Bloodshot

From Sega Retro

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Bloodshot Title.png

Bloodshot
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Mega-CD
Publisher: Domark
Developer:
Distributor: Acclaim Entertainment (EU), Sega-Ozisoft (AU)
Sega Mega Drive
Ecofilmes (PT)
Sound driver:
Sega Mega Drive
GEMS
Genre: Shooting

















Number of players: 1-2
Official in-game languages:
  • English
  • Deutsch
  • Français
  • Español
  • Release Date RRP Code
    Sega Mega Drive
    US
    (Sega Channel)
    SUBsub
    Sega Mega Drive
    EU
    T-88126-50
    ELSPA: 3+ OK
    Sega Mega Drive
    DE
    T-88126-18
    Sega Mega Drive
    PT
    Sega Mega Drive
    UK
    £39.9939.99[1] T-88126-50
    ELSPA: 3+ OK
    Sega Mega Drive
    AU
    $109.95109.95[4] FBLO24SMC
    OFLC: G8
    Sega Mega Drive
    ZA
    Sega Mega-CD
    EU
    T-88045-50
    ELSPA: 3+ OK
    Sega Mega-CD
    DE
    T-88045-18
    Sega Mega-CD
    UK
    £39.9939.99[6] T-88045-50
    ELSPA: 3+ OK
    Sega Mega-CD
    AU
    FBLO24SMR
    OFLC: G8

    Bloodshot, known as Battle Frenzy in Germany, is a Sega Mega Drive and Sega Mega-CD game developed by Domark. It is notable for being a 3D first person shooter - one of the few available for the Sega Mega Drive and the only game of this genre for the Sega Mega-CD.

    Gameplay

    The game is a traditional first-person shooter. Gameplay mainly consists of the player moving through corridors, shooting enemies and collecting items such as keys and weapons. At the end of each stage, the boss in form of an engine core has to be defeated. This always triggers a self destruct sequence and the player has to hurry back to the starting point in order to escape alive.

    The game takes up most of the screen, with much smaller borders than similar games such as Zero Tolerance, a very impressive technical achievement. A two player split-screen mode is also available. However, the game also suffers from slowdown and some of the texture data of the Mega Drive version looks corrupted but were fixed with the Mega-CD version.

    Available Weapons

    • Tribolt
    • Rapid
    • Piercer (goes through walls)
    • Ricochet (bounces off walls)
    • Spray

    Multiplayer

    The game supports two players playing together with vertical split-screen. Game can be played either in competitive or cooperative mode.

    For competitive mode player just has to select "VS Mode" in main menu and choose the arena. Each player start on opposite sides of arena-maze and have three lives.

    For cooperative play player has to start normal game and then press  START  on controller of another player. The game will enter split-screen mode and the second player will spawn in. This action requires one continue point which will be taken away. There is no friendly fire in this mode.

    History

    Bloodshot was only released in Mega Drive cartridge form throughout Europe and Australia. In Germany, the game was retitled Battle Frenzy because the name was considered "too violent"[7], though the game does not contain any blood ("Bloodshot" is a code name for the fictional "Battle Frenzy" chip implanted in the player"). In North America the game was exclusive to the Sega Channel in where it was called by its German name to distance itself from the comic book series of the same name[7].

    The Sega Mega-CD version was also exclusive to Europe until 2003, when a North American version under the Battle Frenzy name was released. This version was developed and published by Good Deal Games without the consent of Domark or Acclaim Entertainment. On the Mega-CD, sound effects are sampled at a lower bitrate, the number of enemies reduced and some levels are altered so that the game could fit in RAM - this decision was made to circumvent having to stream in data from the disc during gameplay, which in slower than accessing data from a cartridge and was already being used for music[7].

    The Mega Drive and Mega-CD have different soundtracks, both composed by Mike Ash. The Mega Drive one is ambient-based while the Mega-CD uses trance music.

    Versions

    Localised names

    Also known as
    Language Localised Name English Translation
    English Bloodshot Bloodshot
    German Battle Frenzy Battle Frenzy

    Production credits

    Mega Drive version

    • Written by: Jim Blackler
    • Artwork: Joe Groombridge
    • Sound: Mike Ash
    • Additional Animation: Mike Adams, Jo Myers, Jason Cunningham
    • Stills Art: Mark Richards, Junior Walker
    • Story: Ian Livingstone
    • Support: Warren Mills, Matt Blackler, Paul Margrave
    • Battle Frenzy copyright 1994 Domark Software. All rights reserved.
    Source:
    In-game credits

    Magazine articles

    Main article: Bloodshot/Magazine articles.

    Promotional material

    Logo-pdf.svg
    Print advert in Consoles + (FR) #42: "Avril 1995" (1995-0x-xx)
    Logo-pdf.svg

    Physical scans

    Mega Drive version

    Sega Retro Average 
    Publication Score Source
    Sega Mega Drive
    Division by zero.
    Based on
    0 review
    Sega Retro Average 
    Publication Version Score
    1700 igr dlya Sega (RU)
    70
    [8]
    Consoles + (FR)
    82
    [9]
    Cool Gamer (RU)
    90
    [10]
    Computer & Video Games (UK)
    84
    [1]
    Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU)
    70
    [11]
    Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 3 (RU)
    70
    [12]
    GamePro (US) NTSC-U
    73
    [13]
    GamesMaster (UK) PAL
    80
    [14]
    Game Informer (US) NTSC-U
    56
    [15]
    LeveL (CZ)
    75
    [16]
    MAN!AC (DE) PAL
    42
    [17]
    Mega (UK) PAL
    85
    [18]
    Mega Force (FR) PAL
    85
    [19]
    Mega Fun (DE) PAL
    39
    [20]
    Next Generation (US) NTSC-U
    25
    [21]
    Player One (FR)
    80
    [22]
    Play Time (DE) PAL
    39
    [23]
    Sega Magazine (UK) PAL
    80
    [24]
    Sega Power (UK) PAL
    88
    [25]
    Tricks 16 bit (RU)
    78
    [26]
    Última Generación (ES)
    68
    [27]
    Video Games (DE) PAL
    50
    [28]
    Sega Mega Drive
    69
    Based on
    22 reviews

    Bloodshot

    Mega Drive, EU
    Bloodshot MD EU Box.jpg
    Cover
    Bloodshot MD EU Cart.jpg
    Cart
    Bloodshot MD EU Manual.jpg
    Manual
    Bloodshot MD EU pcb.jpg
    PCB
    Mega Drive, DE
    BattleFrenzy MD DE Box.jpg
    Cover
    BattleFrenzy MD DE Cart.jpg
    Cart
    Battle Frenzy MD DE Manual.jpg
    Manual
    Mega Drive, PT
    Bloodshot MD PT Box.jpg
    Cover
    Mega Drive, AU
    Bloodshot MD AU Box.jpg
    Cover
    Bloodshot MD AU Cart Silver.jpg
    Cart
    Mega Drive, ZA
    Bloodshot MD ZA Box.jpg
    Cover
    Bloodshot MD EU Cart.jpg
    Cart

    Mega-CD version

    Sega Retro Average 
    Publication Score Source
    {{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
    Based on
    0 review
    Sega Retro Average 
    Publication Version Score
    Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
    64
    [29]
    GamePro (US) NTSC-U
    73
    [30]
    GamesMaster (UK)
    80
    [31]
    Game Informer (US) NTSC-U
    33
    [32]
    MAN!AC (DE) PAL
    42
    [33]
    Mega Force (FR) PAL
    80
    [34]
    Player One (FR)
    75
    [35]
    Sega Magazin (DE) PAL
    74
    [36]
    Sega Magazine (UK) PAL
    81
    [5]
    Sega News (CZ)
    69
    [37]
    Super Juegos (ES)
    75
    [38]
    Sega Mega-CD
    68
    Based on
    11 reviews

    Bloodshot

    Mega-CD, EU
    Bloodshot MCD EU Box Back.jpgBloodshot MCD EU Box Front.jpg
    Cover
    Bloodshot MCD EU Disc.jpg
    Disc
    Bloodshot MCD EU Manual.jpg
    Manual
    Mega-CD, DE
    BattleFrenzy MCD DE Box Back.jpgBattleFrenzy MCD DE Box Front.jpg
    Cover
    BattleFrenzy MCD DE spinecard.jpg
    Spinecard
    BattleFrenzy MCD DE Disc.jpg
    Disc
    Mega-CD, AU

    Technical information

    Main article: Bloodshot/Technical information.

    References

    1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Computer & Video Games, "January 1995" (UK; 1994-12-15), page 68
    2. 2.0 2.1 Sega Magazine, "August 1994" (UK; 1994-07-15), page 82
    3. Game Players, "Vol. 7 No. 12 December 1994" (US; 1994-1x-xx), page 10
    4. 4.0 4.1 File:NewReleases 1994-11 AU Catalogue.pdf, page 5
    5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 Sega Magazine, "July 1995" (UK; 1995-06-15), page 96
    6. Mega Power, "November 1994" (UK; 1994-10-20), page 21
    7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 Interview: Jim Blackler by Segacollection.com
    8. 1700 igr dlya Sega, "" (RU; 2001-xx-xx), page 33
    9. Consoles +, "Février 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 108
    10. Cool Gamer, "9" (RU; 2002-10-13), page 37
    11. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1, "" (RU; 1999-xx-xx), page 296
    12. Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 3, "" (RU; 2000-xx-xx), page 16
    13. GamePro, "January 1995" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 48
    14. GamesMaster (UK) "Series 4, episode 13" (1994-12-13, 24:00) (+11:27)
    15. Game Informer, "January 1995" (US; 199x-xx-xx), page 18
    16. LeveL, "Duben 1996" (CZ; 1996-04-03), page 46
    17. MAN!AC, "03/95" (DE; 1995-02-08), page 52
    18. Mega, "July 1995" (UK; 1995-06-30), page 14
    19. Mega Force, "Février 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 66
    20. Mega Fun, "01/95" (DE; 1994-12-21), page 34
    21. Next Generation, "May 1995" (US; 1995-04-18), page 100
    22. Player One, "Février 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 92
    23. Play Time, "2/95" (DE; 1995-01-04), page 106
    24. Sega Magazine, "December 1994" (UK; 1994-11-15), page 82
    25. Sega Power, "February 1995" (UK; 1994-12-15), page 54
    26. Tricks 16 bit, "Tricks Sega Gold 800 igr" (RU; 1998-03-20), page 9
    27. Última Generación, "Julio/Agosto 1995" (ES; 1995-0x-xx), page 98
    28. Video Games, "3/95" (DE; 1995-02-23), page 89
    29. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "March 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 38
    30. GamePro, "April 1995" (US; 1995-xx-xx), page 56
    31. GamesMaster, "March 1995" (UK; 1995-02-16), page 50
    32. Game Informer, "May 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 36
    33. MAN!AC, "08/95" (DE; 1995-07-12), page 60
    34. Mega Force, "Été 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 93
    35. Player One, "Juillet/Août 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 114
    36. Sega Magazin, "September 1995" (DE; 1995-08-16), page 18
    37. Sega News, "Říjen 1996" (CZ; 1996-xx-xx), page 25
    38. Super Juegos, "Agosto 1995" (ES; 1995-0x-xx), page 61


    Bloodshot

    Bloodshot Title.png

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    Sega Mega-CD
    Prototypes: 1995-03-09