Comix Zone
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Comix Zone is a 1995 action game for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive. Gameplay involves defeating enemies with punches, kicks, holds, and combos of the three, the managing your inventory, and solving puzzles.
The game's most remarkable feature is that it is set within the "panels" of a comic book. Each level consists of two "pages" and secrets are discovered by shredding the "paper" and revealing items. Dialogue is rendered within talk bubbles with the typical comic font. Sprites and backgrounds possess the bright colors and dynamic drawing style favored by superhero comics. Although many comic-themed games have come out since it release (most notably XIII and Viewtiful Joe), none has ever been like Comix Zone's implementation of the theme.
The plot concerns Sketch Turner, a cartoonist who becomes trapped in his own comic book. The villain of his story comes to life in an unusual thunderstorm, and he decides to trap him in his own world. Inside the comic book, he meets General Alissa Cyan, who believes he's a superhero that came to save their post-apocalyptic world from the evil.
The "drawn on paper" theme is held throughout, and the player can even rip shreds out of the backdrop and fold them into paper planes to throw at enemies. But because this paper world is also part of themselves (because they are drawn on it), this action takes a small slice off the player's health bar. Certain combos will send enemies hurtling, and if a border between frames is in the way the enemy crashes through it, tearing it to shreds. When confronted with a still unbroken frame barrier without any means of breaking it, the hero merely swings himself out of the frame, over the top of the border, and back down into the next scene.
There are no lives whatsoever in this game, falling down a hole or being killed by enemies leads immediately to the bad ending, but the villain did intend to give him a sporting chance. On the harder levels he will occasionally say "Oh, come on, I'm not finished my fun yet!" and allow the hero another chance.
The game has a small amount of replayability in that the player can choose from a selection of special moves, but can only play with ONE of these, and cannot change during gameplay. Like in many arcade games, this "berserker" move will deplete their health each time it is used, but ONLY if it hits an opponent or a breakable object. There are about eight moves available ranging from the Shaolin Kick to the Super Punch, and each alters gameplay quite significantly as some work better in some situations or on some enemies better than others, and the player must learn how and when to use each.
The game is hidden within the Japanese version of Sonic Mega Collection and is locked part of all region versions of Sonic Mega Collection Plus, which is unlockable with having a Sonic Heroes game save, or is unlocked over time.
The game was ported to the Game Boy Advance, but fans criticized this rerelease because its significantly smaller screen size allowed much less onscreen. This was said to lessen the effect of seeing into the other frames around the player, making it more like a traditional platform game.fr:Comix Zone