Zombie Nation © 1991 Meldac
North American release. Game developed in Japan. See the original Japanese release entry for more information about the game itself; "Abarenbou Tengu [Model MDC-51]".
Description from the USA manual:
1999. What appeared to be a harmless meteorite crashing in the Nevada desert has turned out to be Darc Seed, an evil alien creature with horrible powers. By shooting strange magnetic rays, Darc Seed had turned the helpless nation into zombies and had brought the Statue of Liberty to life to do his dirty work. These rays had also given him control over many deadly weapons, but none were more powerful than the legendary samurai sword, Shura. When the great head of the samurai, Namakubi, heard that the sword had fallen into evil hands, he set off immediately for the United States. For only he possessed the strength and knowledge needed to recapture the magical sword and free the U.S. from the evil clutches of Darc Seed.
Namakubi, the great head of the samurai, has used his mystical powers to transport a fierce holographic representation of his head to the United States to liberate the zombie population from Darc Seed. The only way to break Darc Seed's powerful spell is to destroy everything in sight including buildings, mountains, oil refineries, weapons, renegade zombie soldiers, and any other creatures that are doing his evil bidding.
Once a particular object in a given area has been successfully destroyed (for example; a building), liberated zombie hostages will appear. By rescuing these hostages, Namakubi's power will increase and he will have a greater chance of reaching his ultimate test; the final battle with Darc Seed.
Game ID: NES-51-USA
Zombie Nation was released in September 1991 in North America.
The game is first released in Japan under the name Abarenbou Tengu. The US version is released a month later. As both versions only has differences between the sprites, with the Japanese version having a tengu mask belonging to Japanese folklore. The US version has major graphical and story changes, replacing the tengu mask with the decapitated samurai head. Aside from the differences, both games are practically identical, with the Japanese Version having only a few major differences:
- In Abarenbou Tengu, the player must obtain the rapid fire ability. In Zombie Nation, the player starts with it.
- The main character's sprite is not that of the flying samurai head, Namakubi, but that of a Japanese konoha tengu head. The title screen is different with the tengu's head being incorporated into it.
- The boss of Round I is an evil Statue of Liberty in both games but with a slightly different sprite; instead of being green with snakes in place of its crown in Zombie Nation, it's red and has a normal crown.
Game's ROM.