The Collection Chamber: ZEITGEIST: LASER FIGHTER (aka JUPITER STRIKE)

Earth invasion! Earth invastion! Annihilation is imminent! Deploy Jupiter Strike! Final transmissi...

Survival of the human race all boils down to you. You're in the cockpit for the most realistic 3-D intergalactic battle of all time! From thundering asteroid belts with deadly robotic colonies to vast fleets of invincible enemy warships, mankind's only hope for survival is...

Jupiter Strike!
Toggle into first-person fire power mode!
Ballistic battles in the belly of the beast!
Lock-On lasers for maximum destruction!
Asteroid base attack!
Deploy Jupiter Strike!

~ from the back of the PlayStation box

Back in 1995, Sony's brand new games console didn't have to do much to wow players coming out of the 16-bit era. The 3D polygons it could create was simply stunning for the time. But that didn't stop designers from pilfering mechanics that were already in the zeitgeist. Cue Zeitgeist (referred to as Jupiter Strike in the west); Taito's near-launch title that's a blatant clone of Nintendo's seminal SNES shooter StarFox.

On paper, Zeitgeist looks to be the superior game. The simple polygons rendered through the Super FX chip don't look as good as the texture mapping found here, and the frame rate is far smoother and more consistent. Alas, unlike Nintendo's space-faring fox, Zeitgeist doesn't impress in the gameplay department. Even the PC port that came out a year later shows little improvement (and perhaps even a downgrade).

Hover your cursor over enemies to lock their position (left, PC).
Sometimes it's easier to do in first-person mode (right, PC).

Over the course of 8 stages, you'll fly ever-forward through a variety of environments with only two forms of attack; a basic shot and a lock-on laser. Your normal shot shoots straight ahead and can take out small clusters of enemies with ease. When your cursor passes over an engaged enemy, a red border will highlight the target allowing you to initiate your lock-on laser. You are limited to how many you can lock on at once, and the weapon requires a cool-down period before you can use it at full capacity again.

Regardless of the weapon, I did find it hard to aim. In the basic first-person view, the ship obstructs anything directly in front. I found myself sweeping the cursor over the screen relying on the lock-on laser to take out enemies. It doesn't help that the number of hits each enemy takes is wildly inconsistent to the point where I've no idea how anyone can take down some of these ships before you're forced to pass them. This is exacerbated in the PC port as both of your weapons has a noticeably shorter range so don't expect some to make some well-aimed shots from afar.

Later levels require you to dodge around obstacles or fly through corridors (left, PlayStation).
Bosses are bullet sinks making battles a war of attrition. Try and reach them with as much shield as possible (right, PlayStation).

Dodging incoming projectiles is also badly thought out. Once again, your vision is impaired by your ship, but even when changing to a first-person viewpoint the chaos on screen makes it hard to decipher what will hurt you and what won't. At times you have the choice of dodging an incoming attack leaving the enemy unscathed, or barge in with mutually assured destruction. You can twist 90 degrees on each side to speed up a dodge to either side of the screen, but it's more likely to sent you into harm's way than out of it. Add to that a complete lack of gameplay options and power-ups (there's only one difficulty setting limiting you to only three lives to complete it all in), and you have a game that's more frustratingly difficult than entertainingly challenging.

That's not to say the Zeitgeist is a complete washout. The levels and enemy designs are varied and nice to look at, and a couple of bombastic set pieces will surely stick in my memory. Perhaps it's down to my own limited skill with such games but looking at the reviews at the time, I guess I'm not alone. Not a total strike-out, but nothing more than an average shooter.

To download the Windows '95 version, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox 0.74 running Windows '95. Japanese Manual and compatible English Help File included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

IMPORTANT - Remember to shut down the emulated version of Windows before exiting DOSBox. This could potentially result in errors, lost saves and corrupt data. The program will automatically shut down when you exit the game.

File Size: 226 Mb. Install Size: 474 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download

To download the PlayStation version, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the Retroarch with the Mednafen Beetle PSX core to emulate the Sony PlayStation. Widescreen hack enabled by default. X-input controllers supported. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 301 Mb. Install Size: 429 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download

ZEITGEIST: LASTER FIGHTER (Windows '95)