Ludography
Ozma Wars cover

1979 · SNK · Shoot 'em up · Shooter

Ozma Wars

PlayStation console exclusive

Ozma Wars is a 1979 fixed shooter arcade game, and the very first game developed and published by SNK, who were still known as "Shin Nihon Kikaku" at the time. The game is also known as the second ever vertical shoot 'em up game, after Taito's Space Invaders (which ran on the same arcade hardware), but is also additionally known as the first game with disparate "levels". The game is also notable for being the first action game to feature a supply of energy, resembling a life bar, a mechanic that has now become common in the majority of modern action games. The game allowed the player to refuel energy between each level, and it featured a large variety of alien enemies.

Released
1 December 1979
Platforms
ArcadePlayStation 3PlayStation Portable
Genres
Shoot 'em upShooter
Developers
SNK
Publishers
SNK
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Bird view / Isometric
Themes
Science fiction
Country
Japan
Age ratings
ESRB E
Languages
English

About

Ozma Wars (オズマ・ウオーズ, Ozuma Uōzu) is a 1979 fixed shooter video game developed and published by Shin Nihon Kikaku (SNK) for arcades. The moving starfield background gives the impression of vertical scrolling, but the player ship's movement is restricted to the bottom of the screen.

Keywords

  • aliens
  • shoot 'em up
  • ufo
  • spaceship
  • space battle
  • on-rails
  • playstation minis
  • vertical scrolling
  • fuel management
  • playstation tv support
  • auto-scrolling levels
  • time stopping

Media

Ozma Wars screenshot 1

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The player controls a spacecraft which must fend off UFOs, meteors, and comets. Instead of lives, the player is given an energy reserve that is constantly diminishing; getting hit by the enemy causes gameplay to stop momentarily and a large amount of energy is depleted. Every so often, a mothership will appear and dock with the player's spacecraft, allowing the energy to be refilled. There are 3–4 recognizable stages as the game progresses and new enemies begin to appear. After these, the mothership will appear, and the cycle starts over; this continues indefinitely until the energy reaches zero.

Due to the game being monochrome and a conversion kit for Space Invaders, many Ozma Wars monitors used the Space Invaders color overlay.

Legacy

There are two bootleg versions of this game called Space Phantoms and Solar Flight. In Space Phantoms the player's ship looks like an angel, and the enemies appear as different types of insects.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

Releases by platform
PlatformReleasedRegions
Arcade1 December 1979Worldwide
PlayStation Portable19 July 2011North America · Europe 7 September 2011
PlayStation 319 July 2011North America · Europe 7 September 2011

Title IDsone per regional release, with its latest update

Title ids and disc serials by release
PlatformTitle IDRegionLatest update
PlayStation 3NPEZ00271——
NPUZ00143——
PlayStation PortableNPEZ-00271Europe—
NPUZ-00143North America—

Editions and related releases

Included in
SNK 40th Anniversary Collection

Games like this

Collections2 collections

Platform libraries

Publishers

  • SNK gamesArcade platforms › Dedicated boards

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.