Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt

Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt is a video game created by Tengen for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis that was released in early 1993. It also had many lines of digitized speech, unusual for its time, a feature with which the game was marketed. The box also states "it is an excellent educational game for all ages". The game included the voice talents of Walter Fields,[1] Laurie Amat and Douglas Lawrence.

Awesome Possum
North American cover art
Developer(s)Tengen
Publisher(s)Tengen
Designer(s)Richard L. Seaborne
Composer(s)Earl Vickers
Doug Brandon
Nu Romantic
Platform(s)Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Release
  • NA: November 25, 1993
  • JP: December 25, 1993
Genre(s)Platform
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot

Mad scientist Dr. Machino has sent his robots to pollute the earth and endanger the wildlife. Aided by Killer Bee and Rad Rhino, Awesome Possum sets out to destroy the robots, put a stop to the mad scientist and save the world.[2]

Gameplay

Awesome Possum includes environmental activist elements, with the character collecting empty bottles and cans, and answering questions about the environment to earn bonus points in his fight against the evil Dr. Machino. There are also various other animals located within levels which the character can ride to activate their ability, such as a bee which allows the character to fly or a rhino that catapults the character. There are a total of four worlds which together consist of 13 levels all together plus 12 bonus stages alongside the quiz which the character must collect as many recyclables as possible before the time expires.

Development

On April 1992, Richard Seaborne was hired by Tengen to do a concept for an environmental game. Seaborne came up with the character "Awesome Possum" and by July 17, 1992, presented his proposal "Rad Rhino and Awesome Possum" to Tengen and they approved it. Development for the artwork was underway by Fall, but animations were unsatisfactory. Tengen hired Jules Marino on January 18, 1993 to polish the game character's sprites. The final title of the game was made official on May 13, 1993. The development team included a 12-page comic in the manual. When Time Warner Interactive took over Tengen in 1994, they also got the rights of the video game.[3]

Lawsuit

On June 20, 1997, Time Warner Interactive was charged with copyright infringement by Paul A. Roginski, who claimed that the game copied his comic book concept and character name for his manuscript. With Roginski lacking evidence to prove his claim, the case was closed and the defendants were acquitted.[3]

Reception
Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings42.50%[4]
Review scores
PublicationScore
EGM6.2/10[5]
Electronic Games93%[6]
Award
PublicationAward
Electronic GamesBest voice[7]

Awesome Possum currently holds an average score of 42.50% on review aggregator GameRankings based on two reviews: Electronic Gaming Monthly gave the game 6.2 out of 10, and Sega-16 gave the game 2 out of 10.[4] German magazine Video Games gave the game 67%.[8] GamePro praised the sound and speed, though they were somewhat critical on the graphics.[9] Electronic Games, however, gave the game 93% and remarked "There are very few games that can produce this level of headbanging thrills."[6] Brazilian magazine Ação gave the game an orange picture (the third level rating) for graphics, challenge, and fun; and a pink picture (the fourth and top level rating) for sound.[10] Italian magazine Game Power gave the game 89[11]

References
  1. "Weird Wally Tidbit". March 9, 1996. Archived from the original on July 4, 2016. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  2. Awesome Possume - Manual (PDF). Tengen. 1993.
  3. "Roginski v. Time Warner Interactive, Inc., 967 F. Supp. 821 (M.D. Pa. 1997)". Justia US Law. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  4. "Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt - GameRankings". GameRankings. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved April 16, 2018.
  5. Kunkel, Bill (November 1993). "Review Crew: Awesome Possum (Genesis)". Electronic Gaming Monthly. No. 52. Sendai Publishing. p. 50.
  6. Kunkel, Bill (December 1993). "VIDEO GAME GALLERY". Electronic Games. p. 122.
  7. Earl Vickers, Wally Fields. "Using Voice to Bring Game Characters to Life". sfxmachine.com. Retrieved April 17, 2018.
  8. https://archive.org/stream/Video_Games_1994-02_Markt_Technik_DE/Video_Games_1994-02_Markt__Technik_DE#page/n47
  9. https://retrocdn.net/index.php?title=File%3AGamePro_US_053.pdf&page=79
  10. https://retrocdn.net/index.php?title=File:AcaoGames_BR_044.pdf&page=22
  11. https://archive.org/details/Game-Power-25/page/n121
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