Cool Spot Longplay (Mega Drive/Genesis) [50 FPS]

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Developed and published by Virgin Interactive in 1993

One of the earliest games that I remember to feature corporate sponsorship so openly, Cool Spot takes the spot from the 7up soft drinks logo and turned him into a full-blown game character for this platform collect-em-up.

Whether or not in-game advertising raises your hackles, there's no getting away from the fact that Cool Spot was big news at the time of it's released, and, in my opinion, the attention it received was well deserved.

Programmed by David Perry, Cool Spot was released on SNES, Mega Drive and both competing 16-bit computers, the Amiga and Atari ST. It was the Amiga version that I owned back in the day.

Cool Spot really was something of a poster child for the consoles. Featuring fantastic graphics, animation and some of the smoothest scrolling around, the game made full use of the hardware on offer. The controls are also spot on and I found it significantly easier to control than the Amiga version. Sure, the Amiga version had superior music with digital samples, but the Mega Drive steals the show as far as gameplay and graphics are concerned.

Spot is on a mission to rescue his buddies who seem to have got themselves trapped in cages across a number of different levels. The game requires the player to locate a set number of cool tokens in each level before trying to locate the cage. Collecting more than the required quota will grant access to a bonus stage where a continue can be earned. The level themes don't seem to be connected apart from that fact they always centre on the tiny spot navigating his way around every-day objects that are much bigger than he is.

While the game is great platformer, some of the levels (notable the toy-themed ones) contain far too many enemies and the novelty of killing them wears thin after a while. I'd originally intended to play the game on the hardest difficulty, but the number of enemies was even more ridiculous and would have made for some very boring viewing, hence why I decided to play it on normal.

While not perfect, if you're looking for a slice of retro platforming action then Cool Spot will more than keep you occupied and comes highly recommended.

#retrogaming
#sega
#coolspot