What it was
Mike Jones is back, and this time the trip is through history. He gets a telepathic message from Mica, the Argonian princess he rescued last time. A cipher on the side of the Argonians' space pod, once Mike and his uncle read it out, sends him back to the Stone Age.
Nine chapters follow, and every chapter bar the first sits in a different time period: Ancient Egypt, the Wild West, the Middle Ages, Victorian England. Mike is hunting the Tetrads, objects that resemble Tetris pieces, and the three clones of Zoda who want them too.
Where it sits in history
It came out in North America in 1994. That makes it the second-to-last first-party NES game, with Wario's Woods last, and the final game Nintendo developed exclusively for the NES. It only ever came out on cartridge in North America.
Mike meets Cleopatra, Merlin, Sherlock Holmes, Leonardo da Vinci and King Arthur along the way. Holmes works out that if one Zoda calls himself Zoda-X, there's a Y and a Z somewhere in time. Electronic Gaming Monthly's reviewers said it had plenty of action but was 'too little too late for a dated system'. GamePro was warmer and said the playful sequel 'does the hardware proud'.
How it plays today
It plays like a friendlier Zelda with jokes. It runs on a reworked version of the first game's engine, and Mike now moves in eight directions and can change direction mid-jump; GamePro found the controls a clear step up from the first game. Health is still heart containers, and you collect a fun kit as you go: Tink's Axe, Cleopatra's Bronze Dagger, Leonardo's Katana.
Merlin teaches Mike the Psychic Shock Wave, a projectile you can upgrade, and the psychic weapons grow stronger with your hearts. Some enemies react differently depending on which weapon you hit them with, so swap around before you decide a fight is unfair. It's gentle, charming and a bit corny, and the change of era every chapter keeps it fresh.
Compared with
- StarTropics: The first game, set on the islands. This one lets you move in eight directions.
- The Legend of Zelda: Another overhead adventure of weapons, puzzles and heart containers.
- Chrono Trigger: A far bigger game that also hops through history.
Why it matters
Winnicott wrote about play as the space between the inner world and the outer one, where people get creative. Zoda's Revenge hands you that space by putting you in Cleopatra's era, then Sherlock Holmes's London, as Mike.
That's the pull of time travel stories in games. Everyone wonders what they'd be like somewhere else. Here you get to try it for an evening, and you can borrow the trick: next trip away, pick one thing the locals do and do it their way for a day.
Read: Who you are when you play →
- Winnicott, D. W. (1971). Playing and Reality.
What you're levelling up
You have been training these without noticing. Here is how to do it on purpose, and where it pays off away from the couch. All the skills games teach →
Curiosity
In the game. Each chapter drops you in a new era with new people to talk to, from Merlin to Leonardo da Vinci.
Do it on purpose. Talk to every character in a chapter before you chase the objective.
Off the couch. Turn up somewhere new and ask the person next to you what they do, then ask a second question about the answer. That second question is where good chats, and good first dates, start.
Problem solving
In the game. Some enemies react differently depending on which weapon hits them.
Do it on purpose. When a fight stalls, swap weapons before you swap tactics.
Off the couch. When something isn't working, change the tool before you try harder: a phone call instead of the twentieth text, a different time of day for the hard conversation.
Story sense
In the game. Holmes works out that there must be a Zoda-Y and Zoda-Z from one clue, and he's right.
Do it on purpose. Guess where the plot is heading at the start of each chapter, then check.
Off the couch. Spotting the shape of a story helps everywhere: you see where the boss is heading in a meeting, you call the twist in a film, and you know when a mate's yarn at the pub needs a punchline.
Verdict · 7/10
A cheerful time-travel adventure that feels like the tail end of the NES in the best way. Play the first one first.
