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Section Z for Nintendo NES
Section Z for Nintendo NES is a side-scrolling space shooter in which you infiltrate an alien base wearing a flying spacesuit. Fighting Balangool involves more than shooting: at the end of many corridors you choose between two transporters. These take you to different numbered sections, sometimes farther inside and sometimes back to an earlier point. You must discover which routes lead to the generators powering the base's red barriers.
You move freely around the screen, while A fires right and B fires left. This lets you hit pursuers without first reversing your entire route. Defeated enemies provide energy and upgrades, such as a shot that passes through enemies or a wider laser pattern. A protective shield absorbs hits. Special attacks give you extra firepower, but also require you to watch your remaining energy.
The NES adaptation contains sixty numbered sections divided into three larger parts. You need not visit every corridor, but a wrong turn can send you past familiar hazards again. You play alone using one standard NES controller. After a failed attempt you can continue within the same session, but the cartridge has no battery-backed progress storage or passwords. Knowledge of the route is therefore what you carry into your next attempt.
Region and language
Our Nintendo NES games are PAL editions, unless stated otherwise. This product contains a loose cartridge for the European market. A box is only included if explicitly stated in the product details. We note any different region in the product details. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
With Section Z for Nintendo NES, you receive a loose cartridge. A box and manual are not included unless we explicitly state otherwise in the product details. This is the standard way we supply this copy.
The history of Section Z
Capcom brought Section Z to arcades in 1985 and made a heavily altered home version in 1987. The spacesuit, alien attack and ability to fire left and right link the two games. Their areas work differently, however. The arcade game takes you through alphabetically named sections, whereas the NES adaptation uses a network of sixty numbered corridors. The cartridge is therefore not a simple copy of the original arcade route.
The home adaptation combines shooting with finding passages. Transporters connect rooms, and generators determine which barriers disappear. As a result, a short stretch of terrain can become important again on a new attempt. Capcom combined the steady advance of a scrolling shooter with a base whose connections you have to learn. The different firing directions remain assigned directly to the two action buttons, allowing you to keep responding to attacks while finding your way.
The original American packaging placed Section Z in Capcom's Captain Commando Challenge Series, an early line used to present the company's games. Captain Commando also appears in the manual's story; that does not make the NES version a two-player game. The instructions explicitly specify one player. Japan also received a Famicom Disk System release. This NES cartridge has no disk saving and should not be confused with later collections that contain the arcade version instead.
Similar games for Nintendo NES
Gradius for Nintendo NES shares Section Z's side-scrolling space battles and collectible weapon upgrades. There you build up a spaceship through a selection bar for speed, missiles and lasers, among other things. Section Z gives you a flying soldier who can shoot both ways. You also choose between transporters in a connected base. Gradius places greater emphasis on surviving a fixed sequence of routes with the armament you have carefully assembled.
Life Force on Nintendo NES likewise has you fly past enemy formations and through narrow passages with upgradeable weapons. Its route alternates horizontal and vertical shooting areas and can be tackled by two players simultaneously, each using a standard controller. Section Z remains a solo adventure with firing to the left and right. The main difference is the route: Life Force takes you through successive areas, whereas Section Z has you work out which transporters make the necessary generators accessible.
Metroid for Nintendo NES resembles Section Z through its alien corridors, recurring junctions and emphasis on learning the route. Samus, however, runs and jumps through a world in which discovered equipment opens new passages. Section Z lets you fly freely within scrolling shooting sections and uses generators and transporters to connect the base. Metroid gives you passwords for a later session; in Section Z you must start again after switching off, helped by your memory of the route.
Contra on Nintendo NES, like Section Z, demands that you read enemy fire and make use of stronger weapons. Your soldier moves across platforms, can lie down and fires in different directions; some areas show the base from another perspective. Section Z keeps you airborne and assigns left and right firing to two buttons. Contra offers simultaneous play with two controllers, whereas Section Z leaves you to understand the space base's connections alone.
Mega Man 2 for Nintendo NES also combines shooting with choosing a route and finding a useful weapon against a difficult opponent. There, the choice mainly occurs on the Robot Master screen: defeating one earns you a new weapon. Section Z has you choose transporters while flying and collect upgrades along the way. Rather than exploring jumping courses like Mega Man, you navigate a network of shooting corridors that can keep taking you to different sections.
