Section Z

About Section Z

Section Z (1985) is Capcom's arcade shooter in which a jetpack-equipped astronaut fights through 26 alphabetical sections of an alien space station, later reworked into a non-linear NES maze.

Section Z in Depth

In the third millennium, an astronaut is sent to infiltrate and destroy a space station orbiting near Earth that is secretly the base of the Balangool alien empire. In the arcade version the station is 26 corridors, or sections, from Section A to Section Z, grouped into five stages of five sections, with six in the last to fit the extra letter. Stages alternate between horizontal scrolling and upward vertical scrolling, each ends with a boss, and the final battle is against the L Brain at Section Z. One hit costs a life, extra lives come from score, and a continue is offered.

An eight-way joystick moves the astronaut, one button fires his rifle left or right while also dropping bombs, and the other turns him around, so he can shoot one way while retreating the other. Destroying dome-shaped containers releases S for speed and P for firepower, each upgradable three times and lost with a life, and B for bonus points. The 1987 NES version changed the design: three stages of 20 numbered sections each, where most sections end with a choice of two transporters, some leading back and some deadly until a condition is met. In each stage two power generators must be destroyed to open the final section and its boss, and one button now fires each way.

Making Section Z

Capcom developed and released it in arcades in 1985 and published a home version for the NES in North America and Europe in 1987, altering its level design and controls. Hardcore Gaming 101's Federico Tiraboschi noted that, as in Baraduke, players control a free-roaming spaceman with a jetpack crossing sectors that scroll both horizontally and vertically, though without Baraduke's gravity and recoil. IGN wrote of the NES version that it "was unique, novel and also pretty confusing. But mastery of navigation in Section Z was a true badge of honor to hold in the NES age". The arcade game was later re-released on PlayStation 2, Xbox, PSP, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 compilations.