Demolition Man

n/a

Demolition Man
System(s): Sega Mega Drive, Sega Mega-CD
Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment
Developer: Alexandria
Supporting companies: Orca Games (audio)
Licensor: Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1995-01 $64.9564.95 T-81486 EU 1995-09 T-81486-50 PT 199x UK 1995-09 £44.9944.99 T-81486-50 AU 199x FDEM01SMC BR 1995 046970 US 1995-11-15 T-81045
Non-Sega versions Super NES

Demolition Man is a Sega Mega Drive action game developed by Alexandria and published by Acclaim Entertainment. Based on the titular 1993 film Demolition Man, the game was first released in the United States in January 1995, and was later ported to the Sega Mega-CD in November of that same year.

The Mega-CD version of Demolition Man was the last game released for the platform in North America. A Japanese Mega Drive version was planned, but cancelled.

Story

John Spartan is a risk-taking police officer who has a reputation for causing destruction while carrying out his work. After a failed attempt to rescue hostages from the crime lord Simon Phoenix, they are both sentenced to be cryogenically frozen in 1996. Phoenix is thawed for a parole hearing in 2032 but escapes. Society has changed and all crime has seemingly been eliminated. Unable to deal with a criminal as dangerous as Phoenix, the authorities awaken Spartan to help capture him again.

Gameplay

Demolition Man is a run-and-gun game played as the police officer John Spartan as he hunts the fugitive Simon Phoenix. It primarily consists of side-scrolling platforming missions, but there are two stages that use a top-down view instead. In either kind of stage, Spartan fights numerous gunmen to make it to the end. In the top view stages, Spartan must rescue hostages in order to unlock doors and reach the end. There is usually a boss fight at the end of the stage (including multiple encounters with Simon Phoenix before the final stage).

In the side view stages, Spartan moves with and . He crouches with and stays crouched until he stands up with or moves. He jumps with . He has limited movement while jumping, but he can leap across a distance if he jumps while running. He automatically grabs the corner of platforms and pulls himself up; he can climb down with while standing on the edge of a platform (which can be done to avoid fall damage). He rolls on the ground by holding +. He climbs ladders with and . He automatically grabs overhead lines and can move along them with and or jump off them with +. He can slow himself down when sliding down a zipline by holding .

Spartan is armed with a handgun that he fires with (which can be held for continuous fire). He aim his weapon in eight directions using the D-Pad. He can run and fire at the same time if he is already moving when he starts to fire; otherwise, he stands in place and shoots. His bullets are not visible but leave an effect when they hit something. Environments contain some destructible objects that can be shot to explode (damaging enemies and potentially Spartan if he is too close) or sometimes to reveal items. Spartan's starting handgun has unlimited ammunition, but he can find more powerful weapons in the stages that have limited ammunition. He can also find different types of grenades, which he throws with . They can be thrown upward with +. Grenades do high damage in an area. Spartan can carry up to five grenades. Picking up a different type of grenade replaces all of his grenades with that type.

In the top view stages, Spartan moves in eight directions using the D-Pad. He shoots in the direction that he is moving with , or he can run backwards and shoot behind him with . The player can lock his aim by holding and together, allowing him to move and shoot in different directions. This works while shooting forwards or backwards, depending on which button is held first. He can also shoot while standing in place (so the D-Pad is only used for aiming) by holding while firing with . Like the side view, he can find grenades and throw them with . Grenades can be thrown over walls.

Spartan has a health meter and loses health when he is injured by enemy fire, hazards such as fire, or high falls. He loses a life if he runs out of health, restarting at a checkpoint. The game ends if he runs out of lives but can be continued as long as the player has continues remaining. There are three difficulty levels (Calm, Crazed, and Total Demolition).

Items

Items are the same in both the side and top view stages.

	Magnum
	Arms Spartan with a more powerful handgun. When its ammunition is exhausted, Spartan reverts to his standard handgun.
	Shotgun
	Arms Spartan with a shotgun that does damage in a spread. When its ammunition is exhausted, Spartan reverts to his standard handgun.
	Hand Grenade
	Arms Spartan with 5 Hand Grenades, which explode in an area when tossed.
	Flame Grenade
	Arms Spartan with 3 Flame Grenades, which explode when tossed and set the ground on fire for a duration (harming enemies and Spartan alike).
	Freeze Vials
	Arms Spartan with 3 Freeze Vials, which freeze the ground for a duration (freezing enemies and Spartan alike).
	Mini Pack
	Restores part of Spatan's health meter.
	Medi Pack
	Restores all of Spatan's health meter.
	Infrared Goggles
	Allows Spartan to see in dimly lit areas.
	Body Armor
	Renders Spartan invulnerable to damage for a duration.
	Extra Life
	Gives the player an extra life.

Missions

	The Rooftops
	The Museum
	The Sub-Museum
	The Parking Structure
	The Monorail
	The Library
	Zip Line
	The Wasteland
	The Pipe Maze
	The Cryo-Prison

Versions

The Mega-CD version is nearly identical to the Mega Drive version but contains full-motion video movie clips and a CD audio soundtrack.

Production credits

Mega Drive version

• Programmers: Todd Johnson, Eric Yiskis
• Tools and Library Support: Craig Ewert, Earl Stratton
• Original Design: Eric Yiskis, Doug Modie
• Design: Doug Modie, Jeff Brown
• Artists: Gerilyn Wilhelm, Fred Butts, Brian S. Kemper, Ding Palang, Jerry Jessurum, Dan McNamera, Armand Cabrera, Scott Rogers
• Director: Neil Balthaser
• Associate Producers: Frank Simon, Jeff Buccellato
• Special Thanks: Theodore Warnock, Matthew J. Powers, Ken Balthaser Jr., Eiko Balthaser, Jeff Goodwin, Russ Stireman, Dave Gross, Craig Danville
• Music and Sound Effects: Orca Games
• Vice President of Software Publishing: Neil Young
• Executive Producer: R. Scott Russo
• Assistant (Virgin): Rob Smith
• QA Manager: David Maxey
• QA Group Heads: Chris McFarland, Paul Moore
• Lead Analyst: Mitch Feldman
• Product Analysts: Chad Soares, Jon Williams, Mitch Feldman, Chris Nelsen, Nick Camerota, Jim Getz, Scott Manning, Paul Shoener, Chris Rausch, Stacey Mendoza, Mick Love, Victor Rodriguez
• Additional Music: Keith Arem
• Additional Sound Effects: Joey Kuras
• Special Thanks To: Tommy Tallarico (for his musical and SFX insights)

Source:

In-game credits

Mega-CD version

• Programmers: Todd Johnson, Eric Yiskis
• Sega CD Programmer: Earl Stratton
• Tools and Library Support: Craig Ewert
• Original Design: Eric Yiskis, Doug Modie
• Design: Doug Modie, Jeff Brown
• Artists: Gerilyn Wilhelm, Fred Butts, Brian S. Kemper, Ding Palang, Jerry Jessurum, Dan McNamera, Armand Cabrera, Scott Rogers
• Director: Neil Balthaser
• Associate Producers: Frank Simon, Jeff Buccellato
• Special Thanks: Theodore Warnock, Matthew J. Powers, Ken Balthaser Jr., Eiko Balthaser, Jeff Goodwin, Russ Stireman, Dave Gross, Craig Danville
• Music and Sound Effects: Orca Games
• Vice President of Software Publishing: Neil Young
• Executive Producer: R. Scott Russo
• Assistant (Virgin): Rob Smith
• QA Manager: David Maxey
• QA Group Heads: Chris McFarland, Paul Moore
• Lead Analyst: Mitch Feldman
• Product Analysts: Chad Soares, Jon Williams, Mitch Feldman, Chris Nelsen, Nick Camerota, Jim Getz, Scott Manning, Paul Shoener, Chris Rausch, Stacey Mendoza, Mick Love, Victor Rodriguez
• Additional Music: Keith Arem
• Additional Sound Effects: Joey Kuras
• Special Thanks To: Tommy Tallarico (for his musical and SFX insights)

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Demolition Man/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

File:Demolition Man MD US TVAdvert.mp4

US TV Advert

File:Demolition Man MD US TVAdvert.mp4

Print advert in VideoGames (US) #80: "September 1995" (1995-08-22)
also published in:

• EGM² (US) #15: "September 1995" (1995-0x-xx)
• VideoGames (US) #81: "October 1995" (1995-09-19)
• Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) #75: "October 1995" (1995-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Mega Drive version

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source GamesMaster (UK) 76

	76
Based on 1 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 30 Cool Gamer (RU) 40 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 80 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 78 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 69 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 80 GamePro (UK) 84 MAN!AC (DE) PAL 67 Mega Fun (DE) PAL 57 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 85 Sega Magazin (DE) PAL 60 Sega Magazine (UK) PAL 86 Sega Power (UK) PAL 72 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 89 Svet Kompjutera (YU) 85 Sega Megazone (AU) 77 Todo Sega (ES) 71 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 79 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 80

	72
Based on 19 reviews

Demolition Man

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, PT
Cover

Mega Drive, PT (alt)
Cover

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega-CD version

Mega-CD, US
Cover
Disc Manual

Technical information

Main article: Demolition Man/Technical information.

References

Games based on movies starring Sylvester Stallone for Sega systems
	Rambo: First Blood Part II (1986) | Rocky (1987) | Rambo III (1988)
	Rambo III (1989) | Cliffhanger (1993) | Demolition Man (1995) | Judge Dredd (1995)
	Cliffhanger (1993) | Demolition Man (1995)
	Cliffhanger (1993) | Judge Dredd (1995)
	Rambo (2008)