Cool Spot

Cool Spot was a mascot for 7 Up beginning in the second half of the 1980s. During this time, the red spot in the 7 Up logo was anthropomorphized: given arms, legs, a mouth, and sunglasses. Many choose to link this design to the 'cool mascot' trend of the time started mainly by the success of Sonic the Hedgehog..

British video games developer Virgin Interactive produced a platform game starring the 7 Up Spot, entitled Cool Spot. Set in a vivid beach/seaport, it was praised for its challenging gameplay and smooth graphics, as well as most of its background music by Tommy Tallarico, for which it won awards. The game won many fans, even among those who were turned off by the commercial connections or in areas where the mascot was not used. It was originally programmed by David Perry for the Mega Drive/Genesis, and then ported by other teams to other systems.

Cool Spot was released for the Mega Drive/Genesis, Amiga, Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear, and Super NES, in 1993. It was released for DOS and Game Boy in 1994.

Gameplay
The game is a 1-player platformer in which the player controls Cool Spot, who can jump, and attack by firing soda bubbles, which could be shot in all directions and while jumping. Cool Spot could also cling to and climb various things by jumping up in front of them. In each level the player must rescue other cool spots, who look exactly alike, from cages at the end of that level, which is not necessarily the point at the far right of the level map. In order to do so, the player is required to collect a certain number of "spots" that would change (usually increase) as the game progressed. "Spots" were placed across the level in large quantities, and were the game's substitute for items such as the coins in Super Mario Bros or Sonic the Hedgehog's gold rings (these were often used in this style of game, mostly for points and extra lives). A player's health is monitored by a humorous Cool Spot face that gradually bends forward and will eventually fall from its position as damage occurs. Damage is taken by touching enemies, their projectiles, or certain level obstacles. Each level is played with a time limit. If the clock reached zero, a life would be lost regardless of a player's health. If Spot lost a life and had no more lives left, the game would end, taking the player back to the title screen. The game had no save feature but did use checkpoints in the form of flagpoles. Once walked past, the flag would raise and a trumpet would sound. If a player lost a life after reaching a checkpoint, the player could restart further in the game.

Sequel
While Cool Spot was a side-scrolling platform game, its sequel, Spot Goes To Hollywood, was more 3D in orientation and featured gameplay inside various movies. Despite excellent visuals, its isometric perspective and unusual controls made it an exceedingly difficult game. This game, published once again by Virgin Interactive, was developed by Eurocom. It was released for Mega Drive/Genesis in 1995, Sega Saturn in 1996, and Sony PlayStation in 1997, with the 32-bit versions featuring revamped graphics and more levels than the Mega Drive/Genesis versions.

7up Spot puzzle game
Another game featuring the 7up Spot character was released for the 8-bit Nintendo Entertainment System, the Game Boy, DOS, the Amiga computer, the Commodore 64, and the Atari ST. This was a version of the puzzle game Ataxx. The NES version, entitled Spot, was released in 1990 by Arcadia Systems, Inc. Coded and Produced by Graeme Devine. Art/Animation and Co-Producer, Robert Stein III.

Version differences
In the PAL (UK & Europe) release the 7 Up bottle was removed from the intro and replaced by a generic soda bottle of similar colour (albeit lacking the label). Presumably this marketing decision was made to avoid associating the 7 Up Spot with the 7 Up brand, in a region where Fido Dido has been considered the firm's official mascot since the 1980s.

Awards

 * "Best Cartridge Music of the Year", 1993, Sega
 * "Best Sound", 1993, Electronic Games Magazine