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Super Dropzone: Intergalactic Rescue Mission for PlayStation 1
Super Dropzone: Intergalactic Rescue Mission for PlayStation 1 is a two-dimensional space shooter in which you fly a jetpack above alien landscapes. You protect people on Jupiter's moons as waves of enemies invade the area. You use your weapon to eliminate attackers and return threatened people to the landing pad. You can move left and right freely, repeatedly returning to places where someone needs help.
Rescue work and shooting demand attention at the same time. A route to someone left behind may take you through fresh enemy fire, while a detour costs time. Bombs give you an additional attack alongside normal shooting. Successive waves bring different enemies and larger opponents. At the end of the moon, a guardian awaits with a vulnerable spot that is not always exposed. You need to follow its movements and choose the right moment to attack.
You play this original PlayStation release with one player using the directional buttons of a standard controller. Shooting, bombs and special tools have separate buttons, so you can keep flying while attacking. The screen shows the environment from the side, with drawn characters and backgrounds. The challenge is maintaining altitude, turning quickly and delivering people safely while enemies are still flying around. It is an arcade game in which repeated attempts teach you which threat needs attention first.
Region and language
Our PlayStation 1 games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
The manual is missing from this copy of Super Dropzone: Intergalactic Rescue Mission for PlayStation 1. That is why the product title says “No Manual”. You receive the game in its box, without the instruction booklet. This makes the contents clear before you order.
The original printed manual usually contains at least English and often around six European languages. The languages vary by edition; Dutch is not always included. This information describes the original booklet and does not mean that it comes with this copy. A copy with a manual is offered separately when available.
The history of Super Dropzone: Intergalactic Rescue Mission
Super Dropzone's origins lie in Dropzone, which programmer Archer Maclean made for Atari computers in the 1980s. The game built on the idea of a horizontal shooting world where people are threatened by alien attackers. Maclean gave the player a character with a jetpack instead of a traditional spacecraft. Rescue flights consequently became a regular part of the game's rhythm, alongside dodging projectiles and fighting waves of enemies.
Super Dropzone expanded that premise with several locations and larger bosses, and had appeared earlier on Super Nintendo. Ignition Entertainment released the PlayStation edition in 2003, when the PlayStation 2 was already available. The credits for this console adaptation name Jim Bagley and Adrian Scotney as programmers. Archer Maclean is credited for the original design, original code and original sound. Steve Cowell provided the music and sound effects for this release.
That background explains why Super Dropzone remained a two-dimensional arcade game on PlayStation. Moving to a CD-based console did not turn the basic idea of flying, shooting and bringing people back into a three-dimensional adventure. The moon landscapes and their guardians give longer-term objectives to the short enemy waves. Within the late PlayStation catalogue, this release thus sits alongside reissues and adaptations of older game concepts. The original rescue task remains recognisable, even when new opponents force you to choose different flight paths and attack timings.
Similar games for PlayStation 1
Williams Arcade's Greatest Hits on PlayStation includes Defender and Defender II. Those shooters share Super Dropzone's flying in both directions and protecting people against alien attackers. You control a spacecraft above a simply drawn landscape. Super Dropzone uses a human with a jetpack, different enemies and moon guardians as larger encounters. The compilation also contains several separate arcade games, whereas Super Dropzone builds its entire game around rescue flights.
R-Type Delta shares Super Dropzone's side view, varied weapons and bosses. Its ship flies through predesigned routes as the environment scrolls onward. The Force, which you can attach to the ship or release, determines much of your attack and defence. In Super Dropzone, you decide when to fly back to pick someone up. Rescuing and delivering people therefore gives you an additional reason to change position.
G-Darius likewise has you fight alien machines from the side and ends areas with large bosses. You use capture balls to take over enemies and turn them into support weapons. Branching routes change which areas you visit next. Super Dropzone centres on a jetpack character flying back and forth above a moon landscape. You also move around to pick up threatened people and return them to a fixed safe place.
The Raiden Project combines Raiden and Raiden II and shares enemy waves, projectile dodging and bombs with Super Dropzone. It looks down on aircraft travelling through vertically scrolling areas. You collect weapon upgrades and choose between different shots and missiles. Super Dropzone lets the player turn back horizontally and combines attacks with transporting people. Rescue work can therefore require a different route from the safest line past enemy fire.
Soviet Strike shares rescuing threatened people and shooting enemies with Super Dropzone. You pilot a helicopter above a three-dimensional war zone and monitor fuel and damage as well as ammunition. Objectives include destroying targets and evacuating people. Super Dropzone uses a side view and a jetpack above alien moons. Its constant enemy waves make rescue flights more a part of an ongoing arcade challenge than of a military mission map.
