Powerful Robots and Arcade Action Hit Home – “Ex Zeus” Coming to PlayStation 2

by Louis Bedigian

Treasure tells us what it takes to make an arcade port arcade-perfect.

Do you want more coin-operated action?  Do you want the carnage, the destructive, hard-hitting, super-difficult, token-stealing wonderfulness that is an arcade game?

Up until the mid-90s you had to go to the arcade to get that.  Once the Sega Saturn and PSone were released everything changed.  Consoles could now produce the same kind of graphic and gameplay experience that arcades had been giving us for years.  As a result, fewer arcade games were made, taking away the arcade experience, replacing it with something that is distinctly console.

Not everyone has abandoned the arcade market though.  One recent game to hit Japanese arcades and amusement centers is Ex Zeus.

Now the game is coming home to PlayStation 2, courtesy of Treasure and Metro3D.  How many fires will ignite?  How many explosions will ensue?  How much destruction will the game allow us to create?  The developers hopped into a mobile suit, flew into space, and gave us an intergalactic demonstration.

Ex Zeus started as an arcade game.  Were any changes made – or any new content added – to the PlayStation 2 version?

Treasure: We keep [this] version [the same] as the original one.  We wanted the player to feel the same excitement as in the arcade and to be able to apply his gameplay knowledge from the Arcade to his PS2 version.

How does porting an arcade game to a home console differ from other forms of game development?  Are there any particularly difficult aspects that must be overcome?

Treasure: Not really different than other ports of other games, [we] just have to adjust it for the consumer and to rewrite all the Game Operator's menu and remove the "Insert Coin."  :P

Nothing like a cruise over the city.

Some arcade-to-PS2 ports limit you on continues and/or do not include a save feature in order to keep the difficulty up.  Does Ex Zeus have any restrictions like that?

Treasure: Yes, we have limited continues (5 total).

Do you have the ability to inflict damage on your surroundings?  Or are your enemies the only ones affected by an attack?

Treasure: You can destroy some basement, cars, trucks, and also laser base missile.

Ex Zeus includes three playable robots, each of which has unique strengths and weaknesses.  Could you go over them for us, and tell us about any other differences that the robots may have?

Treasure: The Player has a choice of playing [as] three different robots.  "Sofia," a male robot with average speed and shield protection.  "Calista," a female robot with a high speed but a low shield protection, and "Dynamis" [is] a heavy "male" robot with low speed but high shield protection.

Look at all the pretty colors.

What type of weaponry do the robots use?  Are there any power-ups or special items?

Treasure: The robots have a primary weapon, which is a fireball laser, then you can upgrade that weapon using power-up inside the levels, (x2) (x3) and (x4).  You have also the Multi Lock-on system and auto-guided missile.

You can also access a special laser weapon by keeping the fire button pressed when you laser gauge is loaded, you can also access a special Megalaser weapon when the laser gauge if fully loaded.  And, at last, you can also use MegaBomb to destroy every enemy on screen at once.

You can find power-ups to reload your energy, lock-on system, shield and also a special one that will give you a booster speed for a while.

There is also a shop where you can spend the gold collected during the levels to adjust your strategy by upgrading the robots features.

How would you describe the gameplay?  Is it anything like Sega's Virtual On series?

Treasure: Not at all.  The Sega virtual On Series is a one-to-one fight on an Arena, we will rather say the gameplay of Ex Zeus is similar to a "Planet Harrier" with levels scheme.

No one can stop the red warrior.

What about the levels?  What are those like?

Treasure: Up to 6 different levels with special traps and weather condition.

• Level 1 is city where the game stats, a post "Alien Attack" Tokyo city, with rain and thunder.

• Level 2 takes place in a dark cave and a small forest leading to a rock canyon.

• Level 3 is inside a long tunnel which is in a fact a castle with ray light effect.

• Level 4 is a fly in a Canyon, with snow falling.

• Level 5 is an under-water levels, where the robots cannot move too fast.

• Level 6 is the center of the alien base, with high technology elements.

Bomb ‘em hard.  Bomb ‘em good.

How many different types of enemies are there?  Are there any boss battles? 

Treasure: We have 12 different enemies and 5 different bosses.  And yes, each level ends with a boss battle.

Thank you for your time.