Taz-Mania

For the Sega Master System game, see Taz-Mania (Master System). For the Sega Game Gear game, see Taz-Mania (Game Gear).

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Taz-Mania
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Recreational Brainware
Supporting companies: Nu Romantic Productions (audio), Sega of America (assistance)
Distributor: Ecofilmes (PT), Hent Gruppen (SE rental), Tec Toy (BR), Samsung (KR)
Licensor: Warner Bros.
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1992-12-25 ¥6,8006,800 G-4089 US 1992-07 $49.9549.95 1032 US ▼ (Sega Channel) 199x SUBsub EU 1992-07 1032 EU ▼ (Sega Channel) 199x SUBsub PT 1992 MDJ1032 UK 1992-07 £39.9939.99 1032 SE (Rental) 199x AU 1992 CA 1992 BR 199x 043180 KR 199x GM4085JG AS 199x

Taz-Mania (タズマニア) is a 1992 platform game developed by Recreational Brainware and released by Sega in 1992 for the Sega Mega Drive. It is based on the cartoon series with the same name, and stars Taz the Tazmanian Devil on the search for seabird eggs. It is unrelated to the Super Nintendo and Game Boy games with the same name, aside from the Taz-Mania license.

Taz-Mania was a fairly popular game, and received favorable reviews when it was released for being one of the first games to look like a Warner Bros. cartoon (previous attempts had been held back by hardware restraints). The game was followed by Taz in Escape from Mars.

Ironically, although the game was made by Sega of America and released in most countries in time for the Christmas season in 1992, it was first released in Europe in the summer of that year.

Story

Introduction

One evening, Hugh Tazmanian Devil was telling a story to his three children (Taz, his sister Molly and his brother Jake):

Once there were huge Giant Seabirds that laid giant eggs which could feed a family of Tazmanian devils for over a year. There are also legends that somewhere along the island of Tasmania, there is a Lost Valley where the Giant Seabirds still nest. Fascinated by the prospect of a potentially large omelette, Taz leaves in search of the Lost Valley.

Gameplay

Map

The game is a platformer where players control Taz as he searches for the giant egg. Taz moves with and . He is able spin into a tornado with and jump with . Spinning into a tornado allows Taz to defeat most enemies, gain extra jump distance, knock away items, and get past certain obstacles unharmed.

Taz can also eat various objects by walking into them, including health recovering food items, extra lives, and continues. Other items, such as bombs and weed killer, can be thrown at enemies but damage Taz if he eats them. Pressing when next to an item picks it up and throws it. is also used to operate switches when next to them.

Taz has a health bar that goes down as he takes damage from enemies and hazards. He loses a life if he runs out of health. The game ends if Taz runs out of lives, but it can be continued from the beginning of the level as long as the player has continues remaining.

Items

Taz eats items by walking into them.

	Chili Peppers
	Allows Taz to breathe fire with to defeat stronger enemies.
	Water Jug
	Recovers health and awards points.
	Roast Chicken
	Recovers health and awards points.
	Frozen Fish
	Recovers health and awards points.
	Fruit Plate
	Recovers health and awards points.
	Bomb
	Bombs can be thrown at enemies to attack them but harm Taz if he eats them.
	Star
	Grants Taz temporary invincibility.
	No Weed
	No Weed can be thrown at Weed-Ola in the Jungle to attack it but harms Taz if he eats it.
	Photo 1
	Gives the player an extra life.
	Photo 3
	Gives the player an extra continue.
	Milestone
	Checkpoint where Taz is revived after losing a life.
	Signpost
	Indicates the end of the level.

Levels

	The Badlands
	The boss is a truck driven by Bull Gator and Axl Gator.
	The Factory
	Iceland
	The Jungle
	The boss is Francis X. Bushlad.
	The Mine
	The Jungle
	The Taztec Ruins
	The Giant Seabird Nest

History

Development

“	I was very excited about Taz. We knew that we had a lot to live up too with that license. We all worked in the same room, and the room was filled with Taz merchandise. Taz was so well defined that we didn’t have to guess how to make him fun, we just had to convey that in the limitations of the hardware. Taz has attitude, and is a brute. That means you can get away with a lot of character traits that don’t have to be so subtle. The toughest part of Taz was coming up with a way to have over two hundred frames of animation and still fit in a cart. This led to a layered sprite tool where we could use the same arm in several frames, the same head, etc etc, and just move them within the tool to get the animation. This saved a ton of space on the cart, and allowed for eight and twelve frame animations, giving the character a lot of fluidity. The other trick we did was to build different levels with the same artwork, and just use different palettes. You’ll notice the ice level and the sand level use the same tiles.	„
— David Foley

Production credits

• Taz-Mania is Brought to You by: Sega of America, Inc. and Recreational Brainware
• Concept and Production: Scott Berfield
• Design and Programming - Recreational Brainware: Burt Sloane, Jonathan Miller, Dave Foley
• Art: Alan Murphy, Marilyn Churchill
• Music and Sound Effects - Nu*Romantic Productions: Mark Steven Miller, Jim Hedges
• Testing: Steve Patterson, Doug Lanford, Conan Tigard, Vince Nason, Jeffrey Kessler, Vy Nong, Javone Alonzo, Casey Grimm, Scott Rhode
• Demos: Adam + Matt Sands

Thank You for Playing Taz-Mania!

©1992 Recreational Brainware

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Taz-Mania/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

File:Taz-Mania MD US TVAdvert.mp4

US TV advert

File:Taz-Mania MD US TVAdvert.mp4

File:Taz-Mania MD UK TVAdvert.mp4

UK TV advert

File:Taz-Mania MD UK TVAdvert.mp4

File:Taz-Mania MD AU TVAdvert.mp4

AU TV advert

File:Taz-Mania MD AU TVAdvert.mp4

FI advert (1992)

Flyer (RU)

Print advert in (US) #37: "August 1992" (1992-xx-xx)

Print advert in (ES) #4: "Agosto 1992" (1992-xx-xx)

Print advert in (SE) #1992-02: "2/92" (1992-11-19)
also published in:

• (SE) #1993-01: "1/93" (1993-01-14)

Print advert in (SE) #1992-02: "2/92" (1992-11-19)
also published in:

• (SE) #1993-01: "1/93" (1993-01-14)

Mega Drive print advert in (ES) #8: "Diciembre 1992" (1992-xx-xx)

Print advert in (JP) #1993-01: "January 1993" (1992-12-08)

Print advert in (GR) #96: "Fevrouários 1993" (1993-0x-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score (RU) 50 (SA) 85 (JP) NTSC-J 53 (FR) 75 (RU) 60 (UK) 93 (US) NTSC-U 80 (UK) 75 (JP) NTSC-J 55 (UK) 85 (IT) 90 (US) NTSC-U 98 (JP) NTSC-J 70 (ES) 92 (FR) 85 (FR) 90 (UK) 85 (UK) PAL 85 (JP) NTSC-J 61 (UK) PAL 80 (DE) PAL 81 (US) NTSC-U 78 (UK) PAL 88 (ES) 78 (UK) 81 (JP) NTSC-J 70 (UK) 81 (FR) 85 (DE) 76 (UK) PAL 89 (UK) 89 (UK) PAL 90 (UK) PAL 93 (SE) 85 (UK) PAL 89 (UK) PAL 96 (YU) 82 (JP) NTSC-J 55 (BR) NTSC-U 89 (FR) 93 (RU) 82 (GR) PAL 91 (US) NTSC-U 70 (DE) 59 (UK) 90

	80
Based on 45 reviews

Taz-Mania

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart File:Taz Mania MD JP Manual.pdf Manual

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US (Alt Cart)
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, US (KA rating)
Cover

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, FR
Manual

Mega Drive, PT
Cover
Cart Manual EU Manual

Mega Drive, SE (rental; Hent; black)
Cover

Mega Drive, AU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Manual

Mega Drive, CA
Cover

Mega Drive, KR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, Asia
Cart

Technical information

Main article: Taz-Mania/Technical information.