Developer: KAZe Co. Publisher: Meldac Release: 09/91 Genre: Shooter
It is no exaggeration to say that Zombie Nation is one of the strangest titles on the NES. Even after all these years it is hard to believe it exists. Yet here we are. The NES is home to shooters of all stripes, from the hardcore like Gradius to cute ‘em ups like Parodius and Twin Bee. But controlling the disembodied head of a samurai is a new one. As weird as that may sound the game is actually pretty frickin dope and a technical showpiece for the system too!
In the year 1999 a meteorite crashes in the Nevada desert. The world ignores this event until an alien named Darc Seed emerges from the meteor and sends out magnetic rays that turns the population of the US into zombies. These zombies bring Darc seed various weapons, chief among them the samurai sword Shura. Once this happens the previous owner of Shura, the samurai Namakubi revives to retrieve his weapon and defeat the aliens. Or at least his floating head does. Why only his head is revived is never explained.
Zombie Nation is a horizontal shooter along the lines of Life Force. Namakubi is a bit odd for a shooter protagonist. As massive head he is a large target and he does not control as smoothly as you would like. He tends to slide a little bit after each movement but you can adjust to this easily. You have a large life bar represented by eight heads in the UI. Namakubi can take a decent number of hits before losing a single point which is apt as you can easily get lost in the chaos. The one exception to this are the frequent lasers and lightning which will bring you near death instantly.
The game is not big on supplementary weapons but that is okay as you are pretty powerful from the start. Unlike the Japanese version you begin with rapid fire rather than acquiring it later. This makes a huge difference in getting up to speed early and makes the game feel satisfying from the start. By default you fire both eyeballs (…yeah) and explosive vomit. As you destroy buildings and such occasionally humans will leap for safety. Saving (more like eating but I digress) four and eight will boost your weapons to levels two and three although you won’t notice much of a difference in appearance. Any more after that grants a bomb that is not very powerful in my opinion.
There are only four stages in Zombie Nation but each is long. The journey takes you across the United States, from New York to the American Southwest and a Texas Oil Refinery. As you float along you can destroy nearly every part of the environment. While it looks cool you also get points with every 10000 restoring some life. As you progress the freedom to wander around the screen lessens as stage hazards are introduced such as falling rocks, dense enemy waves, and tight corridors in the environment. The wanton destruction and consistent action are cool but I will admit the game’s lack of cool weapons hampers my enjoyment a bit. Luckily the general weirdness (especially the bosses) make up for it. I will say that it probably is for the best that the game is not longer; I do not think it would have held up as well otherwise.
Zombie Nation is not particularly difficult so much as it can feel cheap at times. The game is riddled with cheap hits due to your size and the number of enemies. While technically accomplished the flickering is almost as bad as Super Dodge Ball and also leads to unavoidable damage. But the worst are the seemingly random lasers that sap your health in one shot. Unless you get out in front of them beforehand they are unavoidable. Having said all that I would still say most will have little trouble seeing this to its conclusion even despite the limited continues.
For such an oddball title Zombie Nation looks great. The level of detail in the environments borders on insane at times and the game tosses around a ton of sprites. The use of the system’s limited color palette is exceptional as well. The level of destruction puts the NES version of Rampage to shame and that is not even the focus of the game. There is very little slowdown but there is a crippling amount of flickering sprites. I suppose something had to give. But otherwise for such an understated release presentation wise it is amazing.
In Closing
Zombie Nation is a good game all around and one I should have gotten to years ago. I admit the silliness of its premise kept me away and I did not expect much. But it surprised me in more ways than one. Do not let the weird premise keep you away; Zombie Nation is better than you expect.
