Socket, known in Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 as , is a fast-paced 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...

 developed and published by Vic Tokai

Vic Tokai

is a telecommunications company in Japan providing cable and DSL services as well as network solutions. The "Vic" in Vic Tokai's name stands for Valuable Information & Communication while the "Tokai" is simply the name of its parent company TOKAI, a Japanese natural gas utility founded in 1950...

 for the Mega Drive/Genesis

Sega Mega Drive

The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...

. It was released on August 17, 1993.

Game play

Socket played very similarly to Sonic the Hedgehog; so much so that it is often called a Sonic rip-off or clone. Its sense of speed and platforming gameplay

Gameplay

Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...

 contributed to this thinking. In this game you had to collect energy (represented by lightning bolts) which the robot Socket consumed when he moved. This energy also served as the "life meter", rather like the golden rings in Sonic. The stages were named to reflect this fast paced gameplay. All the zones followed a three-act pattern, beginning with a fast-paced racing zone, followed by a more platformer-style area, and ending with a more puzzle-style labyrinth

Labyrinth

In Greek mythology, the Labyrinth was an elaborate structure designed and built by the legendary artificer Daedalus for King Minos of Crete at Knossos...

. This is followed by a boss battle.

Reception

For the Magazine Sega Zone

Sega Zone

Sega Zone was a Sega orientated publication from Dennis Publishing in the early 1990s. Sega Zone had split from its former multiformat console title Game Zone. The Game Zone title would continue as a Nintendo magazine...

, Stuart Campbell gave it the lowest possible score.