Game:

Fantasy Zone (1986)

Duration: 11:18

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Magical Zone is an old commercial doujin game by the now-popular doujin circle, Daisessen, made back in 2002. Known for titles like "Nayukanoid -Final-", "MMT", "Lethal Crisis", and their latest dabbling within the Touhouverse with games like "Suika VS Mecha Suika", some of their oldest titles have fallen into obscurity. Magical Zone is one of their earliest titles which I purchased for a modest fee (340 yen, it released at 500 yen). It combines the love affair Japan and independent groups have relating to "Kanon" with the addictive and nostalgic properties of Sega's "Fantasy Zone" and Hudson's "Caravan Shooting Events", with a few original aspects. You can also see where Daisessen got some of their visual effects and sounds from, as some would be used in later titles like MMT.

Starring Sayuri Kurata (apparently a fan-favorite as she's also in her own doujin series, "Sayurin's Magical Quest"), you fly around blasting things and other characters from Kanon for no apparent reason. I suppose it can be forgiven since Fantasy Zone never had a story worth writing books about, but considering the game uses characters that you probably "could" write books about, a little interaction would've been nice. If you've ever played a Fantasy Zone title, you generally know what to expect here. You fly around destroying all the designated targets while contending with lesser foes. Once they are destroyed, you confront a boss. At various intervals, you can enter shops with money you've earned to buy upgrades.

Magical Zone differs from Fantasy Zone for a few reasons. For one, the game is certainly manic in a bullet-hell fashion; this game has more firepower than Fantasy Zone will likely ever have. Secondly, you get "Spell Cards" in place of air-to-ground bombs, which have a variety of effects from producing a brief damaging barrier around you to shooting a charged shot to even locking on to foes like Raystorm to unleash volleys of powerful energy. In addition to attacking with these powers, you can strategically use them to destroy certain bullets. Next, powers are infinite unlike FZ's temporary weapons. The game also has more shop items and ability upgrades such as being able to charge your spell attacks faster or use your special "Little Storm" ability (with the shot and spell button, 30 cost) to destroy everything but the most discerning barricades near your vicinity.

However, the game does not expect you to be so godly as to dodge everything in sight... this would be hard enough in a normal danmaku, but even harder in a Fantasy-Zone type shooter with its strange screen scrolling and restricted movement. Daisessen added the feature to rebound from shots like in Namco's "Sky Kid". The more you get shot, the harder it is to recover. Naturally, the higher you are from objects you can crash into, the more likely you are to pull off a safe recovery. The game's 2-Minute and 5-Minute Score Attacks have you blasting crazy waves of enemies and you can gather money by charging spell attacks. There are also special items like a new dress (which she'll actually wear temporarily) which increase your firepower. It's a fun little mini-addition. The graphics and effects are bright, colorful, and clean. The music is a combination of music from Fantasy Zone and music from Kanon works. It runs around 30FPS. This is a video of the game in action with a showing of the 2-min mode as well. You can get the game at:

Magical Zone (2D Horizontal SHMUP) (12/05/2012)
http://www.mediafire.com/?zvjlttpzshmct9x

Enjoy.