The NewZealand Story, FM Towns

A conversion of the classic Taito arcade game, featuring the cute Kiwi (Tiki), trying to rescue his girlfriend (Phee Phee) and his other Kiwi friends, from the blue leopard seal who has kidnapped them. The FM Towns version was first released in 1989 by Ving and was ported by Taito themselves.

The NewZealand Story is a cute and colourful platform game where you have to make your way through a scrolling maze of hazards – all the while fending off attacking enemies that spawn out of magical doors – and to rescue your Kiwi friends at the end of each level. Tiki can jump and shoot, and crucially can also fly around in various vehicles that can either be found or commandeered from defeated enemies. Tiki’s default weapon is a bow and arrows, but he can also pick up and use bombs, a laser pistol and other weapons. Also: collecting letters will earn you an extra life every time you complete the word “EXTEND”.

Each stage is broken down into a variety of sub-levels which are shown on a map of New Zealand as you progress. At the end of each stage is a boss battle, some which require a bit of thought to overcome. The first boss, for example, is a whale. Shooting him from the outside is ineffective, but if you let him swallow you you can shoot him from the inside and get rid of him quickly.

The FM Towns version features normal and easy difficulty settings; various display modes, and a two-player option (although this is unfortunately not simultaneous two-player – you take it in turns to play).

What I like about The NewZealand Story is that contact with most enemies won’t kill you, but their projectiles hitting you will; that there are a multitude of interesting vehicles to ride, and also the fact that the levels are well-designed and require some thought to navigate. There are also lots of nice touches (like Tiki wearing goggles and a snorkel when underwater, and also being able to spit water when swimming is such a cool little touch), and there are secret warps to find too (hidden doors that allow you to skip levels).

You do have to be aware of the dangers in this game, though. Like, for example, the fact that you have limited air while underwater, so you need to keep an eye on your air meter when submerged. If your air runs low Tiki will begin to struggle, but you can hopefully find a nearby air pocket to top it back up. There are also sea anemone that will grab you and eat you if you swim too close to them. One other important danger to note is the hidden timer. While there’s no on-screen timer shown, if you take too long to complete a level the words “hurry up!” will eventually zoom onto the screen (in true Taito fashion), and if you take too long after that an invincible red devil will arrive and begin to chase Tiki, killing him if it touches him.

If you lose your last life to a projectile on certain levels Tiki will be transported to ‘heaven‘, the layout of which can vary. In heaven you can either find the hidden exit, which – if you manage to locate it – will return you to the previous level so you can continue. Or you can make your way to the Goddess for a special ending (and a game over).

The NewZealand Story is – in my opinion – a classic in terms of graphics and sound. The 2D backgrounds are colourful and distinctive; the sprites are cute, funny and well-animated, and the music is jolly and instantly-recognisable. Best of all, the gameplay is great fun, being forgiving enough to make it enjoyable, and challenging enough to keep drawing you back. In my mind The NewZealand Story is one of the best arcade platform games ever made and is up there with Bubble Bobble, Rainbow Islands, and Parasol Stars (all Taito games too). And this FM Towns port is pretty much “arcade perfect“, as they used to say back in the 1980s… It’s an essential FM Towns game!