At a time when scrolling shooters had about three frames of animation for the player ship (resting, moving up and moving down) Atlus saw fit to release a game that featured a tranforming robot/ship that had many more frames of animation. BlaZeon also gave the player slight control over some enemy ships.

A familiar story

The story is classic 16-Bit fare, a mix of Star Wars and the aforementioned innovation. The Earth launches a giant space force into the unknown reaches of the Universe for unknown reasons and when that force returns, there is something different about the ships. Seems an alien force has taken over the ships and now they are attacking their home planet. Earth can’t have this so they send up the best they can, one solitary ship (why is it always that way?) to defeat the insurmountable odds.

Powerups matter

Just being put in a crappy ship is not going to stop the good guys from winning the day. Your ship is equipped not only with a transforming option, but the capability to take out certain enemy ships and take on their shape along with weapons. This mechanic in shooters was unheard of at the time, not many have done it since either. BlaZeon has not been re-released in any format that we know of at this time. Original cart is the only way to go if you want to enjoy this home shooter. There is an arcade version that this was based on but good luck finding that unit intact.

Where to get it

Want a copy of BlaZeon for yourself? Check out eBay or Amazon and get a physical copy at a great price.

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams