EDITOR'S NOTE:
We are not the masters of The NewZealand Story. Merely the apprentices. As such, we must give a gigantic shout-out to Victor Epitropou, who wrote the definitive guide to The NewZealand Story in times gone by. This was our starting point, and thus many of the arcane secrets of the game were revealed to us by his guide. We thank you, Victor, for making any of this (and our multiple 1CCs of the game) possible. Thankfully, they got into contact with us after this article was released, which was very nice of them. Additionally, big thanks go out to friend of the site Kak2X who provided us with a lot of extra detail and insight into some of the more esoteric parts of the game, in particular with regards to some extra versions of the game, revision differences and unused content. Thanks again!

The NewZealand Story is, by a wide margin, my favourite Taito game. Ever.

No, really.

If you know me in any capacity, be it Twitter, this website, or real life, then you poor soul! Also, if you are any of those things, you'll know I love The NewZealand Story. A lot. Is it a game I've got a little nostalgia for? Maybe, maybe- one of the first games I remember playing was the ZX Spectrum port of it, after all, and much like Bubble Symphony, I met some of my earliest internet friends through the game (and Taito games in general). I first learned how to play properly from Victor Epitropou's guide to the game, and from there I just kept playing the game until I got to the point where I can reliably clear it in one credit. It's not all rose-tinted glasses though, as we never entrust our opinions to nostalgia. Succumbing to the temptation to just remembering a game being good is the exact opposite of what this site is about! We analyse, to inform and entertain! So let it be clear from the off that this game is an eternal favourite of ours based entirely on merit, not on fond memories. Hopefully, by the end of this exhaustive set of pages, you'll at least see where we're coming from with this one.



Released in 1988 and apparently inspired by both a trip to New Zealand taken by one of the designers (according to C&VG) and originally started as a follow-up to the much older Taito arcade game Crazy Balloon called Crazy Balloon Part II (as confirmed by Area51_Zek, the Taito Memories Pocket manual and the Hamster stream on the game), The NewZealand Story is a cute, cuddly, and pretty difficult platformer set in, well, New Zealand (the game's title has it all as one word, so we're going to stick with that when talking about the game), dedicated to all maze game fans as a message on the title screen states. Azarashi the Leopard Seal has raided a zoo on the North Island! He's kidnapped 21 of the zoo's kiwis, intending to sell them to make a profit, but Tiki, the game's hero, manages to escape his clutches. Armed with only a bow and arrow to start, Tiki sets off on a 20-round journey across both the North and South islands, from Auckland to Mt. Cook, to save all of his fellow kiwis including his girlfriend, Phee-Phee. The adventure ahead is dangerous, with all sorts of animals under Azarashi's orders ready to have Tiki for dinner, as well as spikes, lava, waterways, bullet-firing statues, even the Devil himself and the concept of everlasting slumber in Heaven (no, really), and each round is akin to a maze, often quite sprawling and large... But Tiki has guts and determination on his side, as long as you do.

Let's start with the very basics, then. You need to get Tiki from the start of each round to the caged kiwi at the end, and that's not necessarily a straight line. At the start of each round and each life, Tiki's just got his standard bow and arrow to fire at enemies, and a jump which can make it through most blocks as long as Tiki can reach a foothold jumping through, a bit like Bubble Bobble. There's no momentum or running here, so Tiki only has the one speed, and he doesn't have as much control over his jump distance as, say, Mario, but you can still adjust it mid-jump (and, if you fall a certain distance, you can tap the Jump button to flap your wings which can give you a little boost... Or fly, if you really wanna Track & Field it). One of the more critical skills, especially later in the game, is Tiki's ability to 'queue up' his jumps- let go of the button when you've reached the height you want, then hold the button again and Tiki will automatically jump when he hits the ground. Sounds odd, but it can really help in quick escapes. He can also swim, if he has to, with a limited oxygen gauge (and, when on the water's surface, he can spit water to take out foes and replenish his oxygen faster) but that's it.



That's enough to deal with most enemies, even if Tiki can only take one hit, but navigating the mazes would be tricky without some way to reliably fly, so just hitch a ride- steal an enemy vehicle! While some enemies are land-based, some ride around in bizarre contraptions such as teddy bear heads, inflatable ducks or even Zeppelins, all with their own stats and foibles,and these can be commandeered by Tiki if you take the enemy out, by hook or by crook. Mastery of these different vehicles is an essential part of success in this game, as is learning all about your foes. Enemies are a little unusual in this game in a few ways. For a start, the vast majority of them are safe for Tiki to touch, and only spiky enemies kill him outright- otherwise, they have to use weapons to defeat Tiki. Also, they're either on the map already, or spawn from magical doors once Tiki hits a trigger point. For the most part, these trigger points are in fairly sensible spots, with only a few exceptions (and that's only on the harder difficulty settings where safe-to-touch enemies are replaced with spiky ones). So, before we begin, we'll have to have a look at all these enemies and their vehicles, and power-ups that can help Tiki out too.

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First, let's have a look at our rogue's gallery now, shall we? Now, uh, when it comes to names, we had to improvise. There is an incomplete list of official enemy names in the Mega Drive port's manual, but we can't translate it. Our names, then, are a mix of ones given by the Epitropou guide and ones we made up. We might've snuck in one or two little jokes and tributes among them, mind...

Hermit Crab Safe to touch Fires destructible spikes

Missile Crab Safe to touch Fires indestructible missiles

Toy Soldier Safe to touch Fires boomerangs

Rippit Safe to touch Fires a spreadshot of spikes

Frankie Deadly to touch Can jump and multiply itself

Germ Deadly to touch Can multiply itself

Mr. Wakelin Safe to touch Spawns random enemies with magic

B. B. Hoofer Safe to touch Fires a spread of 0, 4 or 8 bullets

Grim Bat Safe to touch Drops indestructible spikes Does not drop items!

Winged Cat Safe to touch... Except when it scratches the air Flies straight or at angles

Stone Hands Safe to touch Will try to drag your vehicle down Takes multiple hits

Bob Safe to touch Fires small arrows

Spearman Safe to touch Fires spears upwards

Flying Frankie Deadly to touch No projectiles

Penguin Safe to touch Throws stones aimed at Tiki

Cool Bob Safe to touch Fires large arrows

Fire Lizard Safe to touch Spits flame breath

Pumpko Safe to touch Drops bombs from above

Axe Cat Safe to touch Throws axes in an arc

Mr. Needlemouse Deadly to touch Will pursue Tiki and outflank him

Screamer Safe to touch Its vehicle is more dangerous

Astronaut Safe to touch Equipped with a laser beam

Invader Safe to touch Equipped with homing missiles

Wakelin's Zeppelin Safe to touch Spawns random enemies with magic

Time-Up Devil
Appears after the 'Hurry Up!' warning
Kills on touch, cannot be defeated
If you evade it, it gets faster and more will appear over time

That's not even including the underwater enemies who never spawn in- we'll deal with them as we see 'em.

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And here's a more exhaustive look at the vehicles Tiki can steal with their stats.

(Vehicles with a durability of Special Weapon can only be destroyed by Lasers, Bombs, Fireballs and homing Missiles).

Teddy Bear Head Speed: Normal Durability: 1 hit Can ride on top only

Duck Speed: Fast Durability: 1 hit Can ride on top only

Hot Ait Balloon Speed: Normal Durability: 1 hit Can ride inside only You respawn in this in some areas

Power Balloon Speed: Normal Durability: 5 hits Can ride on top or hang from below

Metal Balloon Speed: Slow Durability: Special Weapon Can ride on top or hang from below

String Balloon Speed: Normal Durability: 1 hit Can ride on top or hang from below

The Colonel Speed: Slow Durability: Special Weapon Can ride on top only Drags 4 spikeballs

Laser UFO Speed: Very Fast Durability: Special Weapon Can ride inside only Control with just the stick! Equipped with a laser beam

Missile UFO Speed: Very Fast Durability: Special Weapon Can ride inside only Control with just the stick! Equipped with homing missiles

Zeppelin Speed: Normal Durability: 5 hits Can ride inside only

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Being a Taito game, the other thing Tiki has in his favour is a gigantic cache of pick-ups and power-ups. Not as many dotted around each round, mind you, save for bonus fruits and hidden letters spelling EXTEND for an extra life much like Bubble Bobble (this time, collecting nine of the same one gives you an extra life too), but being hoarded by enemies. Similar to Rainbow Islands, enemies drop items when defeated which run on a pre-determined cycle. The first seven enemies drop fruits, then the eighth enemy will drop a special item (the first one of any new game will always be a Bomb), and this cycle continues until it loops back to the Bomb. It seems that every 'loop' contains, at the absolute minimum, the four different weapon types as discussed below, so you'll always be able to grab a new weapon eventually, but there's quite a few different patterns that we haven't been fully able to figure out just yet. Still, the main thing is to keep an eye out for the Grapes and Watermelon items, as it means a special item will drop very shortly. So, in no particular order, here they all are:

Bomb Throw explosive bombs in an arc

Laser Gun Fire laser beams that penetrate walls & enemies, can destroy all vehicles

Fire Staff Fire flame balls that bounce around and can destroy all vehicles

Bow & Arrow Gives you back your default Bow & Arrow weapon

Spring Makes vehicles lighter, letting you push them around more easily

Clock Stops all enemy movement for a few seconds

Turbo Speeds Tiki & vehicles up

Joystick The next vehicle you use will move with just the control stick

Book of Earthquakes Destroys everything on screen, even your current vehicle!

EXTEND Letter Collect all letters for an extra life

Potion Tiki is temporarily invincible Very rare, part of a random slot of the loop!

Mirror Teleports Tiki to the cage Very rare, part of a random slot of the loop!

Green Apple 2000 points

Kiwi Fruit 8000 points for cannibalism when you think about it

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Now, oh boy, do we have some housekeeping to do before we begin, as there are four distinct revisions of the arcade version of the game. Our full playthrough will be through what's generally considered the 'original' level set in MAME under the name 'Japan, old version' (and the filename tnzsjo), also under the name 'US, old version' (filename tnzsuo, only difference is the copyright info) as this is the one that the majority of the home ports are based on (although not all of them, as we'll see!) and we'll have details on the other sets later (if you're lazy, we made a video with details on the level set differences a while ago). We'll be detailing all the Warp locations in our playthrough, courtesy of the Epitropou guide, but whether you take them is up to you, as you'll be teleported to the relevant page if you choose to warp. Finally... While most of the time we create these playthroughs on whatever the default difficulty setting is, we couldn't let this stand for The NewZealand Story, so this was all done on the Hard setting. This mostly affects enemy aggressiveness and sometimes their numbers, but the main difference is that some enemy spawns- innocuous ones like Bobs- are replaced with much fiercer enemies, in particular Mr. Needlemouse, a much trickier and deadlier foe who does not appear on easier difficulties! In particular, they have their moment to shine in Round 3-4, so look forward to that!

Normally we'd just link to the start of the playthrough and do our normal cry of playing this game together, but considering that the Extended Play section is fairly important this time, we've decided to include links to the extra parts. Specifically, a look at the different arcade revisions of the game, for there are many of them, and a cursory examination of the many, many home ports of the game. We hope that this playthrough, as well as the extra stuff, will help give you a bit of insight into why we love this game so much. So, let's say it together...

Let's play The NewZealand Story!

Click the middle title screen below to start.

Alternate arcade revisions

Begin the Journey

Home ports