

Bernardo is suitably challenging, on the level of the Metropolis Zone with its numerous mechanical contraptions. Chester has many leaps of faith and tricky floating blocks to navigate. The Burning Hamlet has a massive living flame that is on your tail at all times, giving the platforming an extra element of danger. The number of spike traps and bottomless pits increases significantly with less stretches of ground as a safety net. Its second act might remind you of the Labyrinth Zone or the Aquatic Ruin Zone.īut after that the game comes into its own, focusing on tight platforming and less about collecting treasure. The first act of Otarucean is eerily similar to the Star Light Zone. Cape Sealph stylistically skews closely to the Emerald Hill Zone, with its bright blue and green color scheme, skyline, and inclines used to build up speed for platforming.
#High seas havoc arcade upgrade#
Treasure only contributes to extra lives, you have a life bar, and the stupid boots you can collect barely upgrade your speed like they’re supposed to.Įach level also has two acts, with the exception of the first and last. Not that there aren’t any differences of course.
#High seas havoc arcade tv#
Replace the TV monitors with treasure chests, rings with random treasure, and Christ on a stick there’s even a ten minute time limit. If you were to slap a pirate theme on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 you’d end up with High Seas Havoc, at least initially. He’s a pirate for Christ sake, why can’t he use a cutlass like the box art depicts? It’s a bit disappointing that you don’t have more in terms of offense as it becomes repetitive in short order. Learning the timing involved in its use is a frustrating process but luckily you won’t need it much. The flip kick is reserved for spikey enemies or enemies whose weak point your ass can’t reach, usually bosses. In functionality it’s a lot like the instant shield in Sonic 3 with a wider arc. Havoc’s offense consists of the family friendly butt bounce and a weird flash kick that is hard to time. But although it leans on its Hedgehog inspiration in the early going it soon blossoms into its own beast and becomes an enjoyable romp that is far better than the majority of tripe it shared shelf space with. High Seas Havoc is heavily influenced by Sonic the Hedgehog, almost to an embarrassing extent. But I guess that platformer money was too enticing to pass up. While they were becoming more active on the console side their bread and butter was still arcade games. Bridget is kidnapped, but not before giving Havoc the map, setting in motion his quest.ĭata East was one of the last publishers I would expect to hop on the mascot bandwagon. This map just so happens to be desired by Bernardo, who wants the gem to use its power to take over the world.

Bridget it turns out has a map with the location of a gem named Emeralda on it. Havoc and his sidekick Tide are pirates who find a woman named Bridget washed ashore. They were all based around cool animals (except Mario, but we can excuse him because his games are awesome) but a Seal? I don’t think there’s ever been a point in time where I’ve thought, “Yeah those guys are awesome.” Inspiration comes from the strangest places and in the case of High Seas Havoc the game is actually pretty cool and a welcome entrant in the mascot craze. Mario, Sonic, Crash Bandicoot, Bubsy, Aero the Acrobat……Croc. He’s a freaking seal! Think about all of the mascot platformers you’ve either seen or played in the past.
