Zanac

In Zanac, the player controls the spaceship AFX-6502 Zanac as it flies through various planets, space stations, and outer space and through an armada of enemies comprising the defenses of the game's main antagonist—the "System". The player must fight through twelve levels and destroy the System and its defenses. The objective is to shoot down enemies and projectiles and accumulate points. Players start with three lives, and they lose a life if they get hit by an enemy or projectile.

After losing a life, gameplay continues with the player reappearing on the screen and losing all previously accumulated power-ups; the player remains temporarily invincible for a moment upon reappearing on the screen. The game ends when all the player's lives have been lost or after completing the twelfth and final area. However, the player can earn 1-ups (extra lives) throughout the game by accumulating high point scores. Zanac has a continue option which allows players to restart the game from the level in which they lost all their lives.

The plot of Zanac revolves around the "System"—a device figuratively similar to Pandora's box. The System was created millennia ago by an unknown alien race. It contains boundless wisdom and knowledge, as well as vast destructive potential. If properly opened it would grant access to untold wisdom and technology, but if improperly accessed it would unleash almost unlimited destruction.

Mankind attempted to access the System and failed, causing the System to spread throughout space and to exert mass destruction on all forms of life, including the human race. Mankind then discovered how to properly access the knowledge and technology within the System, but could not shut its destructive expansion down because of its vast tactical systems.

Zanac, in retrospect, has been considered a unique shoot 'em up game, combining gameplay elements from games such as Xevious, especially with the extensive power-up system and vertical-scrolling gameplay that features both air and ground targets. Brett Alan Weiss of Allgame praised Zanac, calling it an extremely fast-paced shooter in which the player is almost completely surrounded by enemy ships and bullets. He praises the game for its music which seems to flow along with the action of the game; he calls the music "at least as close as you can get to a Zen moment while playing a shooting game on the NES". Frank Provo of GameSpot lauded Zanac for its difficulty level, its ability to handle many sprites on the screen without slowdown or other glitches, and its unique AI, which placed this game in a subgenre of its own.

However, criticisms include mediocre and primitive music and sound, a steep learning curve in gameplay and difficulty level, and poor translation in the game itself and in the game's instruction manual. In addition, Weiss says that enemies in Zanac, while fearsome, "don't have much personality".