Cool Spot (Genesis)

Cool Spot
Developers: Virgin Games, The Global Team Publishers: Virgin Games (EU/US/JP/AU), Samsung (KR), Tec Toy (BR) Platform: Genesis Released in JP: February 18, 1994 Released in US: April 16, 1993 Released in EU: June 15, 1993 Released in AU: 1993 Released in KR: 1993 This game has unused sounds. This game has debugging material. This game has a hidden level select. This game has regional differences.

Cool Spot is a charming little mascot platformer starring 7-Up's wayward punctuation.

Cheat Mode

Press A, A, B, B, C, C, C, C, B, B, A, A, A, A, B, B, C, C on the Options screen. Programmer David Perry will pop up to greet you, and the debug screen will appear.

Disregarding the font, this screen is almost identical to the one seen in Earthworm Jim and Earthworm Jim 2, which David Perry also worked on.

Regional Differences

Since Spot wasn't the official 7-Up mascot in Europe, all mentions of them were removed for the European version, replaced with Virgin branding. However, the European credits screen still mentions that "All characters and related indicia are trademarks of 7-Up Corporation".

To do: Confirm if it's really the credits screen that mentions the 7-Up trademark. I just found this text at 7ACC5 and assumed it shows up in the credits.

The game's name on the copyright screen and the internal name also vary. The game was released as Spot and the Quest for Cool in Europe, but the title screen still uses Cool Spot.

Codename

Interestingly, the first few bytes of the ROMs that store info on the game's codename contain BOTH names in all versions. They were swapped around for the European release, alongside the obvious Genesis/Megadrive difference.

US	Europe
SEGA GENESIS (C)VRGN 1993.MAY COOL SPOT SPOT AND THE QUEST FOR COOL	SEGA MEGADRIVE (C)VRGN 1993.MAY SPOT AND THE QUEST FOR COOL COOL SPOT

As such, emulators like Gens call the American version Spot and the Quest for Cool, and the European version Cool Spot.

Title Screen

US	Europe

The American version has Spot surf on top of a 7-Up bottle. This was changed to a generic plastic bottle with an SOS message inside in the European version.

Pickups

US	Europe

The 7-point and health pickups had their 7-Up logo removed for the European version, being replaced by the Virgin logo.

Other Stuff

• In the special stages, the player has to collect one of 6 letters. These letters form the word UNCOLA (7-Up's catchphrase at the time) in the American version, but VIRGIN in the European version.
• In the cheat mode menu, the telephone number is (714) 833 8710 in the American version and 0101 714 833 8710 in the European version.
• Michael Merren was credited as a second producer in the European version.

Twinklies

"Twinklies", as it's known in the sound test screen, is a small jingle that plays when a Spot is released, i.e. when the level's goal is reached. This theme only plays for a couple of frames, as the celebratory stage ending screen quickly shows up. If the player has Freezeability enabled and freezes the game right after Spot's shot hits the cage, though, this theme can be heard in full.