''Taz Mania'' is the name of several video games based on the '' Taz-Mania'' cartoon series. A 2D side-scrolling platform/adventure

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by Recreational Brainware and published by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

on the

Mega Drive/Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...

in 1992. Different games were also developed by

NuFX NuFX was a video game developer, headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. NuFX is famous for developing the ''NBA Street'' video game series. They were List of acquisitions by Electronic Arts, acquired by Electronic Arts in Febr ...

and released on the Game Gear and by Technical Wave on the

Master System The is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was originally a remodeled export version of the Sega Mark III, the third iteration of the SG-1000 series of consoles, which was released in Japan in 1985 and ...

. Other different ''Taz-Mania'' games were also published by Sunsoft and released on the

SNES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in Euro ...

and 2 games on the

Game Boy The is an 8-bit fourth generation handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on April 21, 1989, in North America later the same year, and in Europe in late 1990. It was designed by the same ...

were made too. One from David A. Palmer Productions and published by Sunsoft and another from Beam Software and published by

THQ THQ Inc. was an American video game company based in Agoura Hills, California. It was founded in April 1990 by Jack Friedman, originally in Calabasas, and became a public company the following year through a reverse merger takeover. Initial ...

Plot

The plot of the game was actually a twist on the usual "Save the World" story setting for many platform/adventure games. One evening, Hugh Tazmanian Devil was telling his three children (Taz, his sister Molly and his brother Jake) an intriguing tale: Once there were huge giant seabirds that laid giant eggs which could feed a family of Tazmanian devils for over a year. There are also legends that somewhere along the island of Tasmania, there is a Lost Valley, where the giant seabirds still nest. Taz becomes fascinated by the prospect of the potentially large omelet and leaves in search for one of those giant eggs. Thus, the player must direct Taz across various stages in search for the Lost Valley and its Giant Bird.

Gameplay

Players control

Taz Taz or TAZ may refer to: Geography *Taz (river), a river in western Siberia, Russia *Taz Estuary, the estuary of the river Taz in Russia People * Taz people, an ethnic group in Russia ** Taz language, a form of Northeastern Mandarin spoken by ...

as he searches for the giant egg. Taz is able to jump, spin into a tornado and eat various objects. Spinning into a tornado allows Taz to defeat most enemies, as well as gain extra jump distance, knock away items and get past certain obstacles unharmed. Taz has the ability to eat most, if not all items throughout the level, such as health recovering food items, extra lives and continues. Eating some chilli peppers allows Taz to breathe fire in order to defeat stronger enemies, while eating a star grants Taz temporary invincibility. Other items, such as bombs and weed killer can be thrown at enemies, but will damage Taz if he eats them.

Development

Recreational Brainware was led by two programmers – Burt Sloane and Jonathan Miller and was based in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

. A semi-sequel to this game in design and concept but unrelated to the ''Taz-Mania'' cartoon series was also developed and released by Sega on the same platforms in between 1994 and 1996, entitled '' Taz in Escape from Mars''. An official sequel titled ''Taz-Mania 2'' was planned with an isometric viewpoint, but was never put into development.

Reception

The Mega Drive version was a bestseller in the UK for 2 months. ''Mega'' placed the game at #19 in their Top Mega Drive Games of All Time. ''

Mean Machines ''Mean Machines'' was a multi-format video game magazine published between 1990 and 1992 in the United Kingdom. Origins In the late 1980s '' Computer and Video Games'' (''CVG'') was largely covering the outgoing generation of 8-bit computers l ...

'' magazines gave the game an overall score of 81 out of 100 praising the graphics as "visually one of the most stunning megadrive games yet", also praising the game animation although there was criticism on the game difficulty as being too easy concluding "An enjoyable and visually exciting platform game which may not be tough enough for hardened platform veterans, but is still worth a look."

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taz-Mania (Video Game) 1992 video games Game Boy games Master System games NuFX games Sega video games Game Gear games Sega Genesis games Sunsoft games Super Nintendo Entertainment System games THQ games Video games developed in Australia Video games featuring the Tasmanian Devil (Looney Tunes) Video games scored by Mark Cooksey Video games set in Australia Cartoon Network video games Video games developed in Japan Video games developed in the United States Single-player video games