Hyper Zone (ハイパーゾーン, HaipāZōn?) is a shooter game developed by HAL Laboratory, Inc. for the Super NES. It was one of the first to be released for the console, and is notably one of the few "rail shooter" type games available. Like many of the system's earlier releases, Hyper Zone made liberal use of the Super Nintendo's outwardly impressive (at the time) mode 7 capability.
Hyper Zone plays like a cross between a racing game and shooter. The object of the game is to navigate each level while shooting enemies and earning points, until finally an encounter with a boss ends each level. After enough points are acquired, the player earns an "extend" and his or her ship is upgraded in the next stage. The player's ship can receive up to six upgrades.
As a racing game, the resemblance is visual. The mode 7 "tracks" bear a resemblance to the well-known progenitor of mode 7 racing, F-Zero. As a rail shooter, in the same vein as Star Fox, the player's ship is constantly pushed forward through each level. While it is possible to slow down, doing so eventually causes damage to the player's ship.
Hyper Zone contains eight levels in total. After the initial game is finished, it restarts from the beginning with the player continuing in the same ship and keeping score; the game loops infinitely.
Source: Wikipedia, Hyper Zone , available under the CC-BY-SA License.
