ZPF Review
A throwback SHMUP built for Sega Genesis that struggles with readability and never finds a hook beyond its retro pitch.
ZPF. Credit: ZPF Team / Mega Cat Studios
ZPF is a new Sega Genesis shoot ‘em up (SHMUP) from the developer of Super XYX and Tänzer, published by Mega Cat Studios after a phenomenally successful Kickstarter campaign. You can buy it on cartridge, but I played the Steam version, which runs the game through an emulator.
I honestly didn’t have much fun with this. It’s a pretty run-of-the-mill horizontally scrolling SHMUP, with three playable characters and a few themed levels. Each character has ranged and melee attacks; I had the most success with the default ship, the Gladius, thanks to its spread shot. Melee felt nearly unusable—I’d almost always die trying to get close enough to use it.
ZPF. Credit: ZPF Team / Mega Cat Studios
The pixel art was hard to parse. Foreground elements like enemies blend into the background because there’s just not enough contrast. At least the bullets are legible, which is the bare minimum. The aggressively ugly color palette is frankly an eyesore.
There’s an upgrade shop, hidden secrets, and multiple endings, but the shop isn’t accessible often enough to matter. I bounced off this one hard and didn’t stick around long enough to see much of that content. The whole time, I just wanted to play other SHMUPs I like more.
ZPF
A Sega Genesis SHMUP with multiple characters and endings that doesn't overcome readability issues and run-of-the-mill gameplay.
