Cool Spot
Encyclopedia
Cool Spot was a mascot
for 7 Up
beginning in the late 80s.(1987) During this time, the red spot in the 7 Up logo was anthropomorphized
: given arms, legs, a mouth, and sunglasses.
British
video games developer Virgin Interactive
's American studio produced a platform game
starring the 7 Up Spot, entitled Cool Spot. Set in a vivid beach/seaport, it was praised for its challenging gameplay and smooth graphics, as well as most of its background music by Tommy Tallarico
, for which it won awards. The game won many fans, even among those who were turned off by the commercial connections or in areas where the mascot was not used. It was originally programmed
at Virgin Games USA
by David Perry for the Mega Drive/Genesis, and then ported by other teams to other systems.
Cool Spot was released for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Super NES
in 1993. It was released for Sega Master System
, Sega Game Gear
, Game Boy
, Amiga
and DOS
in 1994.
The game is a 1-player platformer
in which the player controls Cool Spot, who can jump, and attack by firing soda bubbles, which could be shot in all directions and while jumping. Cool Spot could also cling to and climb various things by jumping up in front of them. In each level the player must rescue other cool spots, who look exactly alike, from cages at the end of that level, which is not necessarily the point at the far right of the level map. In order to do so, the player is required to collect a certain number of "spots" that would change (usually increase) as the game progressed. "Spots" were placed across the level in large quantities, and were the game's substitute for items such as the coins in Super Mario Bros or Sonic the Hedgehog's gold rings (these were often used in this style of game, mostly for points and extra lives). A player's health is monitored by a humorous Cool Spot face that gradually bends forward and will eventually fall from its position as damage occurs. Damage is taken by touching enemies, their projectiles, or certain level obstacles. Each level is played with a time limit. If the clock reached zero, a life would be lost regardless of a player's health. If Spot lost a life and had no more lives left, the game would end, taking the player back to the title screen. The game had no save feature but did use checkpoints in the form of flagpoles. Once walked past, the flag would raise and a trumpet would sound. If a player lost a life after reaching a checkpoint, the player could restart further in the game. If the player successfully collects enough Spots to enter the Bonus Stage after defeating a level, it is possible to collect Continues, which appear one-per-Bonus Stage in the form of "V", "I", "R", "G", "I", and "N" (spelling VIRGIN, the game's developer). If a Continue letter is collected, Spot will be able to restart on the level he was on at the time of losing his last life, although his total points will be reset.
, was more 3D in orientation and featured gameplay inside various movies. Despite excellent visuals, its isometric
perspective and unusual controls made it an exceedingly difficult game. This game, published once again by Virgin Interactive
, was developed by Eurocom
. It was released for Mega Drive/Genesis in 1995, Sega Saturn
in 1996, and Sony
PlayStation
in 1997, with the 32-bit versions featuring revamped graphics and different levels than those of the Mega Drive/Genesis version.
, the Game Boy
, DOS
, the Amiga
computer, the Commodore 64
, and the Atari ST
. This was a version of the puzzle game Ataxx
. The NES version, entitled Spot, was released in 1990 by Arcadia Systems, Inc. Coded and Produced by Graeme Devine. Art/Animation and Co-Producer, Robert Stein III.
bottle was removed from the intro and replaced by a generic soda bottle of similar colour (albeit lacking the label). Presumably this marketing decision was made to avoid associating the 7 Up Spot with the 7 Up brand, in a region where Fido Dido
has been considered the firm's official mascot since the 1980s.
Mascot
The term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
for 7 Up
7 Up
7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo in the rest of the world, including Puerto Rico, where the concentrate is manufactured at the Pepsi facility in Cidra...
beginning in the late 80s.(1987) During this time, the red spot in the 7 Up logo was anthropomorphized
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
: given arms, legs, a mouth, and sunglasses.
British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
video games developer Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive was a British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games Ltd. in 1981. The company became much larger after purchasing the budget label, Mastertronic in 1987. It was part of the Virgin Group...
's American studio produced a platform game
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
starring the 7 Up Spot, entitled Cool Spot. Set in a vivid beach/seaport, it was praised for its challenging gameplay and smooth graphics, as well as most of its background music by Tommy Tallarico
Tommy Tallarico
Tommy Tallarico is an American video game music composer and musician. He is best known as the co-creator of the concert series Video Games Live...
, for which it won awards. The game won many fans, even among those who were turned off by the commercial connections or in areas where the mascot was not used. It was originally programmed
Game programming
Game programming, a subset of game development, is the programming of computer, console or arcade games. Though often engaged in by professional game programmers, many novices may program games as a hobby...
at Virgin Games USA
Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive was a British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games Ltd. in 1981. The company became much larger after purchasing the budget label, Mastertronic in 1987. It was part of the Virgin Group...
by David Perry for the Mega Drive/Genesis, and then ported by other teams to other systems.
Cool Spot was released for the Mega Drive/Genesis and Super NES
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
in 1993. It was released for Sega Master System
Sega Master System
The is a third-generation video game console that was manufactured and released by Sega in 1985 in Japan , 1986 in North America and 1987 in Europe....
, Sega Game Gear
Sega Game Gear
The was Sega's first handheld game console. It was the third commercially available color handheld console, after the Atari Lynx and the TurboExpress....
, Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
, Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
and DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
in 1994.
Gameplay
Platform game
A platform game is a video game characterized by requiring the player to jump to and from suspended platforms or over obstacles . It must be possible to control these jumps and to fall from platforms or miss jumps...
in which the player controls Cool Spot, who can jump, and attack by firing soda bubbles, which could be shot in all directions and while jumping. Cool Spot could also cling to and climb various things by jumping up in front of them. In each level the player must rescue other cool spots, who look exactly alike, from cages at the end of that level, which is not necessarily the point at the far right of the level map. In order to do so, the player is required to collect a certain number of "spots" that would change (usually increase) as the game progressed. "Spots" were placed across the level in large quantities, and were the game's substitute for items such as the coins in Super Mario Bros or Sonic the Hedgehog's gold rings (these were often used in this style of game, mostly for points and extra lives). A player's health is monitored by a humorous Cool Spot face that gradually bends forward and will eventually fall from its position as damage occurs. Damage is taken by touching enemies, their projectiles, or certain level obstacles. Each level is played with a time limit. If the clock reached zero, a life would be lost regardless of a player's health. If Spot lost a life and had no more lives left, the game would end, taking the player back to the title screen. The game had no save feature but did use checkpoints in the form of flagpoles. Once walked past, the flag would raise and a trumpet would sound. If a player lost a life after reaching a checkpoint, the player could restart further in the game. If the player successfully collects enough Spots to enter the Bonus Stage after defeating a level, it is possible to collect Continues, which appear one-per-Bonus Stage in the form of "V", "I", "R", "G", "I", and "N" (spelling VIRGIN, the game's developer). If a Continue letter is collected, Spot will be able to restart on the level he was on at the time of losing his last life, although his total points will be reset.
Sequel
While Cool Spot was a side-scrolling platform game, its sequel, Spot Goes To HollywoodSpot Goes To Hollywood
Spot Goes to Hollywood is a platform video game released by Virgin Interactive for the Mega Drive/Genesis as the sequel to Cool Spot. A Sega Saturn and PlayStation version was later released, featuring different levels but similar gameplay to the original version...
, was more 3D in orientation and featured gameplay inside various movies. Despite excellent visuals, its isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...
perspective and unusual controls made it an exceedingly difficult game. This game, published once again by Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive
Virgin Interactive was a British video game publisher. It was formed as Virgin Games Ltd. in 1981. The company became much larger after purchasing the budget label, Mastertronic in 1987. It was part of the Virgin Group...
, was developed by Eurocom
Eurocom
Eurocom is a British video game developer founded specifically to develop games for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Since then Eurocom has expanded to several other platforms including handheld game systems and most major video game consoles.The company was once famous for its arcade to console...
. It was released for Mega Drive/Genesis in 1995, Sega Saturn
Sega Saturn
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...
in 1996, and Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...
in 1997, with the 32-bit versions featuring revamped graphics and different levels than those of the Mega Drive/Genesis version.
7up Spot puzzle game
Another game featuring the 7up Spot character had been released previously for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment SystemNintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...
, the Game Boy
Game Boy
The , is an 8-bit handheld video game device developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on , in North America in , and in Europe on...
, DOS
DOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
, the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
computer, the Commodore 64
Commodore 64
The Commodore 64 is an 8-bit home computer introduced by Commodore International in January 1982.Volume production started in the spring of 1982, with machines being released on to the market in August at a price of US$595...
, and the Atari ST
Atari ST
The Atari ST is a home/personal computer that was released by Atari Corporation in 1985 and commercially available from that summer into the early 1990s. The "ST" officially stands for "Sixteen/Thirty-two", which referred to the Motorola 68000's 16-bit external bus and 32-bit internals...
. This was a version of the puzzle game Ataxx
Ataxx
Ataxx is a board game that first appeared in 1990 as an arcade video game by The Leland Corporation. It also appeared in 1990 as the video game Spot and later as the Microscope Puzzle from the 1993 CD-ROM game The 7th Guest...
. The NES version, entitled Spot, was released in 1990 by Arcadia Systems, Inc. Coded and Produced by Graeme Devine. Art/Animation and Co-Producer, Robert Stein III.
Version differences
In the PAL (UK & Europe) release the 7 Up7 Up
7 Up is a brand of a lemon-lime flavored non-caffeinated soft drink. The rights to the brand are held by Dr Pepper Snapple Group in the United States, and PepsiCo in the rest of the world, including Puerto Rico, where the concentrate is manufactured at the Pepsi facility in Cidra...
bottle was removed from the intro and replaced by a generic soda bottle of similar colour (albeit lacking the label). Presumably this marketing decision was made to avoid associating the 7 Up Spot with the 7 Up brand, in a region where Fido Dido
Fido Dido
Fido Dido is a cartoon character created by Joanna Ferrone and Sue Rose. Rose first developed the character in 1985 on a napkin in a restaurant.They later stenciled Fido on T-shirts with the credo: "Fido is for Fido, Fido is against no one"...
has been considered the firm's official mascot since the 1980s.
Awards
- "Best Cartridge Music of the Year", 1993, Sega
- "Best Sound", 1993, Electronic Games Magazine http://www.northernsounds.com/forum/showthread.php?t=18063
See also
- tUME The Universal Map EditorTUMEtUME is a tile based map editor originally created and designed by Greg Marquez and Gregg Tavares for the Commodore Amiga and later ported to MS-DOS by Dan Chang...
, One of the tools used in the creation of Cool Spot. - Spot: The Video GameSpot: The Video GameSpot: The Video Game is a video game developed and produced by Virgin Mastertronic in 1990/1991 for the Amiga, Atari ST, DOS computers, Game Boy and NES. It is the first video game to feature the then current 7up mascot "Spot", and was later followed up by platformers Cool Spot and Spot goes to...
- Spot: The Cool AdventureSpot: The Cool Adventureis a 2D Platformer video game, developed by Visual Concepts and published by Virgin Interactive for the Game Boy handheld, which was released in 1993.The game structure is based on M.C. Kids....
- Harley's Humongous AdventureHarley's Humongous AdventureHarley's Humongous Adventure is a 1992 Super NES platform video game.-Summary:...
External links
- Seven Up Spot at Commodore Scene Database
- See Spot Go. In 1987, 7UP introduced Spot, a character derived from the red dot in the 7UP trademark.