Formation Z

Formation Z (released overseas for arcades as Aeroboto, Japanese: フォーメーション Z) is a horizontal scrolling shooter developed and published by Jaleco. It launched on Famicom in 1985, ported from the original 1984 arcade game. Set in the year 2701, rebels from planet Zanaka launch an invasion. Players control the prototype transformable mech Ixpel, traveling across deserts, oceans, alien terrain and outer space to destroy the enemy superweapon and save Earth. Its landmark gameplay feature is seamless transformation between humanoid robot and fighter jet. In robot form on the ground, you can walk, jump and fire lasers; hold the fire button to charge powerful heavy shots. When transformed into jet mode, you gain full freedom of movement across the screen, yet flight continuously consumes fuel. Fuel can only be refilled by picking up ground supplies. The game uses one long continuous stage split into multiple themed segments. It supports 1 or 2 players with turn-based play. Your mech dies in one hit. The arcade-originated high difficulty demands careful pattern memorization and strict fuel management, reckless flying will quickly drain your energy. As an early 14KB small cartridge game for Famicom, its transforming mech concept was revolutionary for its era. Widely distributed on Subor multicarts, it is a well-loved classic retro mecha shooter among Chinese vintage game fans.

These are the default keys. Click the gamepad icon 🎮 in the player’s bottom toolbar to rebind them. Gamepads are detected automatically. On phones you get on-screen buttons.

1P

2P

The NES was always two-player — 2P uses the numeric keypad, and NumLock does not matter. No numpad? Rebind 2P to other keys in the 🎮 panel.