Comix Zone
Template:Short description Template:Infobox video game
Comix ZoneTemplate:Efn is a 1995 beat 'em up game developed by Sega Technical Institute (STI) and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis. Set within the panels of a comic book, it follows the comic writer/artist Sketch Turner who, after being transported into the comic by one of his creations, attempts to escape while contending with various threats. The game sees the player traversing six levels, where they interact with the comic world and must defeat enemies, or occasionally solve puzzles, to progress.
Conceived by STI programmer Peter Morawiec, the concept for the game was originally shown off in 1992 via a demonstration video, entitled Joe Pencil Trapped In The Comix Zone. The concept was greenlit by Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske and development began on the game in late 1993. After repeated delays in order to implement more features, the game was released in July of 1995 in North America, and in Japan and Europe in September of the same year.
The game was generally well received by critics, who often praised its visual presentation and soundtrack but also criticized its perceived high difficulty level and short length. Despite mainly positive reception, the game was not financially successful, in part due to its late release for the Genesis and the advent of more sophisticated fifth-generation game consoles. Since then, the game has gone on to acquire a cult following and be re-released on multiple occasions for digital storefronts and video game compilations.
Gameplay
Comix Zone is a side-scrolling beat 'em up game with minor platform and puzzle elements.<ref name="HG101" /> The game is set within the panels of a comic book; with dialogue rendered through speech balloons while environments resemble hand-drawn American superhero comics. Sketch Turner, the player character, can interact with the comic world in a variety of ways, such as by ripping a part of the page into a paper plane to attack an enemy.
There are six levels, or pages, in total, each of which are set across three themed “episodes”. In each level, the player traverses a series of panels. Each panel either contains enemies or a simple puzzle that must be tackled to progress to another panel. Occasionally, the player gets to choose from a branching set of panels, which eventually lead back to single panel. The player’s health is represented by a life bar and is diminished if they attack or are hit by an enemy or obstacle. When the player’s health depletes completely, or they fall down a pit, the game ends unless the player has obtained a continue by completing an episode.
Players can store up to three items in order to overcome obstacles or enemies. Most items in the game can be found by using Roadkill, a rat and himself an item, to peel back parts of the page to discover them. Many items, such as knives, offer help in combat situations, however only one item, iced tea, can heal the player’s life bar.
Synopsis
Comix Zone is set within a comic book of the same name, with the comic itself being set on a post-apocalyptic Earth. Each level is set in a different part of the comic world, such as a decimated New York City, the Himalayas, and the atolls of Zealand. The player controls Sketch Turner, a comic writer/artist who created the comic after dreaming vividly about its contents.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp While working on Comix Zone during a thunderstorm, Sketch's comic is hit by a lightning bolt, causing the book’s antagonist, a mutant named Mortus, to escape its pages. Desiring a physical form in the real world, Mortus sends Sketch into the comic in the hopes of killing him and receiving a body in the process. Upon being transported, Sketch is met by Alissa, a defense force general fighting against Mortus who believes that Sketch came to save her world. Sketch disputes this fact, but regardless decides to go on Alissa's mission.
The duo traverse through the comic world for a while, defeating many of Mortus’s henchmen along the way, until eventually reaching a weapons factory containing a nuclear weapon hidden on a derelict ship. As Alissa attempts to defuse the weapon, Mortus comes back into the comic and throws her into a chamber of rising liquid. Sketch manages to successfully defeat Mortus, frees Alissa from the chamber, and escapes the comic with her just as the weapon self-detonates. Now in the real world, Alissa enlists in the army and, after months, is promoted to Chief of Security for the United States. Comix Zone becomes the best-selling comic book ever, selling out on the first day and making him a celebrity overnight. Alissa moves in with Sketch and they live happily together.
Development
Conception
The game was conceived by the Sega Technical Institute (STI) programmer Peter Morawiec.<ref name="S16: Morawiec" /> Many of Morawiec's fellow STI developers were comic book fans and made monthly trips to local comic shops.<ref name="S16: DevDen" /> He devised the Comix Zone concept after joining his co-workers on one of their trips to a shop in Palo Alto, California.Template:Sfn Morawiec "felt that comics and games could be very complementary" and began working on a technology demonstration for his Amiga.<ref name="S16: Morawiec" /> The story was inspired by the 1985 music video for "Take On Me" by A-ha, which depicts a race car driver in a comic book connecting with a woman in the real world. Morawiec added a dystopian-esq setting based on his passion for science fiction films.Template:Sfn
Morawiec presented the video, "Joe Pencil Trapped in the Comix Zone", to STI head Roger Hector in December 1992.<ref name="S16: Morawiec" />Template:Sfn Hector was enthralled by the concept, saying: "The minute I saw it, I knew it was going to be great."<ref name="S16: Hector">Template:Cite web</ref> He encouraged Morawiec to pitch it directly to Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske, who approved it.Template:Sfn Although Kalinske wanted development to begin immediately, Comix Zone was placed on hold so STI could work on Sonic Spinball (1993), as Sega wanted to have a Sonic the Hedgehog game available for the 1993 Christmas shopping season.Template:Sfn Following SpinballTemplate:'s release, STI pitched several concepts, including Comix Zone, to Sega management. Kalinske remembered Comix Zone and asked STI to begin development.<ref name="S16: Morawiec" />
Morawiec approached programmer Adrian Stephens, who had joined STI as a programmer as Spinball was nearing completion, about working on Comix Zone. Development began with a three-man team of Morawiec, Stephens, and executive producer Dean Lester.Template:Sfn According to Hector, "It took a few months to put together a team capable of delivering the game".<ref name="S16: Hector" /> The team grew as large as a dozen people and was given high priority at STI and the full support of the studio. Additional staff included Jonah Hex co-creator Tony DeZuniga, comic book artist Alex Niño, lead animator Bob Steele, artist Chris Senn, programmer Stieg Hedlund, and associate producer Mike Wallis.<ref name="S16: Hedlund" />Template:Sfn Hector, who served as the manager, credited Morawiec as the project lead.<ref name="S16: Hector" />
Production
The initial protagonist was Joe Pencil, a "geeky-looking" character who Morawiec based on "the classic comic book angle of a scrawny kid getting transformed into a powerful superhero."<ref name="S16: Morawiec" /> Sega's marketing department objected to the character's name and design, so he was renamed Sketch Turner and Morawiec, a fan of the Smashing Pumpkins, redesigned him to resemble a grunge rocker.<ref name="S16: Morawiec" /><ref name="S16: DevDen">Template:Cite web</ref> The marketing department also demanded, against Morawiec's wishes, that Sketch have a sidekick, a popular trend in games at the time. Morawiec did not want Sketch to be followed by a human or a large animal, so he conceived Roadkill since a rat "didn't take up a lot of screen space, and we could do quite a bit with it in terms of puzzles and such."<ref name="S16: Morawiec" /> The marketing department felt that a pet rat was an awkward choice,Template:Sfn but Lester and the other developers supported it.<ref name="S16: Morawiec" />
STI sought to design Comix Zone faithfully to its comic book theme, including in its animation style.Template:Sfn DeZuniga designed the beginning and ending sequences; he drew the art with ink and pencils before scanning it into a computer and processing it for the Genesis.Template:Sfn Senn contributed character animations as well as some background art and bosses.Template:Sfn As development progressed, Stephens found it challenging to program the game so it would fit within two megabytes while being able to decompress large pages of graphics during play. He noted that the Genesis was not designed with this process in mind, but was pleased that he managed to make it happen.Template:Sfn When STI sent Comix Zone to Sega of Japan for review, it received a note claiming the game "embodied everything that was wrong with American culture". Hedlund said the team took this as "high praise".<ref name="S16: Hedlund">Template:Cite web</ref>
Comix Zone became STI's top project with the full support of Sega's marketing department. The development was relatively smooth,Template:Sfn though the game was repeatedly delayed so the team could add more features, leading to a release late in the Genesis' lifecycle.Template:Sfn Comix Zone was one of the only two games, the other being The Ooze, to bear the STI logo.<ref name="S16: DevDen" /> It was the first game that Wallis worked on during his time at Sega,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the last Genesis game Senn worked on.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The soundtrack was composed by Howard Drossin, who used the GEMS sound driver and chose a rock music style.Template:Sfn<ref name="HG101">Template:Cite web</ref> Drossin sought to demonstrate the sound capabilities of the Genesis and that it could produce more than just chiptune. He provided most of the male audio clips, while various administrative assistants provided female audio clips. Morawiec contributed the voice of the villain Gravis.Template:Sfn
Late in development, Sega's testing department recommended that the difficulty level be increased. Average players found it difficult to complete the game as a result, and Morawiec expressed regret that he followed the test department's recommendation.Template:Sfn As development concluded, pressure was mounting as the American STI team had not released a game since Spinball. Further complicating matters was the forthcoming release of Sega's new consoles, the 32X and Sega Saturn, and Stephens expecting a child. Resultingly, Comix ZoneTemplate:'s scope was reduced for a sooner-than-planned release and two levels had to be removed.Template:Sfn In retrospect, Morawiec felt the development would have greatly benefited from the contributions of STI's more experienced Japanese staff, who had split from the main team following the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (1992).<ref name="S16: Morawiec">Template:Cite web</ref>
Release
Comix Zone was released for the Genesis in North America on July 1995,<ref name=GP-ComixZone/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> in Japan on September 1, 1995,<ref name="Sega titles - Sega JP">Template:Cite web</ref> and in Europe on September 1995.<ref name="ComixZone-SM21">Template:Cite web</ref> The game received a small print run in Japan and became an expensive collector's item in the years following its release.<ref name="HG101" /> Sales of Comix Zone were hampered by its late release in the Genesis' lifecycle, after the worldwide launch of next-generation hardware like the Saturn and Sony's PlayStation. According to Stephens, Hector said that Comix Zone failed to break even,Template:Sfn which Morawiec attributed to the popularity of the PlayStation.<ref name="S16: Morawiec" />
To promote Comix Zone as "edgy and cool", Sega bundled Comix Zone with a CD featuring rock songs by popular bands such as Love and Rockets, Danzig, and the Jesus and Mary Chain.Template:Sfn STI originally planned for the bundled CD to contain several Comix Zone tracks performed by a grunge band that Drossin had formed in Los Angeles, but Sega chose a different approach. Morawiec said that the team, particularly Drossin, was upset by the change, though their planned CD was still manufactured and distributed via a magazine, European and Windows copies, and Sega's short-lived Sega Tunes label.<ref name="S16: Morawiec" /><ref name="HG101" /> Hardcore Gaming 101 described the rock CD as "a stunt that further drives the nineties-ness of [Comix Zone] as a time capsule for an era when game companies often released a lot of crazy promotional crap to sell their products".<ref name="HG101" />
Reception
GamePro considered the game's visuals a successful recreation of the look and feel of a comic book, but said that the game quickly sours once the player encounters the repetitive combat and overly simplistic puzzles. They also found problems with the controls: "Sketch can't move rapidly around the panel, and button slamming yields unpredictable results." They concluded: "You really want to love Comix Zone for its original elements, but after a few panels, the honeymoon's over."<ref name=GP-ComixZone>Template:Cite magazine</ref> The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly acknowledged the problems with the controls, but also remarked that the graphics are exceptionally colorful for a Genesis game, and argued that the originality of its comic book look makes it a must-have despite its flaws.<ref name="EGM73" />
Next Generation reviewed the Genesis version of the game and stated that while the unique concept, outstanding visuals, and solid soundtrack make the game of interest, the gameplay is derivative and repetitive. They summed up: "A very cool idea for a game that wasn't executed properly, Comix Zone is better than most."<ref name="NG">Template:Cite magazine</ref> In 2017, GamesRadar ranked Comix Zone 43rd on their "Best Sega Genesis/Mega Drive games of all time." They lauded the animation and sound effects as "magnificent" and beyond the supposed limitation of the console.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Ports and re-releases
A port of the game for Windows 3.1, making use of the WinG graphics API,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> was released by Sega PC in North America in November 1995 and in Europe in March 1996.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Sfn The port, released when Microsoft was promoting Windows 95 as a legitimate game platform, is largely identical to the Genesis version, though it features a MIDI rendition of the soundtrack.<ref name="HG101" /> A Game Boy Advance (GBA) port, developed by Virtucraft, was exclusively released in Europe in limited quantities on September 11, 2002. Because of the GBA’s smaller screen size, much of the game’s assets had to be altered to accommodate for the smaller screen size. GamesTM wrote that its reduced screen size "lessened the illusion of being inside a comic and made the game feel more like your traditional beat-'em-up."Template:Sfn
Comix Zone has been re-released various times as part of game compilations. The Japanese version of Sonic Mega Collection (2002), a GameCube compilation of the Genesis Sonic games, includes Comix Zone as an unlockable game.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Yojiro Ogawa, Sonic Team's head designer, was a "huge fan" of Comix Zone and pushed for its inclusion.Template:Sfn Internationally, it was included in the expanded PlayStation 2 (PS2) and Xbox version, Sonic Mega Collection Plus.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Other compilations featuring Comix Zone include Sega Smash Pack 2 (2000) for Windows, Sega Genesis Collection (2005) for the PS2 and PlayStation Portable;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection (2009) for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) and Xbox 360;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Sega Genesis Classics (2018) for Linux, macOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Additionally, the game has been emulated for download for the Wii via the Virtual Console (2007),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the Xbox 360 via Xbox Live Arcade (2009),<ref name="IGN: XBLA">Template:Cite web</ref> Windows via Steam (2010),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> the PS3 via PlayStation Store (2011),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Android and iOS as part of the Sega Forever service (2017),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and the Nintendo Switch for Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscribers (2022).<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The Xbox 360 and PS3 releases were branded as part of the Sega Vintage Collection line.<ref name="IGN: XBLA" /> The game also comes preinstalled on the Sega Genesis Mini, a dedicated console that can play select Genesis games that was released in 2019.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Legacy
Template:Expand section In the years following its release, the game has received a cult following.Template:Sfn
Film adaptation
In August 2022, Sega announced that they partnered with Picturestart, to develop a film adaptation of the game.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Picturestart's Royce Reeves-Darby, Erik Feig, and Samie Kim Falvey were set to produce the film alongside Sega's Toru Nakahara and Kagasei Shimomura, while Young Justice writer Mae Catt was writing the script. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Catt's story featured a disgruntled comic book creator and a queer writer of color who become stuck in a comic book and work together to stop a supervillain.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
References
Notes
Citations
Works cited
- Template:Cite magazine
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External links
- Template:Moby game
- Comix Zone demo for Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 hosted at Sega of America's official website
- Pages with broken file links
- 1995 video games
- Game Boy Advance games
- Nintendo Classics games
- Sega beat 'em ups
- Sega Genesis games
- Sega Technical Institute games
- Virtual Console games for Wii
- Xbox 360 Live Arcade games
- PlayStation Network games
- Single-player video games
- Video games developed in the United States
- Video games scored by Howard Drossin
- Video games set in New York City
- Video games set in New Zealand
- Video games set in South Asia
- Virtucraft games
- Works about comics