Battle Unit Zeoth
| Battle Unit Zeoth | |
|---|---|
 Cover art of Battle Unit Zeoth | |
| Developer(s) | Jaleco Entertainment[1] |
| Publisher(s) | Jaleco Entertainment[1] |
| Programmer(s) |
Yasuo Igakura Manabu Shirato |
| Artist(s) |
Aizawa Buglin Shin Matsuda |
| Platform(s) | Game Boy |
| Release date(s) |
‹See Tfd› |
| Genre(s) | Scrolling shooter[1] |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Battle Unit Zeoth (バトルユニットゼオス) is a scrolling shooter developed by Jaleco for the Game Boy in 1990 which saw a North American port one year later in 1991.
Story
Battle Unit Zeoth takes place in the future where mankind is invaded by a race of alien robots known as the Grein. The Earth’s forces were triumphant in battle and the Grein forces fled the Solar System. However, as they retreated, the Grein left behind a secret underground base filled with self-replicating Grein machines.
Forty-two years after the Earth’s victory, the Grein base opened and a new attack force decimated the city of New Age. To retaliate, Earth’s military has stored a mecha that specializes in alien combat known as the Zeoth. It is the Zeoth’s assignment to stop the attack force, go into the Grein secret base and destroy the mechanical occupants before a new invasion force arrives.
Gameplay
Players control the Zeoth mech through five stages throughout New Age City. The odd-numbered stages are horizontal scrolling stages while the even-numbered stages are short, vertically aligned Platform stages, each stage ending with an end boss fight. The Zeoth is capable of leaping all the way to the top of the screen and can fire in four directions (left right, up and down).
While the mech starts with a standard Vulcan Canon, the player can equip it with two upgradable weapons: the Beam and the Laser Shots. The Beam Shot can be upgraded to fire a wide wave of strong beam shots while the Laser Shots form a large criss-crossing pattern capable of striking more nimble enemies. The Zeoth can take a certain amount of damage before being destroyed (the game has no Lives System). However, the player is offered limitless Continues and a chance to start the Stage over if defeated.
History
This game was released in Japan under the name "Battle Unit Zeoth". When Jaleco began planning for the US/Europe release they renamed it "Jetpack". This name was later changed back to "Battle Unit Zeoth". It is thought that Jaleco changed the name because they didn't think American audiences would buy the game as it sounded too foreign.