SEGA AGES Fantasy Zone takes its capitalist themes to their logical conclusion
by Amr (@siegarettes)
- SEGA AGES Fantasy Zone
- Developer: M2
- Publisher: SEGA
- Switch
“A game ultimately based on capitalism”. That’s the way SEGA producer Yosuke Okunari described Fantasy Zone, in an interview on its 3DS remaster. Given its roots as an arcade game, that’s not too far from the truth. Amidst its cute aesthetics is a game not scared to play rough, to rob you of both your quarters and the in game currency you use to keep yourself capable of fighting back. The SEGA AGES release gives you ways to adjust how rough you want to play, but it’s still that same arcade game, and it’s gonna make you work. Instead it finds an interesting new way to rebalance the game: creating generational wealth.
Fantasy Zone operates on several loops. The stage themselves continue in either direction infinitely, until you take down the bases stationed throughout and encounter the stage boss. As you destroy enemies and bases they’ll drop money, which can be cashed in at the shop to buy new weapons and powerups that will give you various advantages. Items become more expensive as they’re repeatedly purchased and a single hit will rob you of every powerup. The only safeguard against this is money, so you’ll have to balance your immediate needs against your investment in the future. Spend too much now and you’ll have nothing for harder stages, spend too little and you might not even make it there.
Things become a little too real as you see the prices of items you need for survival inflate in price, and desperately try to hold on to what you have knowing that a single hit could leave you unable to afford the powerups that make it possible to manage the threats of Fantasy Zone’s hostile world. To combat this port of Fantasy Zone adds the Coin Stock, where coins you collect on each run are added to a running tally, which can be used to fund future runs. Alongside stage select, it allows you to get ahead fast, and keep up with the ever increasing threats.
Just like that Fantasy Zone turns from a game of precarious frugality to one of investments and risk management. With smart spending, successive runs can become easier and easier, and you can even make money back in the process of failing. But even if you begin to run low on cash, a few quick runs from the start of the game can net you a tidy sum to fund future ventures. And with that Fantasy Zone goes from a tense ordeal to a freeform playground, with more tolerance for failure and plenty of space for experimentation.
Turns out that description of Fantasy Zone as a game of capitalism was right on the money.