Zool

Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension
Developer(s)	Gremlin Graphics
Publisher(s)	Gremlin Graphics Commodore
Composer(s)	Patrick Phelan CD32 Neil Biggin
Platform(s)	Arcade, Acorn Archimedes, Amiga, Atari ST, Amiga CD32, DOS, Game Boy, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive/Genesis, SNES
Release	October 1992
Genre(s)	Platformer
Mode(s)	Single player

Zool is a video game originally produced for the Amiga by Gremlin Graphics and intended as a rival to Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. It was heavily hyped upon its initial release in 1992, including being bundled with the newly launched Amiga 1200, although not the AGA version with enhanced graphics which followed later. In 2000 the game was re-released as part of The Best of Gremlin compilation.

Zool

Zool is a gremlin "Ninja of the Nth Dimension" who is forced to land on Earth. In order to gain ninja ranking he has to pass six lands.

Producers have asserted that the name "Zool" did not refer to the supernatural entity Zuul from the film Ghostbusters. A lot of reviewers thought that Zool was an ant, which is incorrect and was refuted in a press release. In the PC game Jazz Jackrabbit, a character slightly resembling Zool (with purple spiky hair, green overalls, a purple body, and a fox tail) makes a cameo as a boss called Zoonik and uses a laser gun as a weapon.

Gameplay

The game is a pure platform game, relying on smooth, fast moving gameplay, colorful graphics and a popular soundtrack by Patrick Phelan which overlaps with the Lotus 3 soundtrack and has inspired several modern electro/techno remixes. The game also contains a number of embedded minigames, including several arcade games, a scrolling space shooter and a game accessible only by making Zool play a certain tune on an in-game piano.

Ports

Zool was also ported to the Atari ST, Game Boy, Sega Mega Drive, SNES, Master System, Sega Game Gear, Amiga CD32, PC, Acorn Archimedes, and RISC OS platform, as well as for the arcade machines.

A remake of Zool in the format of a "PlayStation mini" is being developed at Sheffield Hallam University's development studio. Ian Stewart, founder of Zool creator Gremlin Graphics, and Sumo Digital creative director Sean Millard will choose the best concept, which will be developed into the full mini by the University.

Development

George Allen came with the idea of Zool as he was criticized on his previous game Switchblade II for having a lack of enemies.

In development, Zool could cast spells to get him out of trouble by collecting potions.

For example, Zool could escape from pits with high jump spells and cast a shadow spell to make a clone of him that follows his actions (thus doubling the fire power). In the final version, the spells were replaced with collectible powerups.

The very early name for the project was Pootz.

Reception

Reviews for the Amiga version of the game were extremely positive. However some criticism was aimed at the blatant and pervasive product placement in the game for lollipop company Chupa Chups, in the first three levels (Sweet Zone). Another frequent criticism of the game was that it was allegedly excessively difficult. Some contemporary reviewers complained of not being able to get further than the second level (Music Zone).

In the early 1993 after Zool became the Amiga's 1992 best-selling game (nearly beating the sales of Sonic 2). Commodore was then very interested with the character and wanted the upcoming new Zool game to be bundled with their upcoming gaming console Amiga CD32. However, the game was only 40% complete three months before the release of the Amiga CD32 and Gremlin couldn't make the deadline in time. So as a last minute decision by Commodore they decided to bundle the console with Flair's Oscar and Millennium's Diggers.

Virgin Media included Zool on the list of top ten video game ninja heroes, however commenting: "Unfortunately Zool's resemblance to either a ninja or Sonic didn't stand up to scrutiny."

Sequel

Main article: Zool 2

Books

Two young adult novels book based on the games, entitled Cool Zool and Zool Rules, were released in February 1995. They were written by Stan Nicholls and Ian Edginton and published by Boxtree.

The Game Maker's Companion (APress, 2010) is a book on hobbyist game development which contains step-by-step instructions on how to re-make the original Zool game using Game Maker.

See also

• Zool: Majū Tsukai Densetsu, an unrelated video game

External links

• Zool at MobyGames
• Zool: Ninja Of The Nth Dimension Amiga - HOL database
• [http://amr.abime.net/review_28495