| The Masked Rider: Kamen Rider ZO | |
| Developer: | Telenet Japan |
| Director: | Keita Amemiya |
| Producer: | Eric Quakenbush Hori Nagafumi Satoshi Kubo |
| Artist: | Takahashi Akihiko |
| Composer: | Kawamura Eiji |
| Platforms: | Sega CD |
| Genre: | Interactive movie |
| Modes: | Single-player |
The Masked Rider: Kamen Rider ZO is a video game developed by Telenet Japan and published by Toei Video in Japan and Sega in North America for the Sega CD.
The Masked Rider: Kamen Rider ZO uses video footage ported from the film Kamen Rider ZO. It is an Interactive film game.
The Masked Rider: Kamen Rider ZO was developed by Telnet Japan (also known as Wolf Team) as part of the Sega CD TruVideo line of interactive film games.[1] It is an adaptation of the 1993 movie of the same name, which itself was the 13th iteration of the long-running Kamen Rider media franchise from Toei Company.[2] The Masked Rider contains extra footage that was either cut from the original 48-minute feature or shot specifically for the adaptation.[3] The game was released in Japan by Toei on May 13, 1994. A North American version featuring English-dubbed voice acting and translated text was published by Sega around November 1994.[4]
Review scores for The Masked Rider were very mixed. Critics disagreed on the overall quality of the game due to its reliance on full-motion video and its limited playability as an interactive movie. Many writers compared it to the Sega CD version of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, another interactive movie based on Super Sentai. Chris Bieniek of the magazine VideoGames was complimentary of the monster footage and of Sega of America's willingness to release a localized version of the Kamen Rider adaptation for the franchise's North America fanbase. However, he stated that like Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, The Masked Rider was not as much fun to play as it was to watch. The Brazilian magazines VideoGame and Gamers were both highly complimentary of its visuals and sound though the latter publication subtracted praise for the game's lack of challenge. Likewise, GamePro, Sega Pro, and AllGame all commended its presentation as an FMV game but felt it lacked replay value due to its cinematic structure.[2]
Laurie Yates of Electronic Games conversely criticized its FMV sequences as "visually tired and fuzzy" but similarly concluded that that this aspect was "sloppy and haphazard for a piece of software that is more movie than game." Next Generation proclaimed, "It's guy-in-rubber suit action at the "Ultraman" level which has a certain appeal to some folks I know. But as a game, it's almost worthless." The French magazine Joypad found the costumes cheesy, the special effects tasteless, and its stupidity proportional to its fun factor. The reviewer assumed the game would be a hit in Japan and that it would never be released in Europe.