The goal of Zillion is to infiltrate the Norsa base, steal some confidential information and destroy the compound by programming the enemy's main computer to self-destruct. In order to accomplish this mission, you'll need to find five floppy disks scattered throughout the labyrinthine underground base, make your way to the main computer, and hopefully rescue your imprisoned comrades on the way.
When you begin the game you are briefed by Director Gord on your mission, after which you will have the option to display all available commands or skip them. These commands can be entered into the computer consoles found in rooms in the base, as well as the destruct and abort destruct sequences used on the main computer.
After the briefing you are in control of JJ outside your Mother Ship. At any time in the game you can come back here and go up the steps to the Mother Ship to be healed and receive an ID card. Once inside, you are unable to leave until you head into Power Recovery Device, a green cylinder in front of the woman's desk. Once your power is replenished and you have a new ID card, you will once again be outside.
Progression[edit]
Being a free-roaming game, there are many ways to accomplish the goal of finding all the floppy disks and destroying the Norsa base. In addition to numerous paths through the underground base, you also have the opportunity to rescue two of your comrades, who are both playable characters with different stats. Although Zillion is enjoyable for that reason, this walkthrough will address the easiest and quickest way to proceed through the game.
For character selection it is easiest to just use JJ the whole time. When all the characters are leveled up, their stats are very similar, and you can level JJ up fairly easily before you even rescue any of the other team members. And advantage of leveling JJ up earlier and just using him, is that many rooms that are full of hazards can be avoided because they just contain level ups or Zillion upgrades that you won't need. Although you don't have to rescue your team, since you won't be using them, the walkthrough will include finding them as well.
Norsa base[edit]
The Norsa base is split into three sections, each with its own distinct background color in its rooms. The top section is a light blue where you will find the first few levels and fairly easy Norsa drones. In this section there are a few level two canisters and one level three canister. The next section has red walls, and the drones are faster and smarter. They can now shoot upwards, so you're not safe even when hiding on a higher platform. There are more hazards in these rooms and there are places where a high level of jumping skill is required. The last section is darker blue and is the biggest section of the base. There are many more hazards per room in this section and they are combined with each other and Norsa drones in a way to make them very difficult. In this section, many rooms are cut off from their different entrances, so you will have to find the room code, open an entrance, then find your way back through other rooms to get to the part of the room you've opened up. Because of this, you'll have to visit nearly every room in the last section, if only to open up barriers to other rooms.
This map shows all the rooms in the Norsa base. It consists of an 8×16 grid, and below each room are the items you can find in there. Clicking on a room will take you to that section of the walkthrough, and hovering over the room will show you its row and how many rooms over from the left it is. The walkthrough will have smaller maps with routes on them, but this one is good for getting a big picture of how the base looks, and if you're looking for a particular room to input one of the secret codes.
Room keycodes[edit]
| Mirrored-number Mnemonic | |||||||||
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| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 0 |
Much of the game is dependent on finding the four keycodes in the room and inputting them in the computer console to open up a way out of the room. It's not as easy as just cracking open the canisters and getting the keycode; you also have to remember what they are. This can be difficult in later levels where the rooms are more complex and there are more hazards. To help you keep the codes straight, you can either write them down or develop a mnemonic device to help you remember. When you get a keycode, the game pauses while it's displayed, so you can take your time if you're writing them down. Also, keycodes can be entered in any order.
You are free to make up whatever mnemonic device you like, usually by associating the keycode with something it may look like. For example, you might call the "fountain" to help you remember it.
However, the easiest way to memorize keycodes is to realize that they are actually mirrored images of numbers. If you look in the computer interface screen, going from left to right, you can see that each image has a normal number on the right hand side, with its mirror on the left. Using this association it's easy to find the right key when you're in the computer, because they go in order from left to right. The exceptions to the mirrored-number rule are the four, which is rotated then mirrored; the eight, which is turned on its side rather than mirrored; and the zero, which isn't transformed at all.
