Cool World (Super NES video game)
| Cool World | |
|---|---|
 Cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Painting by Numbers[1] |
| Publisher(s) | Ocean[1] |
| Designer(s) | Chris Kerry[2] |
| Artist(s) | John Beard[1] Steven Kerry[1] Alan Pashley[1] |
| Composer(s) | Dean Evans[3] Keith Tinman[3] |
| Platform(s) | Super Nintendo Entertainment System[1] |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Action[1] |
| Mode(s) | Single-player[4] |
| Rating(s) |
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| Media/distribution | 8-megabit cartridge |
Cool World is a third-person platform action video game Super NES that is loosely based on the 1992 movie of the same name from Paramount Pictures.[2][5]
This version of the game played more like an adventure video game compared to the puzzle game-like components of the NES version and the classic arcade game elements found in the MS-DOS, Commodore 64, Amiga, and Atari ST versions of the game. Cartoonist Jack Deebs (portrayed in-film by Gabriel Byrne) has discovered Cool World; eliminating the fine line between fantasy and reality.[5] Holli Would (portrayed in-film by Kim Basinger) has a major crush on Jack and is using him romantically to get a human body and move to the "Real World."[5] Jack's only goal is to escape this alternative reality and return to the real world.[5] By doing so, he returns to his beloved hometown of Las Vegas.[5] If Holly grabs the Golden Spike of Power, then both worlds will be destroyed.[5]
The original manufacturer's retail price on the day of release was set at $41.95 in American dollars ($69.48 in today's money).[6]
Contents |
[edit] Gameplay
[edit] Popper Police
The Popper Police are a bunch of miniature cops working under Detective Frank Harris (portrayed in-game by a 16-bit likeness of Brad Pitt with no speech or motion capability). Since the player controls Jack, he must either avoid them or get arrested.[7] Moving out of the way is easy; just move to the left after hearing their police siren. Then slightly move to the right after the paddy wagon moves off the screen.
At least five or six Popper Police officers need to bunch up on the player and halt his movement for the arrest to happen. After being forcefully halted, a message will pop up with the words "You are under arrest." This renders any further progress in the game impossible pending a cut scene. Depending on how many times the player has broken the law and whether he has collected the in-game currency of nickels or not, the player will either get a lecture by Detective Frank Harris and/or be forced to pay bail money.[8] Ten coins is the usual bail required by Detective Harris. This penalty bankrupts players who either haven't been to Las Vegas to increase their nickel stash or opened a Cool World bank account. Observant viewers can see some blurry letters and numbers on the badge that almost spell out CWPD 001.
After being released by the Popper Police, the cutscene of Jack descending to Cool World has to be repeated.[8] However, being arrested does not cost the player a life.
[edit] Buildings
Near the center of Cool World, there is a bank (with an animated Bald Eagle) that allows the player to store nickels in a bank account.[7] There is also a pawn shop that allows items to be traded or bought with nickels in addition to the Slash Club where the player arranges a date with Holli Would.[7] Trades can either be accepted or declined based on the value that each item has in the game world. A malt shop is found in Sweet Place where candy can be found in addition to other sweets.[7] However, entry is restricted to players who have collected several pieces of candy. If this demand is not meant, the face at the candy store will spit him out because "he was not sweet enough."
At the far left of Cool World is Holli Would's house where the player must navigate the exterior of the house in order to reach his date with Holli.[7] If the player did not arrange a date with Holli before reaching the top, he is tossed back to the ground level. Holli's doorbell has a tendency to spit out a fireball attack at a random moment causing a life to be instantly lost. After withstanding anywhere between five to seven hits from a Doodle using any form of weapon except fire attacks, the player's character curls himself into a ball and turns into a tombstone with an R.I.P. epitaph on it. Fire attacks cause the player to instantly lose a life and cause his character to appear with ash on his face and ragged clothing.
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Allgame |   |
| Power Unlimited |    |
[edit] Censorship
Due to censorship issues, the player simply kisses Holli on the date with her to make her human, as opposed to giving her sexual intercourse.[9] This is the most integral censoring of Cool World as the game was produced prior to the introduction of the ESRB video game rating system. The game was released on February 1993 and the game was targeted towards pre-teenagers who were enticed by the PG-13 rating of the Cool World movie that this video game was based upon.
In the movie, Detective Frank Harris would say "Freeze, asshole" to Jack Deebs where he violates the "noids don't have sex with doodles" rule.[10] However, the words "sex" (referring to sexual intercourse) and "asshole" (referring to someone who is obnoxious) are never used in the video game.
[edit] Music soundtrack
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[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Release information". GameFAQs. http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/data/588263.html. Retrieved 2009-01-26.
- ^ a b "Designer/genre information". MobyGames. http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/cool-world. Retrieved 2011-03-31.
- ^ a b c "Soundtrack/composer information". SNES Music. http://www.snesmusic.org/v2/profile.php?profile=set&selected=604. Retrieved 2011-11-28.
- ^ "# of players information". SNESCentral. http://www.snescentral.com/article.php?id=0296. Retrieved 2012-01-23.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Overview". IGN. http://cheats.ign.com/objects/009/009213.html. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
- ^ "Retail price information". Wigix. http://www.wigix.com/index.php/item/detail/797289/Cool-World-for-Nintendo-Super-NES. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
- ^ a b c d e "General Cool World information". Gamesover.com. http://www.gamesover.com/walkthroughs/cool_world.txt. Retrieved 2009-01-27.
- ^ a b "What Happens After Getting Arrested in Cool World?". SomethingAwful.com. http://www.somethingawful.com/d/rom-pit/coolworldsucks.php. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
- ^ "The effects of Nintendo censorship on Cool World". RetroJunk. http://www.retrojunk.com/details_articles/7278/. Retrieved 2012-01-16.
- ^ "Cool World movie transcript". Movie Transcriptions. http://www.movietranscriptions.com/237251_Cool_World.html. Retrieved 2009-02-04.
