Arcade Archives: Zing Zing Zip (PS4|5 - Switch)

[Sturmvogel Prime]

DANGER ZONE (PART LI)
ALLUMER'S TOON SQUADRON

The "Danger Zone" series of reviews so far
DANGER ZONE VOL. I

Spoiler

I: REVVIN' UP YOUR ENGINE, LISTENIN' TO HER HOWLIN' ROARING - (E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force)
II: IS THIS YOUR IDEA OF FUN, MAV? - (Binarystar Infinity)
III: PLAYING WITH THE (ARCADE ARCHIVES) BOYS - (Arcade Archives: Thunder Dragon 2)
IV: THAT'S RIGHT! ICE...MAN. I AM DANGEROUS (SEED) - (Arcade Archives: Dangerous Seed)
V: THE ELITE. BEST OF THE BEST. WE'LL MAKE YOU BETTER. - (Super E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force)
VI: GONNA TAKE YOU RIGHT INTO THE DANGER ZONE - (Star Hunter DX)
VII: IT TAKES MORE THAN JUST FANCY FLYING - (Earth Defense Force 4.1: Wing Diver The Shooter)
VIII: INSTRUMENTS OF DESTRUCTION - (Devastator by Radiangames)
IX: ¿WHO'S AFRAID OF THE BIG BAD TUBES? - (Arcade Archives: Tube Panic)
X: SWIMMIN' IN THE FLOODS, DANCIN' ON THE CLOUDS BELOW. I AIN'T WORRIED 'BOUT IT - (Arcade Archives: Fighting Hawk)
XI: PULLING A RABBIT OUT OF THE HAT - (Arcade Archives: Rabio Lepus)
XII: WINGS OF SILVER, NERVES OF STEEL - (Arcade Archives: Darius)
XIII: FULL SCALE ASSAULT - (Arcade Archives: Assault)
XIV: WE'RE GONNA NEED A DIFFERENT KIND OF BUGSPRAY - (Arcade Archives: Gaplus)
XV: DOWN THE ALIEN SECTOR - (Arcade Archives: Baraduke)
XVI: WHEN YOU'RE DRAWN TO THE GROUND BY THE DRAGONS - (Arcade Archives: Dragon Spirit)
XVII: SOME RETICENT GODDESS PUT THE CHILDREN TO SLEEP - (Arcade Archives: Metal Black)
XVIII: I SHOT THE WILD LIZARDS - (Arcade Archives: Gun Frontier)
XIX: HOW WE GONNA GET THIS MUSEUM PIECE IN THE AIR? - (Arcade Archives: Galaxian)
XX: SHATTERED KAWAII SKIES - (Arcade Archives: Ordyne)
XXI: ENTER THE DRAGON (SABER) - (Arcade Archives: Dragon Saber)
XXII: SEEMS LIKE WE'RE NOT THE ONLY ONES HOLDING ON TO OLD RELICS - (Arcade Archives: Galaga)
XXIII: OLD WARBIRDS, RETRO ARCADE ACTION - (Arcade Archives: USAAF Mustang)
XXIV: ARCADE STYLED HELICOPTER BATTLEFIELD - (Arcade Archives: Metal Hawk)
XXV: CLASH OF THE GODS - (Arcade Archives: Phelios)
XXVI: BACK IN (METAL) BLACK - (Metal Black S-Tribute)
XXVII: NAMCO'S TAKE ON THE NBA - (Arcade Archives: Grobda)
XXVIII: DOUJIN SHMUPPING "GM" STYLE - (Graze Counter GM)
XXIX: MIXED AND REMIXED - (Raiden IV x Mikado Remix)
XXX: EXPLICIT DIFFICULTY - (Arcade Archives: Gradius III)

DANGER ZONE VOL. II

Spoiler

XXXI: HAVING THE EARTH IN MY SIGHTS - (Layer Section & Galactic Attack S-Tribute)
XXXII: FAST, FURIOUS AND DANGEROUS - (Arcade Archives: Turbo Force)
XXXIII: CHORUS AND CHORES - (Chorus)
XXXIV: SAVE THE SUN - (Sol Cresta)
XXXV: NAMCO WHISPERS IN OUR EARS AND SAYS THAT "YOU ARE IN NAVARONE" - (Arcade Archives: Navarone)
XXXVI: A SHORT (ASTEROID) BREAK TIME - (Space Scavengers by Xitilon)
XXXVII: GIVE ME A "REZON" TO HOLD ON TO WHAT WE'VE GOT - (Arcade Archives: Rezon)
XXXVIII: A COSMIC TROUBLESOME GANG - (Arcade Archives: Cosmo Gang The Video)
XXXIX: WHAT'S THE PLAN? SAVE THE MOON, SAVE EARTH - (Arcade Archives: Moon Cresta)
XL: A HERO FOR THE EARTH - (Arcade Archives: Terra Cresta)
XLI: BACK TO THE '88 - (Arcade Archives: Galaga '88)
XLII: SUPER ROBOT SMASH - (Arcade Archives: Mazinger Z)
XLIII: FREEDOM FIGHTERS OF THE FUTURE - (Arcade Archives: Thunder Dragon)
XLIV: HAMSTER SAID "IT'S SHARK WEEK ON ARCADE ARCHIVES" - (Arcade Archives: Mad Shark)
XLV: MESSED UP NETWORK - (RayCrisis)
XLVI: AN INC-RAY-DIBLE COLLECTION - (Ray'z Arcade Chronology)
XLVII: AN INC-RAY-DIBLE COLLECTION II - (RayStorm x RayCrisis HD Collection)
XLVIII: 99 NAMCO BALLOONS GO BY (Arcade Archives: King & Balloon)
XLIX: ATTACK ON BOSCONIAN - (Arcade Archives: Bosconian)
L: MIXED AND REMIXED II - (Raiden III x Mikado Maniax)

With Allumer as part of Hamster's catalog of owned dead companies, it was only a matter of time to see the games "that time forgot" on Arcade Archives.
This time is the obscure shmup Zing Zing Zip.




This ain't your Capcom shmup clone.

While at first it resembles a clone and mixture of Raiden with 1941: Counter Attack, Zing Zing Zip borrows some features of both games, but mostly from Raiden, as we have a selectable weapon and missile feature. Your main weapon is the Vulcan (Yellow) which is your spread gun with basic strength but capable of taking down any enemy within its wide range of fire. Then there's the Laser (Blue) which is both the power type and armor piercing as it passes through enemies. While these "Basic Twos" already sound like Raiden, the game adds an original third weapon: Flame Shot, a frotal volley of fireballs that swing as the plane moves. The missile variety is also the same as in Raiden with the standard Missile (Pink) which goes full frontal and is powerful for use as backup for the Vulcan, the Homing (Green) that locks on multiple targets, you're granted a third type; the Cross Missile (Blue) which fires four missiles in diagonal paths. A couple of new weapons are not the difference alright, so this game has a new gameplay element that changes the "Another Raiden clone" impression: Invincibility Roll. Unlike Vapor Trail where the Roll had its own button and a rechargeable energy bar, the rolling is triggered by the player's movement. To do that you have to move to either left or right until your plane completes it's "Banking" animation, then you have to move to the opposite direction the plane's baking (Example: Left to right) and then your plane will roll, becoming invincible during the animation and briefly stronger granting you two strong shots or a strong laser fire, depending on which weapon you're using. Keep in mind, reaching the "edge" of the screen will halt the plane's banking animation, making you vulnerable. You can also do the roll trick diagonally, but you have to keep one essential thing in mind while doing this: Player 1's plane has fast vertical movement while Player 2's is fast moving horizontally. Mastering this is required in this game as there will be plenty of times where the screen will saturate you with enemies that will either require a bomb to clear the screen or shoot one of the enemies to avoid the danger (Example of this is the V2 Missiles in Stage 2). Also, you'll be rolling during boss fights as they are quite bullet hellish. While in Raiden and its many clones there's the medal system than grant you bonus points for the total accumulated throughout the stage, Zing Zing Zip gives you US Navy emblems that you can pick and they'll increase their value until reaching 1000 points. Curiously, if you blast a bomb in the stage clear screen the game will drop emblems. Quite an odd hidden bonus, but a boost in the player's score is always well received.




You're not here for a tropical vacation.
You are here to fight and destroy the enemy.

Like all of Allumer's titles, Zing Zing Zip was destined to be left as an obscurity for arcade operators who were looking for cheap kits to start their business. Thus, Zing Zing Zip met the same luck as Mad Shark: Never being homeported to the arcade-conversion hungry consoles: The Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. Those two were converting arcade game after arcade game with faithful precision back in '92 with brilliant results, especially the SNES with U.N. Squadron, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Gradius III, Cosmo Gang The Video and Super E.D.F.: Earth Defense Force. I'm sure the SNES would had done a decent port since the gameplay and graphics would be easy to recreate depending on who made the port (A hard-learned lesson with Raiden Trad when Seibu dediced to give the game to Micronet/Micronics). Homeporting Zing Zing Zip had to wait 31 years until Hamster released it as part of Arcade Archives.

Graphically, it looks very impressive and Neo-Geo esque, which is an accomplishment for Allumer's standards, even more than those of Mad Shark. With fast paced scrolling screens which while most of the time are the classic sprite-art styled scenery, all of a sudden became digitized backgrounds like the boss background in Stage 1 or the city in Stage 7, the spinning of the missiles in Stage 2 is worth to mention as they make the sprite animation look more CGI-ish, and the best visual effect has to be the faces on the "reactor" of the final boss. Having those visual effects in 1992, and mostly in a "low budget" shmup from a do-it-cheap company like Allumer is indeed a surprise because you weren't expecting such surprising results in that kind of games.
Zing Zing Zip borrows the classic themes of military and World War II, but in a more "Alternate Earth" style as it takes liberties on the massive vessels your planes are pitted against, and so the weapons you're using like lasers, homing missiles and nukes. For a Japan only game, the players planes are American: Mustang and Corsair, contrasting with the more Japanese Zero or Shinden. The enemies are obviously using German machinery the majority of the time until the heavy machinery appears with original designs that look a little more modern than the whole cast of the game. Speaking of characters, the pilots and operator designs are much closer to the style of the American cartoons. This cartoon style is also an influence in some of the visual effects like the enemy explosions that are followed by a "Bomb!!" onomatopeia as if they're part of the 66's Batman show.




The unnamed pilots of the Klasky-Csupo Air Force.

While the graphics are quite good even for Allumer's standards, the sound department fails again like in Rezon as it is composed by a constant loop of a few seconds sized guitar riffs in an attempt to be Vapor Trail-ish. It is a shame since the riffs are quite incredible, especially those of Stages 2, 4 and 6, but the boss theme is once again the major offender as we have what it sounds like a boss introduction theme more than a battle theme. But what really impresses is with the voice dialogues as they break with the seriousness of the game's themes with things like "Oh, yeah!" "I'm a hero" a Mario-esque "Yahooo!", a Fat Albert-ish "Hey hey hey" and the bomb related "Jelly Bean" gibberish with the whole purpose of making the game sound cool (predating NMK's Thunder Dragon 2/Big Bang: Power Shooting). The continue screen has a pitched "Oh my God!" played when the count drops a number. For an Allumer game, the sound quality is quite redbook/CD like as we can clearly distinguish the guitar and percussions on the music along with the clarity of some of the voices.


ZING ZING ZIPPED CURIOSITIES

- Fourth Allumer title in the Arcade Archives series.
- The Arcade Archives release is the first and only home port of the game.
- Like Mad Shark, this game was made by the former Seibu Kaihatsu programmer Kanazawa during his freelance time.
- Zing Zing Zip, Mad Shark and Magical Speed used the same Seta 1st Generation hardware.
- The concept of Slow Horizontal-Fast Vertical/Fast Vertical-Slow Horizontal was used on Aero Fighters Special/Sonic Wings Limited on the F-14's swing wing mechanism.
- The Flame weapon's swing feature was retaken in MOSS' shmup Raiden V as the Swing Vulcan.




Just playing another shmup obscurity from Hamster.

Allumer brought us an experimental twist to the formula of both Raiden and Capcom's 1941 with the rolling gameplay mechanic increasing the fun factor, but for newcomers, it will require some practice and trial-and-error to have fun with Zing Zing Zip 'cos it doesn't play like any other 194X clone.



You know you're playing a good game when the "Eda Scale" is on the positives.