Developer: Virgin Publisher: Virgin Release: 12/10/93 Genre: Action
Cool Spot was one of the most pleasant surprises of the 16-bit era. Virgin were an incredible developer back then, able to churn out excellent original titles as well as licensed gold. Yet I still had no expectations of a game based around a soft drink mascot. But the game turned out great. The Genesis version came first however it would not be long before SNES owners would get in on the action. This edition improves in a few areas but also has a few problems of its own. Yet it remains a strong title regardless of your platform of choice.
Virgin went to town when it comes to the game’s graphics. Cool Spot was already an exceptional looking title yet has a number of upgrades on Nintendo’s console. The color palette is richer with background elements blending together more smoothly. There is also less dithering as well. Opaque objects are now fully transparent such as balloons and bubbles. Most of the game’s backgrounds have two layers of parallax scrolling as well as line scrolling effects. Off the Wall now uses a spotlight effect to sell the idea that you are observer peeping through a wall. There are also minor background additions that add to the atmosphere as well.
While the visuals are an improvement there are some notable regressions as well. Some backgrounds are different but not necessarily better; I preferred the massive ship in Pier Pressure on the Genesis rather than the smaller, more detailed boat on SNES. There is less animation frames, most notably on Cool Spot himself. The music and sound effects are especially better on the Genesis; Tommy Tallarico consistently made the Genesis FM synth sing and that does not translate to the Super Nintendo as well. Together with the missing sound effects and aurally Sega wins out. The biggest difference is the game’s resolution which is smaller and so they stretch some of the graphics. This impacts the gameplay too in a negative way.
Cool Spot is an action platformer with the goal being to collect enough spots to open the cage holding your friends hostage. The number varies based on the difficulty setting but regardless you will need to thoroughly explore each of the game’s levels to find the needed spots. Getting the spots is only half the battle; you still need to find your buddies after and they are they generally hide them well. There are one hundred spots per level and the bare minimum to progress is less than that. But you generally want to collect more as 85 grants access to the bonus level and one hundred grants an extra life. You will have to work for it as each stage is a massive playground of nooks and crannies with items hidden cleverly hidden behind everyday objects.
Because of the lower resolution you can view less of the level which presents problems. There is a heavy emphasis on platforming and often over bottomless pits. Here you must make many blind leaps of faith which is not fun. To be fair this was present in the original to a degree but it has been ramped up in this version. In the few levels that do not have instant death pits instead you will lose progress if you fall. The clock is aggressive and retracing your steps constantly is not fun. You can at least peek up or down vertically which helps but I wish the maps were resized to match the lesser screen real estate. This flaw makes the game harder and it was already difficult to begin with.
The difficulty in Cool Spot is higher than you will expect. Even though you can fire in eight directions (and can do so without moving in this version) hit detection is an issue. You have few invincibility frames when hit and can die quickly if attacked. Health restoring 7-up drinks are sparse and extremely rare drops from enemies. You will have to work for those extra lives and continues and will probably lose more than you gain. It is not an insurmountable challenge of course but I do wish some of the flaws were fixed to make this a smoother ride.
In Closing
Cool Spot was a great game on the Sega Gensesis and and remains so on the SNES. If you have the choice go for the Sega edition as that was the lead platform. You can’t lose either way however. Cool Spot is fondly remembered for a reason and still holds up to this day.
