Gargoyles is 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...

 released for the Sega Genesis, based on the cartoon

Cartoon

A cartoon is a form of two-dimensional illustrated visual art. While the specific definition has changed over time, modern usage refers to a typically non-realistic or semi-realistic drawing or painting intended for satire, caricature, or humor, or to the artistic style of such works...

 of the same name

Gargoyles (TV series)

Gargoyles is an American animated series created by Greg Weisman. It was produced by Greg Weisman and Frank Paur and aired from October 24, 1994 to February 15, 1997. Gargoyles is known for its dark tone, complex story arcs and melodrama...

, developed and published by Buena Vista Interactive. A Super Nintendo

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...

 version was also planned for release, but was cancelled.

Storyline

In the game, players control Goliath

Goliath (Gargoyles)

Goliath is a fictional character, and lead protagonist, in the animated television series Gargoyles, voiced by Keith David.-Overview:The Gargoyles concept began as a comedy series in the style of The Gummi Bears, although set in the modern day...

, leader of the Manhattan Clan

Manhattan Clan

The Manhattan Clan are the fictional protagonists of the animated Disney series Gargoyles. They are six gargoyles , the last survivors of a Scottish Gargoyle clan who are frozen in stone in the year 994 AD only to be reawakened in 1994 in Manhattan...

 of gargoyles, in the years 1994 and 1995, as he seeks to put an end to a magical, corrupted talisman, the Eye of Odin, which can transform whoever comes to possess it.

The game loosely follows the plot of the show, although only two characters are identified in any substantial fashion—Goliath, the protagonist, and Demona

Demona

Demona is a fictional character in the animated television series Gargoyles, voiced by Marina Sirtis. One of the primary antagonists in the series, Demona was once Goliath's lover and part of their castle's Wyvern Clan of gargoyles...

, who ultimately becomes the main antagonist and the most recent owner of the Eye. No other characters from the show are identified.

Gameplay

Throughout the game, Goliath will contend with the Vikings who ransacked Castle Wyvern in the past, as well as new, robotic foes who attack him in the present across various venues, such as Manhattan rooftops and a subway. His arsenal of attacks to defend himself include various strikes with his fists, grapples, throws, and leaping maneuvers. Furthermore, he can pump his wings once to increase his jumping distance, as well as climb along walls and ceilings with his claws. The game contains eighteen levels bookended by short cinematics which explain the story thus far, each level concluding with a boss encounter.

Gargoyles boasts a hand-drawn appearance to Goliath, Demona and the Viking antagonists, not unlike 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 Aladdin

Disney's Aladdin (video game)

Disney's Aladdin is a series of video games based on the 1992 motion picture of the same name. Unlike most cross-platform games, the five versions are each significantly different games rather than all being ports of a single source.-Mega Drive/Genesis version:The game from Virgin based on the 1992...

 also for the Genesis, but also a CGI

Computer-generated imagery

Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...

-modeled look for the robots encountered in the present.

Compatibility

The game is programmed to take advantage of a bug in the original Genesis hardware's memory controller. This bug was fixed with the release of the Genesis 3. Consequently, the game will not run correctly on that console.