Thanks to Hamada for helping with edits.
SEGA’s cataclysmic departure from the hardware market, at least from my young, naive perspective, was a thrilling development: finally, their games would grace Nintendo systems, machines I actually owned! Two of the first games SEGA published for their former competitor’s then-latest console, the GameCube, were Sonic Adventure 2: Battle and Sonic Mega Collection. They (mostly) brought me up to speed with their flagship franchise and two related games, Flicky (whose star inspired Sonic’s recurring Flicky birds and elements of Sonic 3D Blast) and Ristar (whose core mechanic was lifted from a scrapped Sonic 1 concept).
But one day I made a surprising discovery: the Japanese release of Mega Collection contained two extra SEGA Genesis games, The Ooze and Comix Zone. At first blush, their inclusion in a Sonic collection is baffling. Unlike Flicky and Ristar, neither of these connect to the hedgehog…right?
SEGA Technical Institute’s rise and fall is a fascinating tale, one that involves former Sonic Team figurehead Yuji Naka—who is, by all accounts, not one of Source Gaming’s favorite people. (Image: SEGA)
Sonic 1 veterans Naka and Hirokazu Yasuhara worked on Sonic 2, Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles, but they were made at SEGA’s western SEGA Technical Institute branch. Founded in 1990, this studio housed American and Japanese talent who helmed a handful of memorable Genesis games, including—you guessed it—The Ooze and Comix Zone. The latter hit shelves in 1995 and was developed entirely by the team’s western personnel alongside comic book artists Tony DeZuniga and Alex Niño.
Upon booting up Comix Zone, I was taken aback by how impressive it looks. Characters look sharp and are always readable. The detailed backgrounds look gorgeous and gritty, as do the DeZuniga-drawn opening and ending cinematics. Characters occasionally utter voice clips, which was still fairly uncommon at the time. The screen shakes if you perform a strong attack. Honestly, I’m not a fan of Sonic & Knuckles’ composer Howard Drossin’s score, but it does suit Comix Zone and pushes the hardware. You can tell Comix Zone was one of the final games to hit the Genesis: it’s an audiovisual marvel.
Plenty of other games employ comic book imagery, but rarely with as much aplomb as Comix Zone. Every pore of it, even dating back to its “Joe Pencil” prototype, oozes adoration for the medium. Heck, SEGA even applied for a “simulated comic book game“ patent! (Image: SEGA)
Comix Zone’s quality presentation extends beyond that, too. It consists of three episodes that span two “pages” each, all of which whisk protagonist Sketch Turner through a bevy of comic book panels. This actually adds a little replay value, too, since you’ll occasionally have to choose one of two routes, each offering a different set of challenges (these diversions always converge before long, however). Sketch and his enemies often exchange threats and unfunny quips via speech bubbles; he’ll also think to himself via thought bubbles. Yellow caption boxes name each location. A hand summons enemies by “drawing” them, and hitting goons can yield a large “POW!” or “WACK!” Particularly violent actions even shred some of the “gutters” between panels. One page is set ablaze! The Nineties had no shortage of beat ‘em ups, and Comix Zone beautifully stands out among them.
Unfortunately, the praise for it ends once you actually begin playing. Sketch is slow, large, and altogether kinda cumbersome to control. His movement is simple, just a basic jump and walk. Holding the C button causes Sketch to block incoming attacks. Pressing the A button lets him attack, usually by punching. However, he does have a solid assortment of moves. Holding up while pressing A yields an uppercut, while holding down performs a low sweep. He has two attacks while airborne, a forward kick and spin, and another two if he’s hanging onto a pipe. If Sketch is near a downed enemy or the wall, he’ll exercise some situational slam. Holding A even lets Sketch tear off part of the page to use as a paper airplane at the cost of some health. You’re meant to avail yourself of all these tricks—you’re ranked after finishing an episode and Sketch criticizes you if you keep relying on the same, boring combos.
A lightning bolt brings Sketch’s latest comic to life, the evil Mortus traps him in it, and the struggling artist has to fight his way out. He also befriends one of his characters, General Alissa Cyan. (Image: SEGA)
Additionally, Sketch can carry up to three items, which correspond to the X, Y, and Z buttons. Two of them are explosives that damage anything nearby. One’s a knife, a useful projectile attack that can also flip switches (some of the game’s “puzzles” are built around this). The “Super Fist” temporarily turns Sketch into a superhero, which instantly destroys all on-screen baddies à la Super Pac-Man or injures a boss. A cup of iced tea restores some health. A mystery item, once activated, turns into any of the aforementioned goodies.
And finally, we have Roadkill, Sketch’s pet rat. Surprisingly, he’s an invaluable ally: Roadkill can electrocute enemies, unearth hidden items, and flip switches (which other puzzles require). The rodent isn’t durable, however: after sustaining three hits, he falls off the page. Thankfully, picking him up restores his health, so keeping Roadkill alive isn’t too challenging, and you’ll want him around as much as possible.
Although it’s censored, Sketch technically uses foul language. This would’ve probably seemed cool and “hardcore” to me had I played Comix Zone when I was younger. (Image: SEGA)
However, the game’s most important pickup is the seldom seen iced tea, because Comix Zone is brutal. You start with one life, and although advancing through the game can reward you with a few more, it simply isn’t enough. Enemies and hazards are numerous, and unlike other beat ‘em ups, hitting junk—crates, rocks, and other things you might need to break to progress—hurts Sketch. If you try Comix Zone, I implore you to master blocking. It’s an invaluable skill your foes employ, too.
Despite Sketch’s impressive-looking moveset, combat isn’t particularly engaging. Fights follow a routine: you walk or jump over to Mortus’s grunts, you take turns blocking and whacking each other, maybe you use an item, and that’s basically it. A few enemies can fly, some only crawl, and most have decently fleshed-out movesets, but ultimately every brawl blurs together. Usually, two baddies roam the screen at once, and since they can inadvertently injure each other, a valid strategy is sandwiching one between you and the other; exploiting the AI’s vulnerabilities is another invaluable skill. The rare times Comix Zone has anything more exacting going on—explosions, a third enemy—the frame rate buckles under the pressure.
Comix Zone‘s backdrops include a ravaged Manhattan, nauseating sewer, the snowy Himalayas, and an abandoned cruiser. There’s a lot of visual variety, everything look great, and this kept me chugging along for the half hour it takes to beat the game. (Image: SEGA)
Level design is nothing remarkable, carried only by the presentation. Most panels act as small, flat battlefields, with only a handful breaking from that norm. But many that do involve trial-and-error guesswork and punish you for failing. A manhole in Episode 1 causes you to land atop burning oil drums unless you think to toss that explosive crate down first. That path in Episode 2 where Mortus sets the page ablaze forces you to rush down towards the exit. This involves dropping down three platforms through their trapdoors, the first two of which look distinct while the final one blends in with the wooden floor. The latter will probably blindside you your first time through.
Plus, Comix Zone’s puzzles simply mar it further. If you have Roadkill on hand during part of Episode 1, you can send him under a moving fan to flip a switch. If you don’t, you’re stuck hitting it until it breaks—which, again, hurts you. A chasm full of lava protects a switch you need to flip, but if you don’t have a knife, you’re going to need to risk some damage and jump over. Now, it is good that these puzzles are solvable without these items, since players aren’t guaranteed to have them, but endangering Sketch is not a satisfying solution.
One element I found nostalgic is the inclusion of cheat codes. One yields a level select, another grants invincibility (which can stun and trap you in the lava if you’re not careful), and a third lets you watch the credits. (Image: SEGA)
Each episode closes with a boss fight, all of whom have a hidden weakness. The first boss is a dark green lizard who’s vulnerable to fire, and an oil drum is conveniently situated to their right. The second boss is a wizard whose primary attack is shooting his nails, but when he enters the foreground, you can knock him into them, dealing extra damage. And the duel with Mortus is set by a rocket, and if you can bait him to stand under its thrusters, pulling a switch lights him ablaze. Burning Mortus is also basically necessary if you want the good ending, since you’re given finite time to beat him before the trapped Alissa runs out of oxygen. Overall, Comix Zone‘s bosses are nothing to write home about, but their vulnerabilities give them a little more flair and make fighting them more manageable.
Comix Zone never became a mainstay in SEGA’s roster, disappointing its fans. SEGA’s Saturn and ill-conceived 32X Genesis add-on launched in 1994, taking the spotlight away from their predecessor’s swan songs. The solid but not overwhelmingly positive critical reception to Comix Zone didn’t help, either. Elements from the game don’t even resurface in SEGA’s crossovers. More than anything, Comix Zone is a reminder of its late developer.
Half of Mortus’s base resembles an unfinished sketch, a really nice touch that implies he’s rushing to stop you. The ending also suggests another adventure awaits Sketch, though Comix Zone never scored a sequel… (Image: SEGA)
Yet Comix Zone hasn’t been forgotten: it’s been re-released many times over the decades across several platforms (Super Smash Bros. auteur Masahiro Sakurai notably bought it off the Wii Virtual Console service) and, of all SEGA properties, is getting a film adaptation. Playing Comix Zone isn’t fun, and SEGA executives at the time knocked it for allegedly embodying “everything that was wrong with American culture.” But there is something special here, potential I hope gets explored someday.
We were all pretty shocked when news broke of Comix Zone’s film adaptation. Who knows—Sketch Turner may still make it big! (Image: SEGA)
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