Sewer Shark

Last updated

Sewer Shark
Sewer Shark Coverart.jpg
Developer(s) Digital Pictures
Publisher(s) Sony Imagesoft
Director(s) John Dykstra
Producer(s) JoAnne Michels-Bennett
Amanda Lathroum
Designer(s) Kenneth Melville
Charlie Kellner
Programmer(s) Charlie Kellner
Writer(s) Kenneth Melville
Composer(s) Tom Ferguson
Jay Ferguson
Platform(s) Sega CD
3DO
Release
Genre(s) FMV rail shooter
Mode(s) Single-player

Sewer Shark is a first-person rail shooter video game, and is the first on a home console to use full motion video for its primary gameplay. It was originally slated to be the flagship product in Hasbro's Control-Vision video game system, which would use VHS tapes as its medium. However, Hasbro cancelled the Control-Vision platform, and Digital Pictures later developed the game for the Sega CD expansion unit. Sewer Shark is one of the first titles for the Sega CD and one of its best-selling games, leading Sega to eventually bundle it with Sega CD units. It was later ported and released for the 3DO in 1994. A port was also planned for the SNES-CD, but that system was cancelled.

Contents

Plot

Sewer Shark takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where environmental destruction has forced most of humanity to live underground. The player takes on the role of a rookie pilot in a band of "sewer jockeys", whose job is to exterminate dangerous mutated creatures to keep a vast network of sewers clean for "Solar City", an island paradise from which the evil Commissioner Stenchler (Robert Costanzo) gives his orders and critiques. The player's copilot, Ghost (David Underwood), evaluates the player's performance throughout the game, while a small robot named Catfish (voiced by Robert Weaver) scouts ahead and gives directions. The player is later assisted by Falco (Kari G. Peyton), a female jockey who believes that there is a hidden route to the surface. Falco is later captured by Stenchler, who threatens to mutate her into one of his mindless minions. This plot is thwarted when Ghost and the player reach Solar City.

Gameplay

Mega-CD screenshot Sewershark megacd.png
Mega-CD screenshot

The objective of Sewer Shark is to travel all the way from the home base to Solar City without crashing or running out of energy, and while maintaining a satisfactory level of performance as judged by Ghost and Commissioner Stenchler. As in other rail shooters, the ship mostly flies itself, leaving the player to shoot ratigators (mutant crosses between rats and alligators), bats, giant scorpions and mechanical moles. Along the way, Catfish gives the player directions. If the player takes a wrong turn or misses a turn, they eventually hit a dead end and crash, ending the game. Later in the game, Catfish is replaced by a "crazy lookin' thing", which visually guides the player through the sewers.

The ship has a limited amount of energy, which depletes slowly during flight and while firing. Scorpions also rob the ship of energy if the player fails to shoot them down. This energy can be partially replenished at recharge stations. In later areas, the ship encounters occasional pockets of hydrogen that the player must have Catfish detonate to pass through safely.

At certain times, Ghost or Stenchler interrupt the player to give direct feedback. If the player is doing well, they are allowed to continue and are occasionally given a promotion in the form of a new call sign. A poor performance will eventually cause the game to end.

Sewer Shark is often referred to as an interactive movie due to its use of full motion video to convey the action, and the navigation aspect of the game is frequently compared to Dragon's Lair , since turns are gates that the player must pass through to continue playing.

Production

The game originated on the cancelled VHS-based Control-Vision video game console. [2] The video was split into four distinct tracks that were interleaved frame-by-frame, and the hardware would switch between tracks to, for example, show a turn being taken or ignored, along with the outcome of that decision (e.g. crashing into a wall). In converting the game to the Sega CD platform, Digital Pictures maintained this approach by having the console read all four tracks worth of data as a single continuous stream to minimize seek time on the CD. To work within the console's limitations, the developers wrote a custom video codec to highly compress the data streams so they could be read in realtime from the CD. This codec was also used in Night Trap and the Make My Video series, and an improved version was later used in Prize Fighter .

The video footage in Sewer Shark was directed by visual effects artist John Dykstra.

According to Digital Pictures president Tom Zito, Sewer Shark cost $3 million to develop. [3]

Reception

Sewer Shark is one of the Sega CD's best-selling games, with more than 100,000 units sold prior to having been bundled with the system. [8] Over 500,000 copies were bundled with the Sega CD, while non-bundled copies grossed about $18 million in retail sales. [3] In the end the game sold more than 750,000 copies. [9]

The game is on the Associated Press list of top ten video games from 1993. They called it "bizarre and wildly entertaining" and a must-have game for all Sega CD owners. [10]

According to the "Review Crew" retrospective feature on DefunctGames, Sewer Shark received generally positive reviews among most of the major game magazines at the time. [11] The site quotes GamePro Magazine as saying "Sewer Shark is an awesome hybrid of hot shoot-em-up video game action and state-of-the-art CD graphics...", although Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game a 6 out of 10, saying: "Whoopie! Another full motion video CD game with no plot of[ sic ] real game play. ... Guiding a crosshair in a repetitive maze in order to blast rodents and bats is not my idea of hot shooter action! ... wait 'til next year."

Entertainment Weekly wrote that "it is one of the first games to incorporate humans in live-action, full-motion video footage. And with the promise of movie-quality pictures, audiophile sound, and fast frames-per-second animation, CD-ROM figures to be the shape of games to come." [12] Mega Action magazine gave a review score of 82 out of 100 stating that "the graphics and stereo sound make this a must to your collection". [13] Power Unlimited gave a score of 78% writing: "Sewer Shark is another interactive movie that took advantage of the capabilities of the Sega CD. It was therefore one of the reasons that the device flopped. The visuals were of low quality and the game was boring and short. Good voices." [14]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sega CD</span> Video game console add-on

The Sega CD, also known as Mega-CD in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis developed and produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, October 15, 1992, in North America, and April 2, 1993, in Europe. The Sega CD plays CD games and adds hardware functionality such as a faster CPU and graphic enhancements such as sprite scaling and rotation. It can also play audio CDs and CD+G discs.

<i>Zool</i> 1992 video game

Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension is a platform game written for the Amiga by Gremlin Graphics and published in 1992. It was marketed as a rival to Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. Zool was ported to other platforms and followed by Zool 2 in 1993.

<i>Night Trap</i> 1992 interactive movie

Night Trap is a 1992 interactive movie developed by Digital Pictures and published by Sega for the Sega CD. Presented primarily through full-motion video (FMV), Night Trap tasks the player to observe teenage girls having a sleepover visiting a house which, unbeknownst to them, is infested with vampires. The player watches live surveillance footage and triggers traps to capture anyone endangering the girls. The player can switch between different cameras to keep watch over the girls and eavesdrop on conversations to follow the story and listen for clues.

<i>Zombies Ate My Neighbors</i> 1993 video game

Zombies Ate My Neighbors is a run and gun video game developed by LucasArts and published by Konami for the Super NES and Sega Genesis consoles in 1993.

<i>Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist</i> 1992 video game

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist, released in Europe as Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles: The Hyperstone Heist and in Japan as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Return of the Shredder, is a 1992 side-scrolling beat 'em up game developed and published by Konami for the Sega Genesis, based on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book characters. It was Konami's debut title for the Genesis. The game was re-released as part of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection in 2022.

The Control-Vision is an unreleased video game console developed by Tom Zito. It is notable for using VHS tapes rather than ROM cartridges, prompting the creation of game content which survived on into much more advanced CD-ROM platforms.

<i>Super Hang-On</i> 1987 video game

Super Hang-On is a motorcycle racing arcade video game released by Sega as the sequel to Hang-On. It uses a simulated motorcycle arcade cabinet, like the original game. An updated version was released in arcades 1991 as Limited Edition Hang-On.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Digital Pictures</span> Defunct video game developer from San Mateo, California

Digital Pictures was an American video game developer founded in 1991 by Lode Coen, Mark Klein, Ken Melville, Anne Flaut-Reed, Kevin Welsh and Tom Zito.

<i>Ground Zero: Texas</i> 1993 video game

Ground Zero: Texas is a full motion video game, released for the Sega CD in November 1993. The game relies heavily on video footage, with which the player interacts. It contains 110 minutes of interactive footage from four different cameras. It was directed by Dwight H. Little, who is also known for the films Marked for Death and Halloween 4: The Return of Michael Myers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sony Imagesoft</span> Former American video game publisher

Sony Imagesoft Inc. was an American video game publisher that operated from 1989 to 1995 and was located in California. It was established in January 1989 in Los Angeles, California, as a subsidiary of the Japan-based CBS/Sony Group (CSG) and initially named CSG Imagesoft Inc. Their focus at the beginning was on marketing games exclusively for Nintendo consoles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sega Genesis</span> Home video game console

The Sega Genesis, known as the Mega Drive outside North America, is a 16-bit fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master System. Sega released it in 1988 in Japan as the Mega Drive, and in 1989 in North America as the Genesis. In 1990, it was distributed as the Mega Drive by Virgin Mastertronic in Europe, Ozisoft in Australasia, and Tectoy in Brazil. In South Korea, it was distributed by Samsung Electronics as the Super Gam*Boy and later the Super Aladdin Boy.

Europress was a British magazine and software publisher based in Adlington, near Macclesfield, Cheshire. Their magazine publishing business was previously known as Database Publications. The software division was renamed in 1999 to Actualize.

<i>ESWAT: City Under Siege</i> 1990 video game

ESWAT: City Under Siege, released in Japan as Cyber Police ESWAT, is a 1990 side scrolling action platform video game developed and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis and Sega Master System video game consoles.

<i>Hellfire</i> (video game) 1989 video game

Hellfire is a 1989 horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game originally developed by Toaplan and published in Japan by Taito and North America by U.S.A. Games. The first horizontal shoot 'em up title to be created by Toaplan, the game takes place in the year 2998 where a space matter known as Black Nebula created by robot dictator Super Mech spreads and threatens to engulf human-controlled galaxies, as players assume the role of Space Federation member Captain Lancer taking control of the CNCS1 space fighter craft in a surprise attack to overthrow the enemies with the fighter craft's titular weapon.

<i>Wardner</i> (video game) 1987 video game

Wardner is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Toaplan and published in arcades worldwide by Taito in 1987.

<i>Mega Twins</i> 1990 video game

Mega Twins, known as Chiki Chiki Boys in Japan, is a side-scrolling platform game released for arcades by Capcom in 1990.

<i>Fire Shark</i> 1989 video game

Fire Shark is a 1989 vertically scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and published by Toaplan in Japan and Europe, and by Romstar in North America. It is the sequel to Flying Shark, a game released in 1987 on multiple platforms. Set in the year 1991, the game focuses on a mysterious armada launching a worldwide attack from a small island in the Mediterranean Sea. Players take control of the titular biplane to counterattack the enemy forces.

<i>Instruments of Chaos starring Young Indiana Jones</i> 1994 video game

Instruments of Chaos starring Young Indiana Jones is a 1994 action game developed by Brian A. Rice, Inc. and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. It is based on the television series, The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. The game was in development as of August 1992, with the title Young Indiana Jones. A Sega CD version had been planned for release in July 1993, but it was never published.

<i>Kid Chameleon</i> 1992 video game

Kid Chameleon is a 1992 platform game developed and published by Sega released for the Sega Genesis. In the game, a boss character with artificial intelligence in a virtual reality video game begins abducting players and the main protagonist Casey goes in to beat the game and rescue them. He does this by using masks to shapeshift into different characters in order to use different abilities. It was later released in Japan as Chameleon Kid. After its initial release in 1992 for the Genesis, it was later re-released a number of times in the 2000s, including part of the Sega Smash Pack 2 for the PC in 2000, the Sega Genesis Collection for the PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 in 2006, as a digital release on the Wii's Virtual Console in 2007, Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2009 and for the Sega Forever service in 2017.

<i>The Terminator</i> (Sega CD video game) 1993 video game

The Terminator is a 1993 platform shoot 'em up game developed and published by Virgin Games for the Sega CD. It is based on the 1984 film of the same name, and includes full motion video from the film. The game was praised for its graphics and its soundtrack performed by Tommy Tallarico, although the film footage was considered low quality. The gameplay also received some criticism.

References

  1. ↑ "Video Games Reviews First Look". VideoGames & Computer Entertainment . No. 47. L.F.P., Inc. December 1992. p. 36.
  2. ↑ Plunkett, Luke (March 28, 2011). "Only In The 80's Would They Put Video Games On A VHS Tape". Kotaku. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  3. 1 2 Zito, Tom (March 1995). "Dispatches". Next Generation . No. 3. Imagine Media. pp. 106–7.
  4. ↑ Colin, Williamson. "Sewer Shark (Sega CD) Review". Allgame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved April 6, 2022.
  5. ↑ "Sewer Shark Mega Action Review". Mega Action. Europress Interactive (8): 52. December 1993. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  6. ↑ Waring, Adam (July 1993). "Sewer Shark review". MegaZone (29): 57.
  7. ↑ "Power Unlimited Game Database". powerweb.nl (in Dutch). November 1994. Archived from the original on October 20, 2003. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
  8. ↑ "Sega Packs Sewer Shark with New Sega CD" (PDF). GamePro . No. 62. IDG. November 1993. p. 261.
  9. ↑ Evenson, Luura (November 27, 1994). "You Oughta Be In Pictures". San Francisco Examiner . p. 248. Retrieved January 19, 2022– via Newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Schiffmann, William (January 9, 1994). "Video game review: The best of 1993". Associated Press. The Argus-Press.
  11. ↑ Lachel, Cyril (June 13, 2014). "Sewer Shark: What Did Critics Say Back in 1993?". DefunctGames.com. Archived from the original on September 27, 2018. Retrieved November 1, 2022.
  12. ↑ Strauss, Bob (December 4, 1992). "Sega's Sewer Shark". Entertainment Weekly . No. 147. Meredith Corporation . Retrieved September 5, 2018.
  13. ↑ "Sewer Shark Mega Action Review". Mega Action. Europress Interactive (8): 52. December 1993. Retrieved March 9, 2021.
  14. ↑ "Power Unlimited Game Database". powerweb.nl (in Dutch). November 1994. Archived from the original on October 20, 2003. Retrieved November 22, 2022.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.