Beware The Spaceman

Tag: zool

  • Retro Reaction 2.3 There is no Sonic only Zool

    Retro Reaction in ZX Spectrum colours
    zool cover

    This was one of those occasions where I fell for the hype. The games magazines insisted Zool was a Sonic killer, throwing out scores as high as 95%. Launching around the same time as Sonic 2, it gave Amiga fans something to look forward to.

    In truth, even back then I wasn’t looking for a Sonic killer—I just wanted a Sonic alternative. Nintendo had Super Mario, Sega had Sonic. What about us Amiga owners? Adult me now knows the Amiga had many other strengths. It’s the machine I credit for introducing me to the skills I use daily, including the ones I’m using to write this very blog.

    It’s not like the machine couldn’t do strong arcade gaming either. I remember playing a lot of Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat on the system. The only downside, of course, was those floppy disks—changing them every match. There are definitely more reactions to come from this computer system.

    But back to Zool. I’m perhaps overly harsh here because my expectations didn’t meet reality. Zool looked good—really good—but five minutes controlling the Ninja from the Nth Dimension made it clear this wasn’t Sonic.

    Like Sonic, it was fast-paced. But unlike Sonic, Zool was a nightmare to control. I could never quite see where I needed to jump, so certain death happened far more often than I’d like. It also had one of those collector objectives where you needed to gather a set number of items before moving to the next level.

    I played it quite a lot. Then things changed again. I soon switched back to console gaming—this time a SNES. My brother had a new system too: the Sega Mega Drive. And guess what game came with it.

  • Retro Reaction 2.0 My Sonic Journey


    Last month Sega’s mascot turned 35 years old, which is the sort of milestone that instantly makes you feel ancient.
    Thinking back to the Sonic games of the 1990s, there isn’t much I can add that hasn’t already been said. So… we won’t. And we will.

    For this next Reaction set, I’m talking you through my Sonic journey. As a fan of mascot platformers in the 90s, this was the start of a long-running obsession — and my route to Sonic was about as straightforward as one of those time‑travel stages on Sonic CD.

    Here’s what’s coming up.

    Sonic The Hedgehog at a mate’s house


    It’s the early 1990s and a friend down the road has a Mega Drive — plus a game unlike anything my Master System or Amiga had ever seen. This was my first glimpse of Sega’s flagship speedster.

    We have Sonic at home


    Eventually we get a Sega… but it’s a Sega Master System. The good news: it comes with Sonic. The 8‑bit Sonic. Sounds like a downgrade? My reaction might not be what you expect.

    We have Sonic at home


    By this point I’m more of a “computer guy”, so my Sonic substitute arrives on floppy disks. It’s supposed to match Sega’s mascot beat‑for‑beat, but the fast‑paced action comes with loading screens.

    Sonic on my brother’s Mega Drive


    My brother gets a Mega Drive, which means I finally get proper access to Sonic — and, for the first time, the sequel.

    Sonic Overload


    From Sonic the Comic and the TV series to swapping issues of Computer and Video Games magazine, the Sonic universe expands fast. There are still Sonic games we haven’t even played yet.

    Sonic Origins


    Finally, as an adult, I played through the Sonic Origins collection on modern hardware. Does it deliver the Retro Reaction you’d expect?