Obscure Game Review: Blasto

Warning-this review contains spoilers for a long forgotten video game from 18 years ago. Enjoy!

The Sony Playstation. What games do you think of when it comes to mind? Final Fantasy VII. Crash Bandicoot. Resident Evil. Metal Gear Solid. Spyro The Dragon. And Blasto, right? 

Most likely, your answer would be “wrong” for that question. And if you have heard of the game, a bit of bile rises in the back of your throat at the very mention of it. But I’m not here to trash Blasto; I know many people dislike this game, but in the nearly 20 years since it was released, I have grown to like it quite a bit. I suppose I’d describe it as one of those guilty pleasure-type games for me. Released in 1998 for the Playstation, Blasto hopped right onto the 3D platformer bandwagon that was all the rage at the time, yet never quite took off and faded into video game obscurity over time. Though I understand why someone who’d never played it before might pick it up and think it’s awful, it’s just one of those games I had as a kid that I really enjoyed and still do to this day. It’s far from perfect, but I think it’s enjoyable in its own right and if you can get past some of those flaws, you may just think so too. So let’s check it out. 

First things first, if you picked up this game in a store in 1998 and looked at the cover, what images would you be conjuring up in your head? Space Ghost meets Johnny Bravo? What madness is this? Well honestly, I think that’s exactly what they were getting at because the character actually acts like a mixture of those two. He’s voiced by the late, great Phil Hartman, who just does a fantastic job with that 1950s-esque B-movie space commando-type dialogue. You’re going to be hearing a lot of it, sometimes the same lines over and over ad nauseum, but I think Hartman’s voice work is just always funny and some lines never fail to crack me up. Eerily, the voice work for this game was one of Hartman’s final projects before his untimely death only two months after it was released.

Captain Blasto- a fusion of Johnny Bravo and Space Ghost? Quite possibly so.

The plot involves an evil alien tyrant named Bosc who seeks revenge against our galaxy after being banished to the 5th dimension. With his alien army, Bosc plans to escape the 5th dimension and take over the universe, and now it’s up to the intergalactic defender of the galaxy, Captain Blasto, to stop him. The evil race of aliens are all the typical “little green men” you might have seen in a Looney Tunes cartoon- as a matter of fact, much of what you’ll see in this game is very reminiscent of 1950s-60s cartoons and comics. As I mentioned before, the game is a 3D platformer in which you’ll take control of Blasto and traverse large, non-linear 3D environments while solving puzzles, collecting power ups, and shooting nonstop barrages of aliens and robots and the like. The overall design of the game is a very cartoony one, with lots of bright primary colors for the backgrounds, enemies and items. In fact, I think a lot of the level design was directly inspired by the Looney Tunes cartoons when Bugs Bunny met up with Marvin Martian in space. The graphics are the typical jagged polygons reminiscent of the early days of 3D rendering, and whether they’ve aged well or not is a matter of personal opinion I guess. I think for a game like this, it’s not so bad because the overall design is done in such a cartoonish manner. The animated FMV sequences in the intro and ending of the game are done pretty nicely, I think.

 From the 1958 Looney Tunes short "Hare-Way To The Stars"...

...and from Blasto's 2nd level. See the similarities?

The gameplay is fairly straightforward- with a 3rd person POV, you’ll navigate through different levels in search of an exit hub which warps you to the next level. Along the way you’ll have to deactivate laser barriers in order to access certain parts of the levels by finding switches that are scattered throughout the levels. You’ll also have to fight your way through a seemingly endless barrage of various types of aliens, from the aforementioned little green guys to laser-shooting floating eye-robots to dual pistol-wielding giant ants. None of them are that particularly difficult to deal with, at least not until the later levels when they start getting much tougher. However, they can also present quite a bit of aggravation right from the beginning. There’s an overabundance of annoying flying enemies that appear from nowhere and surround you- this is especially true of the star-shaped mines that look like unrendered polygons from a tech demo. Also, enemies are never really all onscreen at once- they just sort of materialize out of thin air, so sometimes they can get a quick jump on you which leads to some cheap deaths. The framerate also starts to suffer heavily when a lot of enemies appear onscreen. Usually this isn’t a problem, but every once and a while when you become surrounded there will be a considerable slowdown. Lastly, there’s not much leeway with respawning after being killed, and sometimes you’re placed right back into enemy fire with little chance to recover.

The overabundance of flying enemies that encircle and attack you from every 

direction gets pretty annoying. Case and point: these star-shaped bomb things.

Thankfully, Blasto can collect a large arsenal of weapon powerups that upgrade the wimpy little pea-shooter laser you start out with. By holding down the square button, you’ll be able to charge up a single shot, which does double the damage of a regular shot. You can also collect so called “tetra-watt” powerups, which allow you to fire regular shots with the stopping power of a charged shot. However, some aliens can also do this, and their charged shots will instantly kill you (and if you don’t see it coming in time, this can be really annoying). In addition to the tetra-watt powerups, you’ll also be able to collect different weapon upgrades that are readily available throughout levels. These upgrades allow you to fire a special weapon in addition to the standard blaster, though ammunition is limited for them. These special weapons range from homing missiles that automatically lock onto targets to a mini-nuclear warhead that eradicates all enemies in sight (which, by the way, has my favorite name of all: the Nuke-O-Matic Atomscatter 9000). And if all else fails, you can walk right up to an enemy and press the fire button, which causes Blasto to smack it a few times with his gun (which always gets a laugh out of me). In addition to all of the weapon powerups you can find, there are several items available that aid in your adventure- there’s partial invisibility (which causes enemies to misfire at you), invulnerability, and even a jetpack on certain levels. There’s a lot of secrets scattered throughout each level as well, some of them pretty funny in their own right- for example, in the second level there’s a part where you must creep behind an alien who unlocks a bathroom, and just as he sits down on a toilet you burst in and blow him away, revealing a bunch of extra lives. Lastly, there are a number of “babes” in each level, usually in a hidden area or on a hard to reach platform, who restore your health when rescued and drop off an extra life or two. 

Rescuing babes...did I mention this game reminds me of the cartoon Johnny Bravo?

The controls are moderately stiff. They don’t hinder the game too much, but they can lead to some cheap deaths every now and then. For one thing, they sometimes present a problem in certain situations like jumping from one floating platform to another, as “steering” Blasto mid-jump isn’t as responsive as it should be. Also, Blasto can grab onto the ledges of platforms and heft himself up onto them, but sometimes he doesn’t grab on properly and if there’s nothing else beneath you, you’ll end up hurtling to your doom. There’s kind of an auto-aim with the blaster, but it doesn’t work as well as it should. Sometimes you'll just fire right past an enemy and will have to aim more precisely to hit them with shots. Another problem presents itself when multiple enemies attack you from different directions. Actually, this happens a LOT. Blasto does not turn around very quickly, so it’s pretty difficult to focus on taking out enemies unless you have an overpowered blaster with a strong special weapon upgrade. Thankfully, there is one thing that helps- by pressing down on the D-pad and X, you’ll do a backward flip which quickly faces you in the opposite direction. Learning to master this is a must, as is strafing. By holding L2 or R2, Basto will strafe to the left or right quickly, which helps greatly in dodging enemy fire. 

No matter how good you are, you’re going to be dying a lot- as such, the best strategy is to stock up on as many lives as you can in the earlier levels when the game is still relatively easy. Extra lives are still pretty plentiful in the later levels, but you’ll be dying a lot more later on. Thankfully, there are also plenty of save points scattered about each level. Yeah, for you younger readers out there it might be hard to imagine, but older games didn’t have that fancy autosave feature built in that nearly all modern games have; back in the 90’s, save spots were sort of a staple of early 3D games.

As I mentioned, the first three levels probably won’t cause you many problems, but things start going off the rails once you reach level 4. It's very different from the first three and almost feels like a different game entirely. Instead of fighting the aliens you've grown accustomed to, you'll be doing battle with weird-looking nomads, giant ants, and floating "jelly-bean" aliens that take the place of the eye robots (really, that's what they call them in the manual). This level has forever been burned into my mind since first playing the game as a frustrating, confusing mess that nearly drove me insane, solely because of one stupid switch- more on that in a moment. 

So for starters, the fourth level throws a wrench in the general schema established by the first three levels. In those first three, you search for a switch which unlocks another part of the level, and then you move on to that part until you find the exit, and then it's on to the next level. In level 4, you'll need to activate 4 different switches in order to unblock a path with leads to the level boss and subsequently, the level exit. However, there are two sort of "sub-levels" within level 4 where you'll find two of these switches, and these are called levels 5 & 6. So, you'll need to go through level 4, then 5 & 6, then BACK to 4 in order to move on to level 7. Still with me?

The next problem arises with one of the four switches. With two of them being at the end of levels 5 & 6, it stands to reason that the other two are in level 4. One of them is easy enough to find- it's actually right next to the path you'll need to clear by pushing the switches to reach the exit. However, the second switch is the one that drove me absolutely nuts as a kid, as it was the only one I couldn't find and left me stuck on the stupid level for hours and hours on end. In fact, I never actually legitimately beat the level until I played the game when I was much older; when I was kid, I used Gameshark cheats to bypass the blocked path instead of activating the switches and completed the level that way.

The stupid switch is actually almost hidden in plain sight, tucked away behind a small enclave near a wall in an area that you'll pass through many times as you trek through the level. However, it's hidden in such a way that you might never find it unless you were scaling just about every pixelated inch of the walls and happened to stumble across it, which is actually the only way I managed to find it. And therein lies another major problem- nearly every area of this level looks exactly the same, so it’s quite disorienting to remember where you’ve already been compared to areas you haven’t been to yet. Also, the whole level is huge, probably the largest in the whole game, so there are many other potential spots you could search for hours only to come up completely empty-handed.

 You'll walk past this area many times as you search through level 4, but it's VERY easy to overlook this tiny enclave, as notified by the arrow. It also doesn't help that a bunch of enemies spawn in this area and attack you, distracting you from exploring a little further.

And therein lies that evil switch.

The biggest problem is that there isn't a natural progression to the levels here. You can find the switches in just about any order, but you'll most likely find the first one initially, followed by switches 3 & 4 in levels 5 & 6, respectively. However, you can freely enter levels 5 and 6 even if you haven’t found switch #2, though switch #1 is required. Moreover, if you've skipped over switch #2, you'll be utterly baffled when you see the mission objective for level 6, which states: “throw the switch for the final step!” Once you hit switch #4 and return to the blocked path, it dawns on you that you've still missed one somewhere, and will have to backtrack through levels 5 & 6, as well as all the areas you've already been to in level 4 in search of the damn thing with absolutely no indication or clues as to where it is.

If you haven't found any of the other switches and you enter level 6, this message will only further mystify you.

As I mentioned, this drove me totally bonkers as a kid. I actually thought there was a glitch in the game that was preventing me from progressing, simply because that damn 2nd switch was nowhere to be found. Even as an adult playing it, I had the same exact problem until I finally found it and felt like a complete idiot for missing it after all those years. This is probably a good time to mention another problem, this time with the general gameplay- Blasto is slower than a sloth crawling through molasses. You might not necessarily notice it during the first three levels because you'll have to do a lot more jumping on platforms and strafing around tight corners in small corridors. However, once you reach the wide open areas of level 4, you'll really start to take note of just how slow he is, and this presents a huge problem if you've missed switch #2 and have to travel from end to end of levels 4, 5, & 6 in search of it.

However, things thankfully go back to normal once you reach level 7, which happens to be my favorite level. It feels much more like the first three, which can be quite a sight for sore eyes after enduring the nightmare of level 4. It’s much more straightforward, having you complete certain objectives in one part of the level in order to move on to the next. The aliens are back with a vengeance, along with some new friends- flying saucers, hoverboarding assholes, and the Giant Snarf, a massive unkillable enemy that you’ll need to do some puzzle solving to get past (more on that later). The level music is just awesome too. The music in general is one thing I totally love about this game. It’s like a 90's techno space alien-a-go-go. I love it, as a big fan of electronica. One very cool aspect is the way the music dynamically changes depending on the situation you are in. As more aliens gang up on you, the tempo increases. Once you’ve cleared them all away, it shifts down to a more cautious “searching about” tone, and each level theme has its own variation of this.

Level 8 is a bit more like level 4, though way less cryptic and complicated in the means of finishing it. It’s sort of a maze of seemingly endless rock platforms surrounded by lava that you must jump through and navigate while avoiding more aliens and trying not fall to a fiery death. This is a pretty good time to bring up the map system. It’s kind of nonsensical and for the most part, you’ll find yourself ignoring it. Scattered around each level are flashing white squares on the ground, which fill in an overhead view of the area when you step on them. However, it only partially fills in that area, and for anything beyond that you’ll need to find and activate another square. By pressing triangle, you’ll be able to pull up the map and look at it again, but only at the areas you’ve filled in. It sort of helps, especially in level 8, but it’s so far zoomed out and there’s not many establishing landmarks present on it (or even any sort of legend, for that matter) that’s it’s almost useless in every other level.

So this is the map, which can be accessed at any time by pressing triangle. However, it only becomes filled in when you find all of the white squares, and even then it's hard to tell where you even are. See that tiny little white arrow in the top-right corner? That's your location.

Once you make it to level 9, you’re in the final stretch of the game. Unfortunately, many of the same problems presented in level 4 rear their ugly head again. For one thing, once more you’ll have to travel through three other levels (10, 11 and 12), then back through level 9 to reach the final boss of the game. And yet again, there’s more cryptic bullshit that might be even worse than the lost switch I could never find in level 4. Immediately upon entering level 9, you hit a sort of dead end. There’s a large main hall area with a few blocked rooms, and one room with a switch in it. However, the switch is inaccessible due to a pit of lava that’s too wide to jump across. There’s no indication anywhere as to how to get across, and nothing immediately jumps out at you as to how to advance. You’ll sit there utterly stumped as to what to do next. So what do you do? How do you progress? When I was a kid I couldn’t give you the answer- I just used Gameshark once again, since I’d already used it to even get that far. And as an adult? Nope, still couldn’t figure it out.

It was only until I got so frustrated that I decided to look up a guide online that I found the answer, and I was totally floored by the absurdity of it. Okay, so remember the weapon upgrades I mentioned earlier? There’s one you’ll periodically find that’s pretty much useless- the “Xenomatic Instant Alien Generator” gun. All it does is spawn an alien directly in front of you, so for the most part you’ll just ignore it. However, this gun is necessary for two parts of the game. The first part is for the aforementioned Giant Snarf enemy that appears in level 7. In order to get past the behemoth, you’ll have to distract it by picking up the Xenomatic gun and spawning a few aliens off to his side which he’ll subsequently chase down and devour, allowing you to sneak by unharmed. The second use of the gun is to spawn an alien on the other side of the lava pit in the only accessible room of level 9. The alien will then activate the switch on the other side, which brings up a few platforms that allow you to cross the lava safely. Seems simple enough, so what’s the problem here?

The problem is that the lava pit is too large to simply shoot aliens across it. If you try, the aliens will just fall right into it and die. The Xenomatic gun repeatedly appears in the room, giving you a clue on what needs to be done, but actually implementing the plan is a whole other ballgame. You need to hold the fire button for a few seconds, which charges up the ray, allowing the alien to be spawned farther away and safely on the other side. The big issue here is that absolutely nowhere in the game is it explained that the gun can be charged up in this way. It’s not even in the damn manual! You would never have any indication to do so unless you knew beforehand, or by some pure dumb luck you discovered for yourself that the gun can be charged. 

The freakin' manual doesn't even give you any indication that the gun can be charged. If the game 
doesn't explicitly tell you so, at the very least the manual should. That's just unacceptable.

After that nonsense, the rest of the remaining levels are pretty straightforward. The enemies are very tough in these last areas, often only being damaged by fully charged shots or special weapons. There are also a few more puzzles to be solved, though none nearly as cryptic as the alien spawning. I have to say though, once you push deeper and deeper into the fortress, the foreboding setting is very cool. Maybe it’s just because by this point you thought you’d never even make it this far, but something about the atmosphere in the latter portions of level 9 is very ominous. There’s also a pair of very well hidden secrets here that you probably wouldn’t find your first time playing through. One is accessed only by rescuing every babe in the game (no small feat, I might add), and it only unlocks a minor alteration to the ending of the game. The other is a lot cooler- by finding your way into a hidden room, you’ll have to face off with a clone of Blasto who uses the same weapons and moves against you and is pretty tough to defeat. However, upon doing so you can save your game and instantly access any other level of the game, which is pretty awesome for future playthroughs if you want to skip over a certain level (looking at you, level 4). Other than those secrets, the only other thing to do is make your way to the top floor and do battle with the final boss. He’s got two forms, the first of which isn’t too hard, but the second can be quite a pain. The first is a giant robot suit that stomps around firing lasers at you, but it’s pretty easy to avoid. After defeating that, the head detaches and whizzes around in the air, assaulting you with a constant barrage of laser blasts. To make matters worse, the floor starts to break apart and you’ll have to dodge lava pits as well. It’s pretty annoying, but after many deaths you should be able to overcome it.

And that’s Blasto in a nutshell. I know I’ve probably dumped on it more than I’ve praised it here, but I want to say that despite its many flaws, I do have a soft spot for this game deep down. It’s far from perfect, yes, but it’s got just enough fun, humor and techno music to keep me coming back to it from time to time. After the credits, you’re greeted with a message teasing a potential sequel, but it unfortunately never came to light. Whether this was due to Hartman’s death or the game releasing to mediocre reviews I’m not sure, but I can’t help but feel a bit of sadness every time I see that message. If the flaws were addressed and ironed out a bit and if Hartman hadn’t passed away shortly after, maybe it would’ve seen a proper sequel and Captain Blasto wouldn’t be the mere artifact of the late 90’s that he is today. While we’ll probably never see a reincarnation of the game in any form, I hope to keep the memory alive by talking about it to this day. It’s kind of hard for me to recommend this game because I feel like if anyone were to play it today having never played it before, it wouldn’t be perceived very favorably. However, if you’re willing to give it a shot with an open mind, I say go for it. Just know in advance you’re going to be frustrated at some parts, but hopefully the overall experience will be a good one.

 It's too bad this will never come true.

So until next time, so long, farewell, and long live the memory of Phil Hartman and Captain Blasto!

Quick thoughts: Resident Evil 3 for Dreamcast

So yeah, I talk about Resident Evil a lot, I know. As if my four-part essay of general thoughts on the franchise didn’t make that obvious enough. Anyway, because of that and the fact that I already talked about RE3 in there as well, this will be pretty quick- it’s more or less because I just played through it, it’s fresh on my mind and I have a few lingering thoughts I’d like to get out.

Anyway, so a few days ago I picked up Resident Evil 3: Nemesis for the Sega Dreamcast for no real reason other than I saw it for a decent price at my local retro gaming store. Since, you know, I already own it on two other mediums (PS1 and Gamecube). Nonetheless, since I had some rare downtime this weekend to relax in front of the TV, I gave it a quick playthrough. Now as I mentioned in my massive article on the series, since RE3 was one of the few games in the franchise that I didn’t play when it was brand new, I don’t quite have the sentimental connection to it that I do with the other early games in the series. That said, I do like it a lot and still consider it one of the greats in the series.

The Sega Dreamcast port of both this game and RE2 are kind of oddities of the Resident Evil universe. It made sense at the time to start bringing the franchise to the console, as the release of the console-exclusive Code: Veronica a few months earlier was met with great success. They both offer up some unique features, one of which is the utilization of the Dreamcast VMU, a sort of memory card unit that plugs right into the controller.

This is really cool for RE2, as it displays status features such as amount of remaining health and bullets, which is awesome to be able to check without bringing up the status menu as you’d have to do in any other version of the game. However, for reasons that totally elude and mystify me, they left out the remaining bullet count from the RE3 version, leaving only the health status. The health status is a nifty little novelty, but it’s kind of totally pointless due to the fact that you can tell what health status your character has at all times just by looking at them- in caution they’ll clutch their side, and in danger they’ll limp slowly. By contrast, the ammo counter is extremely helpful, especially when carrying a weapon that reloads very slowly and is much easier to reload in the menu, making it imperative to know how many shots you’ve fired. Why they’d have that in the RE2 port but then do away with it for RE3 is beyond me. The RE3 port was actually released a few months earlier than the RE2 one, which I guess might explain it, but it still doesn’t make much sense to me why they wouldn’t have that feature for the both of them.

Left: RE3, Right: RE2

Having already owned RE2 for Dreamcast and expecting that feature to be there when I bought RE3 was a bit of a downer right off the bat. Another thing that made this game a little less than enjoyable as I played through was the difficulty. I don’t know if I’ve just gotten worse with games over the years, and this game has always been the hardest of the original ones I think, but I really didn’t remember it being as hard as it was for me this time around. Granted, I was playing on hard mode, but that’s only because easy mode is too easy. I mean, they give you a huge arsenal of weapons right as you begin. I do want some challenge from a game, but not so much that I want to smash the disc with a hammer. If there were a medium difficulty I feel like I would’ve had a better time, but there’s just no in between. Though this isn’t unique to the Dreamcast version, what is unique is the fact that I also have a hard time with the Dreamcast controllers. I have pretty small hands, so those big things do not work all that well for me. They’re not impossible to play with or anything, it’s just that when the game is already giving me enough of a problem by kicking my ass with the difficulty, having even the slightest control disadvantage becomes a noticeable problem. I ended up repeatedly dying at certain points of the game I never had a problem with before on the PS1 or Gamecube versions.

One interesting, albeit strange aspect is that alternate costumes and the mercenaries mini-game are both available right from the start of the game, as opposed to being unlockable features that become available upon beating the game for the first time. It is cool to see all those extra costumes I could never unlock because, like I said before, I’ve never been all that great at this game. It’s also nice to be able to play the addicting mercenaries game right away, even if it is just as frustratingly difficult as the main game and no matter what I do I still can’t get a damn A ranking in it.

Other than that, there are not many other distinguishing features from the other two versions. The graphics are definitely better than the choppy-looking PS1 graphics, but the Gamecube version has the best of the three. In fact, I think the Gamecube version is the best overall out of the three as well. If the Dreamcast version had the bullet counter that the RE2 port had, I might be able to make a case for it, but without that feature it doesn’t stand out too much on its own. So if you’re looking to pick this game up, I’d say go for the Gamecube one for the optimal experience.

And on one final note, I finally solved that damnable water quality puzzle at the end of the game without using a strategy guide. Even though the game kicked my ass up and down, at least I can take pride in that.

The Sega 32X & Knuckles’ Chaotix

Ah, the Sega 32X, what a strange specimen of a gaming console. It was a colossal failure on the part of Sega and one of the contributing factors to the company’s eventual downfall with regard to hardware. However, this little mushroom-shaped oddity has always fascinated me. I think it’s because when I was younger, I had a friend whose father worked for Sega, and as such he would always have the latest Sega consoles as they were released. Because of this, I got to play the Sega CD, Saturn, Game Gear and 32X when they first arrived while most kids my age had only ever played the Genesis. He had the whole Genesis/CD/32X combo, which we lovingly referred to as “the megazord” (ala Power Rangers).

My friend didn’t have many games for it, but one of them was the quintessential 32X game, one of the only noteworthy games in the very small library and most likely the first game that comes to mind when the 32X is mentioned- Knuckles’ Chaotix. But before I get into that, let’s discuss a brief history of the 32X itself.

In 1994, the 16-bit era of video games was coming to an end. Bigger and better consoles were on the horizon, and many companies (i.e. Nintendo, Sony) were beginning to focus their efforts on developing the consoles of the next generation. Sega was also among these companies, yet their approach was a bit different. In what would eventually prove to be a terrible marketing decision, Sega of America produced a 32-bit add on for the Sega Genesis while Sega of Japan began work on what would later become the Sega Saturn. With the company being pulled in two different directions, there’s simply no way things could have ended well. The 32X was designed with the goal in mind of extending the lifespan of the Sega Genesis, but it was merely prolonging the inevitable.

Software developers knew that better consoles were coming and that the older technology was quickly becoming obsolete. As such, third party support for the 32X was virtually non-existent, which greatly hindered the amount of available titles for it. Only 31 cartridge games were released, as well as 5 “CD-32X” games, which utilized both the 32X and the Sega CD add-on, for a total of 36 titles in North America (Europe had two exclusive titles and Japan had one). Not only that, but a majority of 32X games (23 out of the 36, to be specific) were merely slightly graphically upgraded versions of games that were already available on the Genesis, Sega CD, Super Nintendo, etc. In all, that left the 32X with only 13 original titles of its own, a pathetically small amount rivaled only by other failed consoles such as the Nintendo Virtual Boy.

By 1996, only a little over a year after it was released, the 32X was dead in the water. By then the Saturn, Nintendo 64, and Playstation were already out, and the plug was officially pulled after the release of the final game, The Amazing Spiderman: Web Of Fire, in early ‘96.

At some point in the future, I expect fewer and fewer people will ever even know that Sega once produced consoles in competition with the likes of Nintendo and Sony. And even if memories of consoles like the Genesis survive with generations of gamers to come, the memory of the 32X is very likely to fade into video game obscurity forever. But if those future video game enthusiasts delve deep enough and happen to dig up the long forgotten grave of Sega's failed experiment in 32-bit technology, there is likely one artifact they'd find that just may be worth their time: Knuckles' Chaotix. 

To those of us who remember the 90's well, this is probably the first (and maybe only) 32X game that comes to mind when we do think back to Sega's extremely ill-advised disaster of a console add-on. I certainly do; as an avid fan of the Sonic The Hedgehog series since 1991, I have fond memories of playing through all of the series' early entries. However, Chaotix always stuck out in my mind. Maybe it was because the 32X came and went so fast, but both the game and the short-lived console have always had this mythical aura to me. Maybe that’s part of the reason why I’ve collected nearly the entire library of games for the weird little thing.

Anyway, I’m actually quite surprised that these days, Chaotix isn’t looked at very favorably as far as the Sonic franchise is concerned, and some people even downright hate it. I wouldn’t call it a perfect game by any means, but I really believe a lot of this hate is unwarranted. Also, I think a lot of the criticism stems more from how hard the 32X itself flopped instead of taking an actual critical look at the game on its own. As such, I’m here to make a case as to why I think Chaotix is one of the best in the series, right up there with the original Genesis classics. Before I look at the game itself though, let me put a little context behind the release of the game and the era it was brought into.

The mid-90’s were just about the absolute height of the Sonic The Hedgehog franchise’s popularity. Sonic was everywhere- video games, cartoons, toys, comic books; you couldn’t go five minutes without seeing him somewhere. At the time, there were five Sonic games out in the primary series- Sonic 1, 2, 3, Sonic & Knuckles, and Sonic CD. Not counting Sonic Spinball (which wasn’t much of a genuine Sonic game at all as much as it was a Sonic-themed pinball game) and a handful of Sonic-related Game Gear games, the formula was pretty consistent across the games of the main series. You collect rings, jump on bad guys, and move from left to right through stages while dodging hazards and going real fast. It’s a rudimentary formula, but such is the nature of 2-D platformers.

But each successive game brought something new to the table, as any good sequel should. Sonic 2 introduced a new character in Tails, a new move in the spin-dash, and a new secret power-up in Super Sonic. Sonic CD presented another new character (Amy Rose), another new move (the Figure-8 Dash) and massively complex levels and bonus stages. Sonic 3 saw yet another new character, Knuckles, as well as new sprites for the whole gang and new power-ups. And finally, Sonic & Knuckles made Knuckles a playable character and had two different scenarios to play through (not to mention the ability to play as Knuckles in Sonic 2 as well).

So with the debut of the 32X in late 1994 (not long after the release of Sonic & Knuckles), the time was right for another shake-up of the series. Originally, this was to take place on the Genesis with the release of a game titled Sonic Crackers, in which Sonic and Tails would be tethered together with a ring that would allow the both of them to be launched like a sling-shot through side-scrolling levels. However, for unknown reasons Sonic was jettisoned from the project, it was moved to the 32X, and none other than Knuckles the echidna stepped in to take his place.

The concept of Chaotix arose from a cancelled Genesis game called "Sonic Crackers," in which Sonic and Tails were connected through two magic rings and moved in tandem with one another.

Perhaps this was because Sonic was being saved for the Saturn, which was in the works at the time, as well as another Sonic game for it titled “Sonic X-treme” (which also was cancelled). Or maybe a genuine Sonic game for the 32X had been planned before the 32X crashed and burned. Whatever the reason, Sonic was out and Knuckles was in. In an era where gaming mascots were EVERYTHING to the industry (Re: Bubsy), I think this was a pretty bold move. I mean, imagine if Nintendo had done the same for Luigi of the Super Mario Bros. franchise. All they gave him at the time was a pretty lame educational game, which only furthered his unpopularity.

Not only that, but Knuckles was quickly garnering a strong following of his own. The timing was just right- with the previous entry of Sonic & Knuckles being the first time Knuckles was a playable character, gamers were flocking to him in droves. In fact, I knew many people who thought he was a lot cooler than Sonic (who was supposed to be the epitome of 'cool,' mind you). I mean, he could fly, climb walls, bust through rocks with his fists- what's not to like about that? Kids thought he was awesome. Also, in the popular Archie Sonic The Hedgehog comic book series, Knuckles was a mainstay of the central plot who frequently clashed with Sonic, his so-called “friendly nemesis.” When Chaotix was released, Archie also produced a comic book tie-in which boosted Knuckles into the spotlight even further and introduced each of the new characters that would appear in the game.

Knuckles' presence in the Sonic The Hedgehog comic book series by Archie only served to boost the character (and by extension, the Chaotix) further into popularity.

So, I believe that choosing Knuckles was actually a great decision to draw in fans of the series, as well as potentially kickstart a new spinoff series should things go well enough (which of course they didn’t, but there was the possibility at the time). Anyway, now we come to the game itself. Aside from the titular character, the game introduces the “Chaotix,” each of which are playable and have their own unique attributes which I’ll discuss in a bit. There’s Espio the chameleon, Vector the crocodile, Charmy the bee, and Mighty the armadillo. With the exception of Mighty, who appeared in the Japanese-exclusive Sonic The Hedgehog arcade game, each of them were new characters. There were also two extra characters, heavy and bomb, who were playable as well (though you’d more or less want to avoid playing as them, as they are pretty much useless). The story involves Sonic’s primary antagonist, Dr. Robotnik (yes, back when he was still called "Dr. Robotnik" and not "Eggman"), who has taken over the island that Knuckles protects. The evil doctor is aided by a robotic version of Sonic, also known as Metal Sonic. So, with the help of his new gang of comrades, Knuckles must take back the island by defeating the nefarious Robotnik.

As I mentioned previously, the biggest aspect that sets the gameplay apart from previous entries in the series is the ring-tether system. Upon completing a brief training/introduction stage at the beginning of the game, you’ll get to choose any of the characters (minus heavy and bomb) as your first-player character. Next up, before you go to the stage selection, you’ll have to do a sort of crane mini-game in order to pick your AI-controlled second-player character (if you’re playing with a second person, they will take control of this character). It’s a bit randomized, but with some skill you can often get the character you want. Here’s where the ring-tether system comes into play- controlling the first-player character, you’ll be “tethered” to another character via a power ring that each character is holding. By holding down the B button on the controller, the AI character will stop in their tracks, allowing you to run forward and build up tension. Upon releasing B, the AI character will be launched forward like a slingshot. This also added in some new puzzle solving elements not present in other games; in order to open certain doors and access parts of a level, one character will need to stand on a pad and hold their position until the other character steps on another pad somewhere else. When standing next to the other character, you can also pick them up and throw them, which is useful in destroying airborne enemies and reaching high ledges. Another helpful feature is that if you find that your partner is stuck somewhere beneath or above you, you can press the A button while standing still to automatically bring them back to your side (however, it costs you 10 rings to do so, which is a bit odd).

The ring tether system was the largest departure from prior games in the series and made for some innovative and interesting gameplay.

The stage selection screen is also randomized, and after hitting a button you’ll be dropped into one of five levels. Each of the five levels has five acts, the fifth of which is a boss battle, and after the boss is defeated that stage will disappear from the selection screen. This adds up to 25 levels total (plus the intro stage and a final boss battle), making the game the biggest the franchise had at the time. Putting it in perspective- Sonic 1 has 18 levels, Sonic 2 has 20, Sonic CD has 21, and Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles have 12 apiece. And yes, I’m aware that Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles were intended to be one game (and honestly, really are one game as far as I’m concerned), but even so there are 24 levels between the two, still one shy of Chaotix. The levels are all massive, non-linear mazes you’ll have to traverse in order to reach the goal. Each level can be played through several times without ever using the same path to get to the end- that’s how big they are.

The stage select system is kind of weird. By jumping up into the ball in the middle, one of the five stages will be selected at random. However, you can pick up items in bonus stages hidden within levels that allow you to slow down the randomizer, which essentially lets you choose the level of your liking. Upon clearing a stage entirely, it is removed.

 The non-linear system was another departure from previous games, save for Sonic CD which also had massively complex levels. There are mini-bosses, secret rooms to be found, and a myriad of different power-ups scattered through the stages. Speaking of power-ups, the classic shield, invincibility, speed-boost and 10-ring boxes from previous games are back, and the game also offered up some really awesome new ones not seen in previous games. Among these are the grow/shrink boxes, which will increase or decrease the size of your character, making it easier to slingshot or throw a character, respectively. But perhaps the coolest of all of the new innovations is the combine ring, which is a silver ring that combines all of the previous gold rings you’ve collected. Normally upon being hit by an enemy, you’d lose all the rings you’ve collected and have to start from 0, as was the case of every previous game as well. However, if you’ve found a combine ring, you’ll only lose the one ring and it will bounce along the floor for a few seconds, allowing you to pick it back up every time you are hit and retain all of your rings.

Advancing through stages can be different depending on the character you’ve chosen. As I mentioned before, each character has their own unique attributes. Knuckles, of course, has his signature gliding and wall climbing moves. Vector can do a brief air-dash in six different directions, as well as climb walls just like Knuckles. Charmy is smaller and can’t get as much leverage on the tether as other characters, but can fly around at will and also do air-dashes. Mighty can grip walls and has a bit more tether strength than the other characters. And lastly and perhaps the coolest of all, Espio can run up walls and even on ceilings as well. This makes him the most useful of all and even though I have to resist playing as Knuckles, since, well, it is his game, I find myself choosing Espio the most. Also, as I mentioned before there are two extra characters, heavy and bomb, who can also be chosen (only as side characters). However, these two are basically useless- heavy is, well, exactly what his name alludes to, weighing you down like a giant anchor. Bomb isn’t quite as bad but explodes upon getting hit by an enemy, leaving you stuck by yourself. Aside from their unique quirks, the character sprites are all pretty unique as well. Knuckles has been redesigned nicely since his Genesis days (though I have to say, his gliding sprite is a bit weird-looking). Each of the new characters are uniquely colored and easily identifiable, and all have their own individual idle animations (Espio changes colors and glances around cautiously, Vector pulls out a Walkman and starts jamming away to music, etc.), giving them each a little bit more character of their own.

I love the sprites of this game and how much they make each individual character stand out from one another. Even their idle animations are unique.

The graphics in the game are just wonderful. Everything is vibrantly colored, from the aforementioned sprites to each of the five levels. The foreground is very busy with objects whizzing by as you speed through, but slowing down a bit is quite recommended if you want to take in just how artfully designed each level is. Backgrounds are also quite nicely detailed if you pay close enough attention. Also, each world seems to have its own unique color schema, which is omnipresent in each of its five levels. I was a bit disturbed to read a negative review not too long ago claiming that the game was dull and dreary, lacking in color and originality between stages. Sorry to say, but I wholeheartedly disagree; the lovely colors of this game are honestly the first thing I notice when playing through.

Each stage has it’s own distinctive look and feel, from the color schemes in the foreground and background to the general layout.

In addition, I just love the music and sound effects as well. The Genesis had a reputation for its tinny, grainy-sounding musical compositions for some games, and the 32X was not entirely different in this regard. I’m not all that hip on technical aspects of consoles, but from what I understand, the 32X did not really add anything to the audio capabilities of games. However, I barely even notice the grainy Genesis style in Chaotix, simply because of how catchy the upbeat tunes are. I especially love the “Door Into Summer” theme, which plays during the introductory stage. The rest of the sound effects are on par with all of the previous Sonic games, which I have no problem with.

One very unique and fun twist to this game is playing with a second human player. It’s certainly not a straightforward co-op venture like you might have imagined from playing Sonic 2’s co-op, which simply had you both running from one side of the stage to the other independently. Because of the ring tether system, the game really forces you to work together with your teammate instead of doing your own thing. Think of all those old cartoons where two characters would get stuck together in some way and have to begrudgingly start doing everything in tandem- that’s a bit of what the co-op adventure is like. At first, you’ll be a mess- your partner will pull in one direction while you head in another, your jumps will be out of sync, and clearing a small obstacle might become a major task. However, as you play on, you slowly begin adapting to each other and getting the hang of working together, and that is just an awesome aspect of playing with a partner, I think. It makes for a really fun two-player experience you wouldn’t necessarily expect out of a game like this.

The cooperative experience is a really great way to play the game and makes for an interesting gaming session with a friend. If you've got a 32X, Chaotix, and a friend to play it with, I would highly recommend giving it a try.

As great as this game is, it does have a few flaws. If you complete a level with 50 rings or more, you’ll have a chance to enter a bonus level, in which you can collect a special ring upon completing it. You’ll need to complete all six of the bonus levels if you want to get the true ending of the game, so these are a bit important (albeit optional) for completing the game. The bonus stages consist of traversing a sort of poorly rendered 3D stage (I’ll give it a break, since this was 1995 after all) in order to collect a certain amount of blue orbs to complete it. However, due to the limitations of 3D rendering at the time, sometimes you’ll fall straight through a stage without warning, ending the bonus chance instantly. This can be especially annoying if it keeps happening on the same bonus stage, which I recall happened to me several times. Also, the tethering system doesn’t quite work as smoothly as I’d like it to. For one thing, going up ramps can be a bit of a challenge if you don’t generate enough speed and your partner ends up weighing you down. This can be remedied pretty quickly though by either using the slingshot method or using a spin-dash. Another issue stems from getting lost in the levels; as I’ve mentioned, the levels are huge. In certain levels, you’ll sometimes find yourself trekking back and forth through the same areas just looking for a way to progress. Also, without any major landmarks to tell you if you’ve passed a certain area or not, it can sometimes get a bit confusing if many areas look the same and you aren’t sure if you’ve been there already or not. But none of these issues severely detract from the experience, and at least for me, the enjoyment I got pretty much overrides them.

The 3D-rendered bonus stages at the end of the levels are...well, not all that good, but I can't be too critical since 3D gaming was still in its infancy.

In conclusion, I think this is a very solid, very fun game. Considering where the Sonic franchise has ended up as of late (don't even get me started on Sonic Boom), I think it definitely deserves a spot among the best known Sonic classics on the Genesis. Is it good enough to solely justify the purchase of a 32X? Eh, maybe so, maybe not. I suppose it depends on how much you like the Sonic the Hedgehog games, if there’s any other 32X games you think you might enjoy (if that’s the case, I’d recommend Tempo, Shadow Squadron, and Kolibri- hey, they’re not all terrible), and if you can find one on the cheap (you most likely can these days). If you do decide to pick one up, Chaotix is a must, especially since the game currently isn’t available in any of the omnipotent virtual markets for the newest consoles, which is a real shame I think. Perhaps Sega is still trying their hardest to bury the mistakes of the past. Well, if you ask me, this game is truly a gem that got buried with the garbage. I’m sorry to disagree with the critics, but I think it’s entertaining, it’s unique, it looks and plays wonderfully, and it shouldn’t be forgotten. So if you’re a Sonic fan and you never got a chance to check out this title, I would highly recommend it. Maybe you could go for an emulator instead of going through the trouble of procuring a 32X, but if you are in the very least interested, give it a chance. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.