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Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt

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Awesome Possum
North American cover art
Developer(s)Tengen
Publisher(s)Tengen
Designer(s)Richard L. Seaborne
Composer(s)Earl Vickers
Doug Brandon
Nu Romantic
Platform(s)Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Release
  • NA: November 1993
  • JP: December 25, 1993
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt is a video game created by Tengen for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis that was released in late 1993. It also had many lines of digitized speech, unusual for its time, a feature with which the game was marketed. The box also states, "it is an excellent educational game for all ages". The game included the voice talents of Walter Fields,[1] Laurie Amat and Douglas Lawrence.

Plot

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Mad scientist Dr. Machino has sent his robots to pollute the earth and endanger the wildlife. Aided by Killer Bee and Rad Rhino, Awesome Possum sets out to destroy the robots, put a stop to the mad scientist and save the world.[2]

Gameplay

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Awesome Possum includes environmental activist elements, with the character collecting empty bottles and cans, and answering questions about the environment to earn bonus points in his fight against the evil Dr. Machino. There are also various other animals located within levels which the character can ride to activate their ability, such as a bee which allows the character to fly or a rhino that catapults the character. There are a total of four worlds which together consist of 13 levels all together plus 12 bonus stages alongside the quiz in which the character must collect as many recyclables as possible before the time expires.

Development

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In April 1992, Richard Seaborne was hired by Tengen to do a concept for an environmental game. Seaborne came up with the character "Awesome Possum" and by July 17, 1992, presented his proposal "Rad Rhino and Awesome Possum" to Tengen and they approved it. Development for the artwork was underway by Fall, but animations were unsatisfactory. Tengen hired Jules Marino on January 18, 1993, to polish the game character's sprites. The final title of the game was made official on May 13, 1993. The development team included a 12-page comic in the manual. When Time Warner Interactive took over Tengen in 1994, they also got the rights of the video game.[3] Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt was produced and released during a trend of platformers starring animal mascots.[4] The absence of Sega's third Sonic the Hedgehog title in the fall and holiday season of 1993 enabled other publishers to fill in space for mascot platformers, such as Tengen with Awesome Possum and Irem with Rocky Rodent.[5]

Lawsuit

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On June 20, 1997, Time Warner Interactive was charged with copyright infringement by Paul A. Roginski, who claimed that the game copied his comic book concept and character name for his manuscript. With Roginski lacking evidence to prove his claim, the case was closed and the defendants were acquitted.[3]

Reception

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GamePro praised the sound and speed, though they were somewhat critical on the graphics.[8] Electronic Games, however, gave the game 93% and remarked "There are very few games that can produce this level of headbanging thrills."[13] Brazilian magazine Ação Games gave the game an orange picture (the third level rating) for graphics, challenge, and fun; and a pink picture (the fourth and top level rating) for sound.[20]

Hardcore Gamer, in a 2006 feature, condemned Awesome Possum: "There are bad games. There are terrible games. There are games so heinously appalling and horrendous that you want to gauge your eyes out with a spork after a few minutes of playtime. However, Tengen's Awesome Possum: Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt trumps them all with its crappy gameplay, muddy graphics, screeching music, warbled sound effects, and preachy premise."[4] He was heavily irritated by the "annoying and narcissistic" personality of the title character, particularly his "screechy wisecracks" and his constant reminding of how "awesome" and "cool" he is.[4] His other criticisms included the "horrific" title theme and the poor controls.[4]

References

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  1. ^ "Weird Wally Tidbit". March 9, 1996. Archived from the original on July 4, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  2. ^ Awesome Possume - Manual (PDF). Tengen. 1993.
  3. ^ a b "Roginski v. Time Warner Interactive, Inc., 967 F. Supp. 821 (M.D. Pa. 1997)". Justia US Law. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  4. ^ a b c d Danish, Roger (October 2006). "The Dark Side of Retrogaming: Awesome Possum: Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  5. ^ Thorpe, Nick. "March of the Mascots". Retro Gamer. No. 158. pp. 26–31.
  6. ^ "Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt". Beep! Mega Drive (in Japanese). January 1994. p. 24. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  7. ^ Kunkel, Bill (November 1993). "Major Mike's Game Roundup: Awesome Possum". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 52. Sendai Publishing. p. 50.
  8. ^ a b Feline Groovy (December 1993). "Awesome Possum". GamePro. No. 53. p. 78. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  9. ^ Norris, Tim (January 1994). "Awesome Possum". Sega Zone. No. 15. pp. 56–57. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  10. ^ Gus; Lucy (February 1994). "Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt". Mean Machines Sega. No. 16. pp. 84–85. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  11. ^ "Awesome Possum". Video Games (in German). February 1994. p. 51. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  12. ^ Hallock, Betty. "Awesome Possum Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt". Video Games & Computer Entertainment. No. 59. p. 86. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  13. ^ a b Kunkel, Bill (December 1993). "VIDEO GAME GALLERY". Electronic Games. p. 122.
  14. ^ Vordak (February 1994). "Awesome Possum". Game Power (in Italian). No. 25. pp. 88–89. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  15. ^ Mellerick, Paul (February 1994). "Awesome Possum: Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt". Mega. No. 17. p. 46. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  16. ^ Connolly, James (February 1994). "Awesome Possum Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt". MegaTech. No. 26. pp. 74–76. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  17. ^ Mortlock, Dean (April 1994). "Awesome Possum". Sega Power. No. 53. pp. 58–59. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  18. ^ Wilton, Pete (Easter 1994). "Awesome Possum". Sega Pro. No. 31. p. 70. Retrieved September 16, 2021.
  19. ^ Earl Vickers, Wally Fields. "Using Voice to Bring Game Characters to Life". sfxmachine.com. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  20. ^ "Ação Reviews - Awesome Possum" (PDF). Ação Games. p. 22.
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