Prerelease:Garfield: Caught in the Act (Genesis)
This page details pre-release information and/or media for Garfield: Caught in the Act (Genesis).
 | To do:
|
Like many games attached to a big name IP in the 90's, Caught in the Act had a troubled development that originally started with a larger scope that had to be cut down in order to meet project deadlines. This resulted in not only several levels not making the final cut, but also a unique situation where some of this content was later repackaged and given to players through Sega's "Sega Channel" cable service under the title Garfield: The Lost Levels.
Contents
Concept
A December 1995 interview with Jim Davis reveals that the concept began as a spin on his own 1984 anthology book Garfield: His 9 Lives, which was adapted the following year into a TV special. The book/special depicts Garfield in various evolutionary caricatures throughout time, and it doesn't take long to notice several of the stories were directly used for the game:
- The Cave Cat story became Cave Cat 3,000,000 B.C.
- The King Cat story inspired the The Curse of Cleofatra level theme.
- The Vikings became Bonehead the Barbarian (ultimately not making it to the retail product but later resurrected for The Lost Levels).
- Babes and Bullets became Catscablanca.
- Space Cat became Alien Landscape.
A comparison between artwork for the book and VHS of the special contrasted against a promotional t-shirt that was given away at E3 1995 further shows the connection that 9 Lives has with the game. Of special note for the t-shirt is the depiction of Garfield with Roman clothing in the top center and Robin Hood clothing in the bottom right, both levels which don't have any known surviving materials from development (aside from the Robin Hood level, which would be resurrected in the Game Gear port, see below).
| Garfield: His 9 Lives book | Garfield: His 9 Lives VHS artwork | E3 promotional t-shirt |
|---|---|---|
|
|
|
Besides this, the Revenge of Orangebeard level in the game also is a clear reference to the Garfield's Halloween Adventure (or Garfield in Disguise) special that aired in 1985.
| Garfield's Halloween Adventure | Revenge of Orangebeard |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Development scraps
While it's unknown exactly when development on the project started, the game had an initial phase that ended up being scrapped and reworked with a new team attached to it in late 1994.
"A friend of mine, Steve Lashower, had been working for a company that Sega had contracted out to make some games, and Sega eventually purchased that company. Steven was the lead programmer on the Garfield project. I came back from a long Christmas trip abroad and found out that the Garfield project had been completely rebooted. Mike Fernie was the new lead, and I was his #2. Ala Diaz was our #3. We took the project all the way to completion."
-Pravin Wagh, programmer on Hidden Palace
A mini-game was also cut from the game, seemingly early since it is referred to as just being a test.
"The genesis version had a maze game were you looked down a mouse hole in fake 3d. You ran around and picked up cheese. It was more of a test and never made it in the game - but something we tried. It was going to be a mini game you could play."
-Michael Fernie, lead programmer on Hidden Palace
Cave Cat 3,000,000 B.C., which spent the majority of the game's development as the opening level, eventually got pushed to second with the Count Slobula's Castle level now coming first before it. The later PC version of the game restores this level to its original position as well as mixing the order of the rest of the levels, too.
"It was one of the strongest levels. At the last minute Marketing made us put the graveyard level first. This was considered one of the weakest levels by the team. Everyone was so mad. I know some people that played that level and never gave the game a chance. I always wished the dino level could have been first. I think more people would have liked the game."
-Michael Fernie, lead programmer on Hidden Palace
Early title screen
An earlier version of the title screen depicts Garfield sitting ready to eat a tray of lasagna. The retail game changed this to depicting items from different levels surrounding Garfield so as to better reflect the type of levels within the game. Of note in the final title screen are the Viking helmet and rocket ship items, both representing levels which don't even appear in the final product.
| Early title screen | Retail title screen |
|---|---|
 |
 |
Early HUD
Early previews of the game showed two different iterations of the HUD that changed very late in development. The common factor between both is that Garfield's life icon is a more dimensional image of his head that keeps a static, right-facing expression, whereas the final changes this to a flat icon that spins around.
The earliest iteration appears to have an item at the top right of the screen. It's ambiguous if this is meant as a projectile or not since a slice of cheese is never used as a projectile in any levels in the retail game, but another image depicting this in the Catsablanca stage implies it may have been a common projectile between levels before they ultimately decided to give each stage a unique projectile that fits with the given level's theme instead. The originally planned mini-game where Garfield would run around collecting cheese in a maze may have been where it was originally intended for you to pick up this item between stages.
The final HUD repositions projectile items to the bottom right and changes the sleeping icon which counted your health with Zzz's to a television that counts down your health instead with numbers. Finally, the x which comes between the life icon and the number of lives left as well as between projectile item count was eventually removed.
| Early health icon at top left and item at the top right | Closer to final except for the life icon |
|---|---|
 |
 |
| A closer look at the early life icon | Flatter icon from the retail game |
|---|---|
 |
 |
The Lost Levels
In addition to the Genesis game's original six levels, two more levels plus a cut section of the Catsablanca level were also in development before being cut. This was due to these levels being in various states of completion and also pushing the game's storage capacity over budget.
Alien Landscape
This level is the most well documented since it ended up as an exclusive in the PC version of the game. The bulk of its graphics are all 3D prerendered graphics, unlike the rest of the levels in the game, which probably contributed to it being a prime candidate for getting cut since it likely had too many unique graphics that made it take up too much space. Petra Evers is confirmed to have been the main artist behind this level.
"I designed the level and made the art work for the space level. Except for the cool animations like Garfield and the robot dog. I remember at that time games started to incorporate 3D animation and 3D looking background elements. I was one of the first who learned to use a 3D software package at SEGA and all the art work for the space level is rendered in 3D. (Instead of hand drawn like the other levels)"
-Petra Evers, artist on Hidden Palace
" I think most people were mad that their levels got cut. In the case of Petra's it was done and working. You might be right in that Sega didn't want to spend the money on the cart ROM increases. As I said I had to fight for hours to make everything fit. The animations for Garfield took lots of room. FUN FACT: The space level (Petra's) glob looking artwork came from her looking at a Lava lamp. She had one in her office and she got the idea of that artwork by watching it."
-Michael Fernie, lead programmer on Hidden Palace
| Alien Landscape |
|---|
|
Bonehead the Barbarian
Also known as the Viking level, this seems to be the second most completed level that got cut. Garfield would apparently traverse up the slopes of a winter themed level while evading parachuting penguins. A version of this level appears in the Game Gear version of the game, albeit a different interpretation with log cabins in the background instead of gigantic snowmen.
Catsablanca Train Segment
The most incomplete level out of all of them that showed up in previews, this level apparently had some of the most troubled development that resulted in it getting axed.
" Some levels were cut because of time and the fact that the project was running behind when I started. Some like the train level never worked right. The programmer worked on it forever and never could get it working right. Later I tried to fix it or do things but there was no way to make it fun or finish it. Too bad since it was a very cool idea. Never came together. That programmer ended up getting fired or quit and that is part of the reason it didn't get done."
-Michael Fernie, lead programmer on Hidden Palace
"Catsablanca had a train level for a very, very long time, but I think we just weren't able to make it a satisfying game element. Maybe it could have become a mini-game or bonus round, but back in those days, cartridge space was precious and needed to be budgeted carefully. You can't allocate a large amount of storage space to something that's only barely used in the whole game. I also recall that it was worked on by a developer who was really new to the company and he was caught up in a learning curve about our game engine and not able to make the tweaks required to save that level in time for our production schedule."
-Pravin Wagh, programmer on Hidden Palace
Unconfirmed Lost Levels
In addition to the above levels, Caught in the Act also has material that hints at there being two other levels based on Rome and Robin Hood respectively that were cut from the Genesis version. The Game Gear version of the game, which was developed by an entirely different team at Novotrade International, actually has a version of the Robin Hood level which it calls Slobbin' Hood, and it also has an iteration of the cut Bonehead the Barbarian/Viking level which seems to imply that that version of the game was based on content that didn't make it into the Genesis game. No known screenshots exist of these levels in their Genesis iteration, and it's unknown if they ever even got that far.
" The other levels we never did much on like Rome and Viking. I know they were planned and maybe we had designs for them (don't recall) but never worked on them much."
-Michael Fernie, lead programmer on Hidden Palace
Unconfirmed 32X port
According to an old website known as The 32X Memorial, a 32X port of the game was announced at the 1995 Winter Consumer Electronics Show. At present there are no materials or any sort of press releases backing this up, and none of the programmers involved with the game had any knowledge of such a thing, so it's a mystery whether this ever actually existed or is simply an unfounded rumor, as was the case with many titles magazines would report to be coming to the 32X back in the day.
"The 32X was a system that essentially provided overlays to the graphics that your Genesis was already putting out. I don't think there was a 32X version of the game, however our studio was pretty far ahead in 32X development, enough to take on a Star Wars title. A 32X Garfield might just have been wishful thinking."
-Pravin Wagh, programmer on Hidden Palace
