Licensed video games will forever live in infamy. Generally these titles (regardless of intellectual property) are rushed and awful because the developers tend to rely entirely on the brand name to sell their software. What happens when a publisher chooses something completely unrelated to film or TV for a video game? How about a soda pop license? Cool Spot is a good example. He was 7-Ups mascot, and there were several releases starring this circular sugar water salesman. A lesser known example, and the topic of this review today, is a video game based on Coke. In particular, Coca Cola of Japan’s mascot the Coca Cola Kid.
This title was released for the Sega Game Gear but was never localized. The Coca Cola Kid must be a pretty big deal because Sega even released a Coca Cola themed system to coincide with his video game debut. This title was never localized outside of Japan, but I managed to snag a copy to see how it holds up.
Unfortunately all of the story dialogue is in Japanese, and I wasn’t able to track down a translation guide. I have no idea what’s going on here, but it you play as the title character and must trek through four different worlds (each with three levels) defeating bad guys and facing off against bosses along the way. This game is a traditional side scrolling platformer. The Coca Cola Kid can jump, kick, slide, and dash at enemies. Your life is determined by a health meter on the upper right section of the screen, and each time you’re touched by an enemy or stage hazard you lose one notch.
The Coca Cola Kid’s life is restored by kicking open boxes and releasing, well… Coke. Unlike most platforming games you cannot jump on enemies’ heads, and instead have to either kick or dash into them. This dash move reminds me a lot of Sonic the Hedgehog, and is functionally similar which adds an element of speed to this experience. Rather than focusing on action this is more of a pure platformer with a lot of intricate jumps required. Unfortunately this is a little sloppy.
Not surprisingly the Coca Cola Kid is a pretty agile fellow. His jumps are high in typical fashion, but jumping in either direction results in a flip, and he can run pretty fast by genre standards. Should you narrowly miss a jump your character is able to grab on to the edge of it and pull himself up. My biggest beef is his ability to wall jump. The kid is able to cling on to straight walls and leap off of them. Sitting idle against a wall causes him to slide downward. Unfortunately this whole mechanic is awkward and sloppy, and it gave me a lot of problems. I’ve rarely had a problem in other games where your character has this skill.
The hit detection for this is awful, and the controls aren’t quite responsive enough to support this. Unfortunately it’s required every few seconds in the later stages, and this was particularly frustrating when faced with a bottomless pit. This leads me to another problem; the vertical screen scrolling and where your view centers makes it difficult to tell what’s below. I died several times because I simply couldn’t tell if the floor was below me. That’s just poor design, if you ask me.
This game also contains far too many secret paths. I found myself constantly kicking the wall, and more often than not the barriers were destructible. Usually you would expect secrets like this to be worthwhile, but in most cases it was either a very small reward or simply a path forward in the level. Normally I can overlook problems like this as long as the game has a decent spread of power-ups. That’s not the case here. The only thing you’ve got is a skateboard which, while granting temporary invincibility, moves you rapidly through the stage. This would be okay except for the fact that you lose it whenever you bump into any obstacle in the terrain, and there are a whole lot of them. This includes breakable boxes, walls, and even stairs.
I realize that in real life you wouldn’t be able to ride a skateboard up stairs, but the developers threw these in during several instances where you’ve just obtained the board. It’s so difficult to maintain that it’s almost useless. I guess you could consider the coins power-ups, but these can only be spent at the end of each stage to increase your life bar, buy additional continues, etc. It’s a little boring to be honest.
The developers ensured that you’ll never forget for even a moment that you’re playing a Coca Cola game. The background contains several iterations of the logo, and they weren’t shy when it came to re-using them. It makes this feel like more of an opportunity to advertise than a pure video game, but it’s not a big deal. The Coca Cola Kid is a really good looking title by 8-bit standards. Your character animates fluidly, and the developers were able to cram a surprising number of frames for his movement. The scenery and enemies also feature wonderful amounts of detail. This is honestly one of the best looking games I’ve seen on the Game Gear, and it could easily pass for an early Genesis title.
The soundtrack is largely forgettable, but it’s okay. Each of the worlds features its own theme and they’re competently composed but not something that has stuck with me since turning the system off. This is the Sega Game Gear after all and the music exists entirely as rudimentary bleeps and blips. The Coca Cola Kid’s music is alright, and it fits the happy go lucky nature of this game. I just wouldn’t say it’s anything special. As a matter of fact it’s probably not even worth putting headphones on for.
While it may be tempting to pick up this Japanese only release for a failed handheld that didn’t have a huge library it’s not really worth it. The whole experience just feels a little sloppy, and nothing about this game (except for the frustration it induces) is all that memorable. It’s still a little surprising that this never saw a domestic release because it could easily have been re-tooled. Perhaps we’re better off without it though.
