Zillion (anime) - Sega's Involvement

Sega's Involvement

Two games were made based on the series, both by Sega for the Sega Master System: Zillion, an action game similar in play style to Metroid and Impossible Mission and a sequel, Zillion II: The Triformation, which was a faster-paced game involving a powered armor mecha which transformed into a motorcycle.

The Light Phasers wielded by the characters looked the same as the Sega Master System’s light gun. A Zillion-based laser tag toy line also by Sega was also released in stores of Toys R Us; it was also released in Brazil by Tec Toy.

Opa-Opa, one of Sega’s early mascot characters (debuting in the 1986 arcade game Fantasy Zone), was a frequent minor character on the show. His frequent involvement with the show led many to believe that Fantasy Zone was actually a spin off series based on the character, but in reality Opa-Opa was around a year prior to the anime, and was a guest character from the start. The fact that he appears so frequently on the show is simply a testament to the character’s popularity in Japan at the time.

Later in the series, Sega and Tatsunoko changed the design of the anime series' guns, simultaneous with a cosmetic change in the laser tag guns on which they were based.