Released to arcades in Japan in 1983 and in a Namco Museum Collection Vol. 3 compilation in the United States for the Playstation on June 21st 1996, Phozon is primarily notable for it's fairly unusual gameplay mechanic. The player tries to recreate a shape in the center of the screen by catching small atom-like shapes or "Moleks" with the player controlled "Chemic", a black ball with red spikes that is the center of all the shapes. The player moves his Chemic into the small atoms moving around the screen, and simply by touching them they become stuck to the player. If they do not match the shape at the center of the screen the player can hit a button to release the most recently attached shape, and try to connect them in the correct location. Additionally a mass of colored spheres called the Atomic moves around the screen and will destroy the player's Chemic if it comes into contact with it.
This combination of puzzle and action gameplay is an interesting example of a game innovation from the early arcade era that failed to catch on. Namco's enthusiasm for the title appears to be muted at best; it was the first game by the company since Kaitei Takara Sagashi to not receive an arcade release outside of Japan. It has also seen exactly one conversion or re-release since its original publication, in Namco Museum Volume 3.
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