Sega Mega Drive: Cool Spot

Year: 1994
Genre: Platform
Players: 1
Our Rating: 7/10

Mini Review

Cool Spot for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis is one of those games that many will remember from around the mid 90's. There's always an inherent danger in making the title of the game beginning with the word "Cool", it leaves the game open to so much criticism should it not be. Whilst it wasn't the coolest game of all time for the 16-Bit generation it does have a solid place as a retro classic. The premise is that the Cool Spot must rescue the other spots from their cages. In essence it borrows much in the way of plot from "The New Zealand Story". The game has visually pleasing graphics and sound. Particular attention must have been placed on the spot himself though. Taking an essentially flat red spot and turning that in to something "cool" really needed great animation and design.

The game plays as a very standard platform game, you will find yourself running, jumping, hanging from platforms and shooting strange dust like bullets as enemies. There are a few bonus levels involving the ever present sponsors of the game "7up" which are a welcome break from the standard levels. The link between 7up and being cool is perhaps the low point of the game, it seems that at points you are playing a demo for a soft drinks company (it's still better than Fido Dido though). Overall the game is one worth playing. Whether you remember it from you childhoods or are new to the game I think that most people could pick this game up and play happily challenged for a few hours. At the time the developers saw potential in the game and created a sequel "Spot Goes to Hollywood" which is a must for those that enjoyed this first outing of spot.