I knew coming in that everyone considers Air Zonk to be better than this CD follow-up, so I was prepared for something inferior, but what really came as a shock was the drastic decline in the quality of the graphics. AZ looks SO much better than this. Only one brief stretch of backdrop in Stage 6 even comes close to looking impressive here; the rest of the game is incredibly flat and not even very colorful. The CD soundtrack is awful at times, and even during its best moments, it can't touch the sweetest tunes from its predecessor. And the action just sort of lollygags along with plenty of dead space, especially during the first three stages. If you're a decent shooter player, don't be surprised if you one-credit this the very first time you play it, with plenty of lives to spare.
It's a shame that the graphics, music, and action took such hits, because there are some ideas that went into this game that I really like. The new charge attack, which surrounds your avatar with a ring of bombs, is quite handy and enjoyable to use. Allies come under attack and make funny pleas for help before teaming up with you (and perform admirably in the stages they appear in). Said allies can be deployed as options at any time. A couple of tunes (particularly the TV Stage theme) are indeed nice. Developing new attack abilities through the "level-up" system can be fun, and collecting smileys is a blast. And the game actually seems a little less sloppy than Air Zonk (partly because you can really get into a rhythm with your charge attack... but also because there usually isn't all that much onscreen that actually threatens to hit you).
The bad stuff is more obvious off the bat, and I didn't like the game at all at first, but it grew on me a little thanks to the aforementioned good stuff. Most people will still consider Air Zonk a much better game. And this definitely isn't something you want to spend big bucks on, so you'll probably want to go with the JPN version unless you absolutely MUST have every US release that's out there.
Almost the entire game feels way too laid back for a shooter; and while not all of the backdrops are unattractive, most of them are disappointingly flat and simple.
There's actually a lot going on in the Stage 6 background. Unfortunately, this activity isn't evident in the screenshot, and there's still hardly anything happening in the foreground, which is kinda the important part.
Mmhuh. Statues are nice and all, but this guy would probably be even more "revered" if he had put together a respectable army. He certainly doesn't intimidate anyone on his own...
...at least not when he dresses like this.
You can still team up with buddies to evolve into cool new forms, and mini-Zonk makes his triumphant return.
While most of the bosses here are tame compared to the cool, crazy Air Zonk giants, some of 'em can hold their own.
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