Opa-Opa

Opa-Opa
Opa-Opa sprite from Fantasy Zone II DX: The Tears of Opa-Opa
First appearance	Fantasy Zone (1986, Arcade)
Latest appearance	Fantasy Zone (2022, Lost Judgment, SMS version)
Species	Robotic

“Opa!”

—Opa-Opa, Galactic Protector

Opa-Opa is the main protagonist of most games in the Fantasy Zone series. It debuted in 1986 alongside the first game, which was been proved popular among Sega fans at the Arcades.

In most games, Opa-Opa is the defender of the Fantasy Zone planetary ecosystem, alongside Harrier and Uriah from Space Harrier. Opa-Opa defeated countless enemies in multiple wars against the Menon forces, including his dark version, Dark Opa-Opa.

History

Fantasy Zone series

In Fantasy Zone, Opa-Opa is a warrior which fights against Menon forces due to constant robbery of money in favor of constructing their own fortress. In the end, it was revealed that Opa-Opa's father, O-Papa, was behind them.

In Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa, set ten years after the events of the original, Opa-Opa fights against the Menon forces once again, this time, by travelling constantly through portals.

From Fantasy Zone: The Maze (known as Opa Opa in Japan), the third game in the Fantasy Zone series, Opa-Opa and his brother, Upa-Upa, is set in a combat training against Menon forces to equip weapons for future war purposes in Fantasy Zone.

In Galactic Protector, Opa-Opa and Upa-Upa try to defend several planets against colliding meteorites and other space debris that can damage themselves. The game is markable for being the first and only game in the Fantasy Zone series where Opa-Opa actually spoke the human language, either by his Opa! death scream or the Perfect! speech.

Since Sega largely abandoned Fantasy Zone in the 90s, Sanritsu, who later become SIMS, made and released Fantasy Zone Gear (known just as Fantasy Zone in Western markets, published by Sega themselves). In this game, Opa-Opa is no more the protagonist, but rather, a captive from dark forces. His son, Opa-Opa Jr., is now the protagonist and fights to rescue his father and friends.

On 1992, Sunsoft made and released Super Fantasy Zone for Sega Genesis. In it, Opa-Opa is the protagonist again and makes revenge for the death of his dad, O-Papa.

M2's intake in Fantasy Zone II, Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa DX, revamps the original story and adds a new dark nemesis, Dark Opa-Opa, which can be the player itself as the game progress, depending of the conditions.

In the unreleased title Space Fantasy Zone for NEC's Super CD-ROM² system, Opa-Opa is taken in an alternative way of dealing with enemies from Menon forces, this time a la Space Harrier and Galaxy Force II. The history is largely the same, albeit with several new elements, such as the Shopkeeper from Weaponalds.

Akai Koudan Zillion

Opa-Opa appears in NTV's Akai Koudan Zillion anime (known as Red Photon Zillion in the US and just as Zillion in other regions and the games) as one of the cast's main characters. His brother, Upa-Upa, and his father, O-Papa, are also mentioned.

Sega games

• Action Fighter: Opa-Opa appears as a collectible icon panel for previously collected map pieces, which gives bonus points. Other Sega characters such as Alex Kidd and Teddy Boy from Teddy Boy Blues also appear as well.
• Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars: Opa-Opa is featured as a hostage of two lost Zodiac stars.
• Quartet: In the Master System version of the game, Opa-Opa appears in the Sound Test, alongside Mary (in her Japanese design), Alex Kidd, Igul from Pit Pot and Teddy Boy.
• Flash Point: Opa-Opa appears in this Tetris-licensed game, as well with Alex Kidd, Flicky and the protagonist of Sega Ninja.
• UFO Senshi Yohko-chan: Opa-Opa appears as a hidden collectible item, giving points to the player. The right conditions to make Opa-Opa appear are unknown.
• Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf: In this Genesis counterpart of Super Masters Golf, Opa-Opa appears between cutscenes alongside Alex Kidd. A minigame of Fantasy Zone also appears as an Easter Egg in the American version.
• Kinetic Connection: In the Sega Game Gear version, Opa-Opa is featured as a prominent character in the puzzles.
• Segagaga: An enemy portrayed by an Opa-Opa sprite appears. His battle theme is completely themed around Fantasy Zone, including Opa-Opa's theme from the original.
• Sonic & SEGA All-Stars Racing: Opa-Opa appears in most versions of the game as an unlockable character. In this game, he shares the same racing stats as Alex Kidd. In the Nintendo DS version of the game, Opa-Opa shares the same All-Star move as Dr. Eggman and Alex Kidd as well.

Other games / media

• Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours: Opa-Opa appears as a playable character through DLC, replacing traditional Silver Hawk spaceships from this game. Harrier from Space Harrier and Galaxy Lady from Galaxy Force II also appears as well.
• Dariusburst CS Core + Taito / Sega Core: In this special Nintendo Switch version of Dariusburst Chronicle Saviours, Opa-Opa, Harrier and Galaxy Lady reprises their roles from the previous entry.

Portrayls

• Unknown voice actress (Japanese; 1988)

While Opa-Opa remained voiceless in most games and other Sega crossovers, the Zillion arc of Opa-Opa received several voice actresses and actors around the world:

• Chieko Honda (Japanese; 1987, Akai Koudan Zillion)
• Wendee Lee (English; 1990s, Akai Koudan Zillion)

Zillion was also dubbed in European Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and Polish, but Opa-Opa's voice actors/actresses are unknown.

Names in other languages

Language	Name	Meaning
Japanese	オパオパ Opa Opa	Opa-Opa
Korean	오파오파 Opa Opa	Opa-Opa
Portuguese (Brazil)	Bongo	Bongo Opa-Opa's name in the Brazilian dub of Akai Koudan Zillion. Other than that, Opa-Opa is always used.