given you the song titles from both Super Fantasy Zone and the original Fantasy Zone. I've yet to force Ed to make the YouTube videos for the music, so you'll have to wait for that...
Welcome to the Fantasy Zone, get ready.
Super Fantasy Zone is a cracking little Mega Drive game that seems to have languished into obscurity. I blame this on the fact that it was never released in the US. For once, long-suffering European gamers got a completely awesome game that, until its re-release on the Wii's Virtual Console, never set foot on American soil. Don't be too sad, America- we may have got Super Fantasy Zone and Pop'n Twinbee on the SNES the first time around, but you got Super Mario RPG, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI and, I don't know, every decent 16-bit game ever made which we missed out on, so unless you have the mindset of a crazed shoot-em-up fan like I do, you probably got the better end of the deal.
So, back to the game itself. It's the final game (so far) in the Fantasy Zone series, and once again, the adorable bug/ship wotsit Opa-Opa has to blast off and strike the evil Bydo Empire the Dark Menon forces who killed his poor dad, O-Papa and threaten to enslave his homeworld. The story's relayed to you in a horribly translated intro:
Now, the thing about Super Fantasy Zone is that it's not really that hard... As long as you know what you're doing. Some of the bosses, especially the later ones, need a specific strategy if you want to get by without losing all your lives, and guess what? There's no continues. Spending your money correctly at the shops is also really important, unless you want to try and beat the final level of the game with only the default equipment (which is perfectly possible, just not recommended) and that's what this guide's for- I talk about how to spend your money, how to beat each stage and its boss, and I've even thrown in a few cheats for those of you who want to puss out.
Just as an amusing aside before we begin, I'm actually the expert on Super Fantasy Zone because I'm the only person on the internet who's ever written a guide for it. This was the first thing I ever assaulted the internet with, and it's held a special place in my heart... Until I decided to play the game again and had to consult the very guide I wrote for help, only to realise that it sucks. Seriously, half the advice is terrible and I keep misspelling half the stage names. Consider this a replacement for the old guide.
Fight, Opa-Opa! For everlasting peace!
(Oh, yeah, click the buttons below to look at all the different pages I've made pertaining to this game. It should hopefully be obvious.)
Special Thanks
Adrian and Antoine
The best Spanish Super Fantasy Zone fans I know.
DeGgozZ
He sent me a cheat for this game. Thanks!
The Kettle
Not be a sentient being, but always keeps me sane.
