Gameplay of Section Z - NES.
Section Z is a 2D side-scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by Capcom and released in 1985. The more well known NES version (starring "Captain Commando") was later released in the United States on July 1, 1987 and for the Famicom Disk System in Japan on May 25, 1987. The game (especially the NES version) has been compared to Gradius (released the same year as the arcade version), and Abadox.
Many of Capcom's arcade "ports" for the NES were often completely different games. Section Z is no exception. The arcade version (the first in a trio of "jetpack shooters") features a two-player alternating mode that is missing from the NES home version, but lacks the branching level design of the later iteration. The arcade version has the player moving in a linear path of 26 "sections" each named after a letter of the English alphabet (with "Section Z" being the final stage). Considering that the game had to be played with quarters with the player standing the entire time, it is also significantly shorter. Additionally, "Captain Commando" only applies to the NES version; the player character in the arcade and Famicom versions was originally nameless.
