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Vulpine's Zanac FAQ
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version: 0.6.1
Table of Contents
* Introduction
* Copyright Information
* Controls and Weaponry
o Conventional Weapons
. BOX Roulette
o Special Weapons
o The Eraser
o The Fairy
* A Zanac Bestiary
o Ground Targets
o Aerial Targets
o Capital Ships
* Tips, Tricks, and Techniques
o Aggression Levels
o Base Destruction 101
o Easter Eggs
* Walkthrough
o Level 1
o Level 2
X Level 3
X Level 4
X Level 5
X Level 6
X Level 7
X Level 8
X Level 9
X Level 10
X Level 11
X Level 12
* Version History
* Acknowledgments
* How To Contact the Author
X = Still incomplete
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Introduction
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I have been playing Zanac for years, ever since I discovered it on my
first NES console in my youth. Since then it has been a favorite of mine
both in the emulator and on the genuine cartridge. Although the graphics
are not the most complex, their simplicity allows for "the System" to fill
the screen with ships and bullets without a hint of slowdown. Zanac is
fast paced and intense. I was surprised to see that no one had written any
kind of FAQ on the subject and that a number of the tips and secrets were
not discussed on GameFAQs.
Basically, the story of the game is that a giant artificial intelligence,
the System, is taking over the galaxy. It is designed to react to the
level of threat against it and is able to very effectively repel massive
armadas. The only option is to send a single, highly powerful ship (a
'Zanac') to sneak past the System's defenses and destroy its core. This
story is simple, but it provides a justification for one of the classic
video game cliches -- a single fighter goes up against a massive army (or
fleet of ships in this case). It also establishes a rationale for one of
Zanac's innovations.
Zanac, the game, reacts to the player's actions. In its simplest sense, a
player that is highly aggressive and wastes ammunition will face tougher
opposition as the System reacts as if it is facing a larger fleet. This
will be discussed in more detail later in this document (see "Aggression
Levels" in "Tips, Tricks and Techniques") but I think this illuminates one
possible reason no one has written a FAQ or Walkthrough for the game.
Since player actions largely dictate the type and number of ships you will
face, a level may change dramatically on each pass through depending on
how you play the game. This makes writing a walkthrough more difficult
than it might be in other games where you face similar waves of enemies
each time you play the game. On the other hand, this obviously increases
the challenge and replay value (especially when you consider all the
secrets to be discovered and variety of weapons available).
Before I move on, I would like to state that this is a game that really
suffers from emulation at least on many systems. The dizzying speed at
which the landscape scrolls by and the intensity of the action do not
translate as well to the PC in my opinion. Once you get a taste of this
game, find yourself a copy at a pawn shop or on eBay. It is definitely
worthwhile, and I consider it one of the Nintendo Entertainment System's
finest moments.
In this document, whenever I refer to something in ALL CAPS it generally
indicates that I am referring to an enemy vessel or target and you should
refer to the corresponding entry in the "Zanac Bestiary" section of this
document. Although I have not finished it yet, I plan to include a level by
level walkthrough (to the extent that such a thing is possible).
This is my first FAQ and I am very open to suggestions, corrections, and
constructive criticism. See "How to Contact the Author" at the bottom of
this document for information on getting in touch with me.
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Copyright Information
=========================================
This document is Copyright (C) 2003 Kit O'Connell. I am releasing this
document under the Creative Commons Attribution License. This means that
you are free to copy and distribute this document, make derivative works,
and use it for commercial purposes. However, you MUST give me credit (Kit
O'Connell, vulpine at pobox dot com). For more information, see:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/1.0/
Although this gives you a lot of leeway in the use of this document, I
hope that you will send me an email (vulpine at pobox dot com) to tell me
if you repost or use this Walkthrough in some way, or if you just find it
useful.
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Controls and Weaponry
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Zanac is a 1 player game.
Using the D-Pad steers your ship.
Pressing the A button fires your Special Weapon. Pressing the B button
fires your Conventional Weapon.
Periodically, you will find a weapon upgrade. The Conventional Weapon is
usually upgraded by collecting the POWER CHIPS dropped by BOXes. You can
upgrade or switch Special Weapons by collecting the numbered bonus which
you receive from Ground Targets or WEAPON DROPs.
-- Conventional Weapons --
At the beginning of the game, or when you start from scratch with a new
Zanac, you have the Single Missile. Picking up POWER CHIPS dropped by
BOXes or shooting a HAPPY FACE will upgrade your Conventional Weapon.
* Single Missile -- the default Conventional Weapon. A single missile
fires from the center of the Zanac. This weapon fires very slowly.
* Twin Missile -- two missiles fire from your Zanac. The rate of fire is a
little better.
* Triple Missile -- A missile fires from the center of your Zanac and one
fires from each wing. The rate of fire is much better.
* Super Missile -- Width of fire increases greatly: one missile shoots
from the center of the Zanac, but the other two missiles fire from a short
distance to the left and right of your ship entirely. This also gives you
some added protection from enemies that attack you from the side. Rate of
fire is greatly improved. In general, this really holds its own against
the Special Weapon but you can only get the Super Missile under special
conditions, not by collecting POWER CHIPs (see "Playing BOX Roulette"
below).
The Conventional Weapon can hit targets on the ground and in the air, but
cannot destroy CHIPs.
** Playing BOX Roulette (upgrading the Conventional Weapon) **
The easiest and safest way to upgrade the Conventional Weapon is to shoot
open BOXes that appear periodically throughout the game's levels.
Sometimes, the BOX will contain destructive CHIPs but other times it will
contain POWER CHIPS that upgrade your Conventional Weapon.
When you shoot a BOX a couple times it will begin flashing. If it just
flashes, you know it contains destructive CHIPs. If you shoot it more the
CHIPs will be released, and if you run into it you will die. If the BOX
becomes partially translucent and reveals a larger, glowing POWER CHIP you
can either safely run into the BOX or shoot it more to release the POWER
CHIP and run into that. Either way, it takes several POWER CHIPs to obtain
the Twin Missile, and then several more to reach Triple Missile. After
that, you can collect POWER CHIPs to your heart's content and although you
will gain valuable points you will never obtain the Super Missile.
To go directly to the Triple Missile, you have to play BOX Roulette. If
you run into a BOX without shooting it even once and it contains a POWER
CHIP then you go directly to Triple Missiles. If you run into it without
shooting it and it contains regular CHIPs your Zanac will be destroyed.
How sad. If you have the Triple Missile and successfully play BOX Roulette
twice (running into boxes without shooting them) you will be upgraded to
the Super Missile.
BOXes sometimes appear alone, but most often they will appear in sets of
three. Early in the game, and when the Aggression Level is low, there will
usually be two boxes that contain CHIPs and one with a POWER CHIP. If you
shoot two out of three to reveal that they contain CHIPs, it is probably
safe to run into the remaining box to get your upgrade. As the aggression
level increases this will no longer be the case -- BOXes will begin
appearing in sets of three CHIPs or sometimes even two BOXes of POWER
CHIPs with one BOX of CHIPs.
Whenever you pick up a weapon upgrade, your ship will flash for a few
seconds to indicate it is invulnerable. When you pick up a POWER CHIP, it
makes sense to use the period of invulnerability to run into any other
nearby BOXes. If they also contain POWER CHIPs you may end up upgrading to
Triple or Super Missiles and will also restart the short period of
invulnerability. Once in a while (like Level 3), the System will flood the
screen with nothing but BOXes, and you can use this domino effect to
quickly obtain the Super Missile.
On some levels you will encounter a Ground Target I have called a HAPPY
FACE. Shooting the HAPPY FACE with your Conventional Weapon will
automatically upgrade it to the Super Missile and also net you some
points. However, if you do this when you previously only had the Single or
Twin Missile then make sure you don't pick up any more POWER CHIPs --
doing so will make you drop back down to your previous weapon level. It is
only safe to pick up POWER CHIPs if you upgrade when you already had the
Triple Missile.
-- Special Weapons --
You can only have one Special Weapon at a time. Collecting the same weapon
upgrade multiple times will sometimes make the weapon more powerful. If
you collect a different upgrade you will switch to that weapon instead.
Just like when you collect a POWER CHIP, the Zanac flashes to indicate
temporary invulnerability whenever you collect a Special Weapon bonus.
Special Weapon upgrades either appear in a target on the ground or are
dropped by WEAPON DROPs. In general, you will want to concentrate on Fire
0 unless you can pick up Fire 7.
All weapon names are taken directly from the Zanac manual.
* Fire 0 -- All Range Weapon
Description: This is your default weapon when you start the game or after
you die. It is actually reasonably powerful, especially because it is the
only weapon you can fire behind you or directly to the left or right.
- Initially, it fires a single bolt of energy forward or in the direction
you are steering with the D-Pad.
- Collect a second Fire 0 and you will fire twin bolts of energy instead of
one.
- Collect a third Fire 0 in a row without collecting any other Special Weapon
and the width of fire will increase.
This weapon works against ground and air targets but it will not destroy
CHIPs.
* Fire 1 -- Straight Crusher
Description: A ball of energy shoots straight forward from your ship until
it leaves the screen. You can only have one ball of energy on the screen
at any time. A counter displays the number of shots you have left. Each
time you collect Fire 1 the counter will refill, but if you collect it 4
times the ball of energy will become huge -- easily twice the size of your
Zanac.
In general, this is a poor weapon except at its super-sized maximum. Even
then, Fire 7 is still much better. It will destroy just about anything,
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