MSX shooter Zanac has received a stunningly good port on iOS

By , on August 5, 2014

Classic games don't often get treated very well when a company ports them over to mobiles, but D4 Enterprise has blown me away with its treatment of Compile's legendary shoot-em-up Zanac, which has just been released on iOS.

In Zanac, you pilot the AFX-6502 Zanac as you try to overcome the System, a race of bio-droids who are planning on destroying all of humanity.

The game is generally recognised as a significant step forward for the shmup genre, and one step closer to the bullet-hell titles so popular today - the action is fast and explosive, there are plenty of power-ups, and enemies attack you from both air and land.

This iOS version of Zanac is a straight port of the original MSX version in all its glory, with two touchscreen control layouts, plus MFi controller support for those who simply have to have buttons. It's a lean 5.4MB, so it won't take up much space on your iPhone or iPad either.

Oh and did I mention it's free?

The game is ad-supported, with no in-app purchases to make, and the ads that are included are completely unobtrusive.

Go and grab this free little slice of gaming history, then let me know in the comments if you think more classic games should be re-released with this level of quality and value.

[App Store link]