Zed Blade

Zed Blade, known in Japan as Operation Ragnarok, is a Shoot 'em Up game released in 1994 by NMK for the Neo Geo MVS system. This game didn't receive an AES version and was never ported to any other system. The game's soundtrack is composed by Manabu Namiki.

Story
In the future, the mankind travels to every planet in the Solar System. A large project to establish the Space Frontier is started with the development of an automated space station called Yggdrasil which is controlled by a state of the art super computer. The crew of the Yggdrasil refuse to respond to any of Earth's communications months after deployment. Suddenly, Yggdrasil attacks the Earth using a large fleet of highly developed space fighters, robots and war machines. Operation Ragnarok is enacted wherein three of the Earth's best space fighter pilots must restore order by seizing control of Yggdrasil and halting the invasion.

Gameplay
Zed Blade is a typical side-scrolling shooter, with one button for shooting and one button for using smart bombs. The player can choose between three pilots, each with it's own ship with different speeds. After picking a character, the player can pick between three choices for frontal shots, missiles and rear shots.

The game is fast paced, as the player fights waves of enemies and some larger crafts who carry power-ups for the ship's weapons. One interesting feature of the game is that larger enemies and bosses are made of multiple parts, with a red core acting as their weak spot. Power-ups appear as colored orbs with letters on them corresponding to one weapon, cycling between them if given time. Some enemies will also carry extra bombs and sometimes "Hyper" bombs, which are more powerful than the regular bombs.

The player can additionally obtain points for shooting scenery and the indestructible parts of large enemies and bosses.

Development & Release
Zed Blade served as the only title created by NMK for Neo Geo and was initially only launched for the arcades by SNK on September 13, 1994. Its soundtrack was done by composer Manabu Namiki. A Neo Geo AES version was announced and completed but never released. A Neo Geo CD version was also announced and even showcased for playing to the attendees at SNK's booth during the Winter Consumer Electronics Show in 1995 but like the AES version, it was never released. The game has since received a re-release in 2017 on various digital distribution platforms such as the Nintendo eShop, PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade as part of the ACA Neo Geo series by Hamster, its current rights owner.

Critical Reception
In North America, RePlay reported Zed Blade was the fourteenth most-popular arcade game at the time. Zed Blade received mixed reception from critics since its initial release.

Captain Squideo of GamePro praised the frenetic action, cooperative play, controls, weapons system, visuals and sound design.

The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly felt mixed in regards to the title, with some praising and others criticizing both the visuals and sound design, as well as its short length and low difficulty level.

AllGame's Kyle Knight regarded the game for being unremarkable in terms of its weapons system, although he praised the graphics, music, gameplay and replay value.

In a retrospective review, Dave Frear from Nintendo Life praised the colorful graphics and music but criticized the amount of slowdown when too many objects are present on-screen.

Martin Gaksch of German magazine MAN!AC gave an overall mixed review of the game.

Characters

 * Master Segeant Uncle Beard: Has the slowest ship, but starts with four bombs.
 * Sergeant Ms. Charlotte: Has the most balanced ship and starts with three bombs.
 * Corporal Swift Arnold: Has the fastest ship and starts with three bombs.

Weapons

 * Frontal Shot
 * 3-Way: Fires three streams of bullets forward in an arc.
 * Wave: Fires two streams of bullets forward in a waving pattern.
 * Vertical: Fires four streams of bullets, two forward and two at the top and bottom of the ship respectively.
 * Missile
 * Homing: Fires two homing missiles.
 * A.S.: Fires bombs from the top and bottom of the ship respectively.
 * A.A.: Fires missiles forward.
 * Rear Shot
 * 2-Way: Fires two lasers from the rear in a 45‹ angle upwards and downwards.
 * Wave: Same as the frontal Wave, only it's fired backwards.
 * Twin: Fires two streams of bullets backwards.