Title: Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 Released: 1995 Genre: Shooter Developer: Sega  Publisher: Sega  Regions: USA, UK, Japan Availability: Uncommon

Also know as Motherbase in the U.K. Also known as Parasquad in Japan.

A 32x exclusive. We here at the 32x Memorial have always been suckers for beautiful graphics. We admit this fact freely and without shame or embarrassment. We are not the only individuals swayed by bright colors, sharp resolution, and carefully rendered background details... just look at the bulk of today's games! With each successive platform generation, we get a few steps closer to true photorealistic graphics, a few texture mapped polygons cloer to a true rendered 3-D world. In a few more years, we'll be able to purchase consumer hardware with the capability to display video-quality graphics, all rendered in real-time. Regrettably, gameplay oftentimes takes a back seat to graphical presentation, and that, as we all know, is generally not a good thing. It seems that many "hardcore" game players actually prefer the archaic 8-bit games of old simply because the programmers were so limited by the hardware that they worked hard to make the gameplay compensate for the visual shortcomings. But we digress... this is a review of Zaxxon’s Motherbase 2000, not an editorial on the state of consumer entertainment software.

As we said, we have always been impressed by pretty graphics. Our all-time favorite game of the early 80’s has got to be Zaxxon, in all its graphical splendor. Most of us can remember the first time we saw it- the funky jet aircraft joystick, the trigger button, the super-cool pseudo 3-D graphics. Zaxxon set a new standard in arcade game excellance, and its name is legendary. Too bad Sega saw fit to tarnish, soil, and otherwise desecrate the fine Zaxxon name with this truly awful update.

Sega’s Zaxxon originally appeared in arcades back in 1981 and caused quite a stir. Never before had graphics been so realistic and beautiful... the thing was in 3-D! Well, not really 3-D, but as close as you could come to 3-D back in the early 80’s. The original Zaxxon is a shooting game set in space, viewed in a ¾ isometric perspective. Your mission is to fly low over an enemy base mounted on an asteroid in space. Your ship can move up and down as well as left to right. You must dodge obstacles, destroy enemy targets, and shoot fuel tanks in order to continue. You must also exchange fire with enemy craft in deep space, away from the confines of the asteroid base. If you are successful in your mission, you will come face to face with a flying robot, one of the first “boss” characters ever encountered in a videogame. A sequel, imaginatively titled Super Zaxxon, appeared in 1982 and featured enhanced graphics and gameplay, as well as a new boss in the form of a dragon. As far as we know, there has never been another Zaxxon arcade game.

Zaxxon had a rather limited run in the home console market, considering its popularity. Coleco released a very good version for its fledgling Colecovision system, as well as terrible conversions for the Atari 2600 and Intellivision. (Coleco had a nasty habit of producing excellent versions of licensed arcade games for its own Colecovision game system, then releasing obviously inferior translations for the competing consoles. Mattel became so incensed at Coleco’s refusal to utilize the power of the Intellivision that it engineered the later Intellivision II not the recognize Coleco game cartridges.) Sega itself programmed and released its own version of Zaxxon for the Atari 5200. The 5200 conversion is generally seen as the best of the home versions, and is one of the rarest and most sought-after games for that system. A few years later, Sega again produced another Zaxxon, this time in the form of Zaxxon 3-D for their Master System. Sega came up with an interesting peripheral for their Master System; a pair of plastic glasses that could produce an impressive 3-D effect. Unlike the flimsy red lens/blue lens paper glasses used for some bad 3-D games and cheesy movies, Sega’s 3-D glasses actually worked very well. They operated by rapidly opening and closing a set of shutters, fooling the human eye and producing a 3-D effect for games that were programmed to utilize the technology. They were constructed of heavy plastic and could be worn comfortably for long periods, even by us nerds who wore normal glasses. Zaxxon 3-D changed the perspective to behind the ship, with the walls, enemies, and enemy fire coming straight at you. Zaxxon 3-D is considered by many to be one of the better games for the SMS, and the best of the 3-D games.

Fast-forward to 1995. Sega has produced a shooting game with a ¾ isometric perspective for its fledgling 32x console, tentatively titled Motherbase. Rather than take a chance with this new name with no recognition factor, Sega chose to name their new shooter after one of their most famous and most popular arcade games of yesteryear. Tacking on the Zaxxon moniker caused a stir of consumer interest, especially among those of us who remembered the arcade original. We would be severely disappointed at the finished product.

Graphically, Zaxxon’s Motherbase is a decidedly mixed bag. The lovely ¾ isometric perspective is mostly intact, played from left to right. A good portion of the graphics are very pretty... Sega chose to use prerendered graphics for many of the backgrounds, and the results are fairly impressive. Unfortunately, the rendered backgrounds are not interactive and cannot be destroyed or altered in any way. The rest of the graphics, including your ship, the enemy craft, and some of the environmental hardware are all comprised of flat, untextured polygonal models. Like the original, levels alternate between ground-based missions and space combat. The original Zaxxon only gave you one kind of ship, armed with a single gun that could not be upgraded. The update again gives you a tiny ship with a pitiful energy weapon, but you also have the option of choosing larger ships that are less maneuverable but take more damage and feature more powerful weaponry. You also have the admittedly cool ability to disable enemy craft, and then hijack the ship for a short time, gaining the enemy's increased horsepower. Learning to disable and capture enemy ships is vital to your survival, and you won't get very far without this skill. In an interesting twist, the design of the enemies has changed from stock spaceship-type craft to mechanical craft based on various insects. Some of the boss characters are visually arresting and well designed, but the bulk of the enemy ships you will encounter are drab and boring.

The largely disposable soundtrack consists of mediocre keyboard riffs and a standard assortment of shooter sound effects, neither memorable nor intrusive. The original arcade game wasn't known for its stellar soundtrack, but it's been nearly 20 years. Show some improvement, already!

The game controls well enough with the standard Genesis gamepad, and many after market controllers are still readily available, including a few that are similar in design to the aircraft-style joystick of the arcade original. Unfortunately, Sega choose to send the difficulty level through the roof. Much like the graphically similar NeoGeo arcade game Viewpoint (a game that also appeared on the SNES and Genesis),  Zaxxon's Motherbase is nearly impossible to complete. We're all for longevity and challenging gameplay, but this title simply takes to concept too far. Casual gamers will will frustrated by the huge leaning curve, and shooter fanatics will be free to marvel at the games numerous shortcomings.

In the end, Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 is nothing more than a mediocre shooter with dubious ties to a classic Sega arcade game. Since early box designs strongly suggest that Motherbase was the game's original name, it seems safe to assume that the Zaxxon name was used in an attempt to give this tepid release a bit of pedigree and panache. Many 32x owners bought into it... several of us can remember being excited about this game's debut.

As with any game, there are going to be people who disagree with the opinions of the majority. Like Knuckles Chaotix, Zaxxon's Motherbase 2000 has a surprising number of fans who feel that it's a fun and interesting game. Accomplished shooter veterans will challenged by the difficulty level, and some of the later levels do have a certain amount of visual appeal. Pick this game up if you can find it at a good price (it's not difficult); you may be one of the minority who actually enjoy it. The rest of us will stick to Kolibri or Shadow Squadron.
 
 

Coleco's terrible conversion of Zaxxon for the Atari 2600 was one of many substandard ports that Coleco released for its competitor's consoles. The ¾ perspective has been replaced with an overhead view that changes the look and the feel of the game completely, and not for the better.
 
 
 

It appears that Coleco choose not to utilize the graphical power of the Intellivision, probably in an effort to make its competitor's hardware look inferior to the Colecovision (it's true that the Intellivision is less powerful than the Coleco console, but it's capable of much more than this trash.) Features the same crappy overhead perspective of the 2600 port.
 
 

The Colecovision's claim to fame was its arcade ports, and Zaxxon looks and plays remarkably like the arcade original. Zaxxon was one of Coleco's biggest arcade licenses, aside from the Donkey Kong games.
 
 
 
 

Sega released several carts based on their own games, including an excellent port of Zaxxon for the Atari 5200. Arguably the best of all the home conversions, Zaxxon is one of the most difficult to find 5200 games, and its box is especially elusive.
 
 
 

Coleco produced several endearing tabletop games that were styled to look like tiny arcade cabinets, including a tiny Zaxxon. The gameplay and graphics are extremely primitive, but the appeal of the miniatures cannot be denied.