Zoop

Overview

Zoop is an action puzzle game developed by Hookstone (with some versions ported by either PanelComp or Electric Spectacle Productions) and published by Viacom New Media for the Sony PlayStation, Atari Jaguar, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Sega Genesis, Game Boy, Game Gear, DOS PC and Macintosh computers in North America throughout 1995 and early 1996. Europe received the SNES, Genesis, Jaguar, and Game Boy versions, while Japan received the PS1 version (released by MediaQuest alongside an exclusive Sega Saturn release) and Game Boy version (released by Yanoman Games).

Featuring a stylized Memphis Design aesthetic, with some versions having pre-rendered 3D graphics, Zoop tasks players with moving a triangle-shaped cursor around the 4×4 center of a cross-shaped 18×14 board (16×14 for handheld versions), with pieces of different colors/shapes entering the board from the four edges. Players must prevent pieces from reaching the center by reaching out and "zooping" pieces of the same color out of the board, swapping colors with another piece of a different color by attempting to zoop them.

Gameplay

In Zoop players control a small ship that is confined to a small box in the middle of the screen, around the box enemies of various colors try to invade the box. The player's job is to use their ship to shoot like-colored enemies, if players shoot an enemy of a different color, the ship's color changes. The challenge is to swap colors with the right enemies in order to stop all of the approaching enemies. If one of the enemies get's in the ship's box, it's game over.

Every second (or more often in advanced levels), a piece comes in from the side and possibly pushes other pieces forward. Two consecutive pieces will never come in from the same quadrant.