Socks the Cat Rocks the House

Socks the Cat Rocks the House
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Kaneko USA
Licensor: Presidential Socks Partnership
Planned release date(s): 1993-11, 1994-03, 1994-04
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1

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Socks the Cat Rocks the House, also known by its Super Nintendo name Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill, is an unreleased Sega Mega Drive action platform game developed by an unknown studio and scheduled to be published by Kaneko USA. Starring the titular Socks Clinton (pet cat of 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton) in an attitude-colored mascot platformer role, it was first advertised for a November 1993 release date, only to be eventually pushed back to March 1994, with the final possibility of a launch the following month being missed entirely.

Story

Socks Clinton was known for his adventurous personality.

Socks, the White House cat, discovers the missing portable nuclear missile launch unit in his favorite napping spot, the basement of a foreign embassy. To avoid mass destruction he must return it to the White House and alert the first family. But, a foreign spy ring has their own political agenda. They want to see Socks run, and not for political office!

The chase begins. Socks must overcome the likes of foreign spies, Enemy Animal Agents, politicians, secret service agents and the ever-present media corp. To keep the party alive, Socks pounces, tumbles and negotiates his way out of the intricate secret passages and puzzles of Washington. This cat is in a ring of trouble, but not over the hill yet!

Gameplay

Socks the Cat Rocks the House features straightforward action platform gameplay with a light element of puzzle platform games. Socks has the ability to claw at enemies in a basic melee attack, and can later acquire a power up which grants him a basic projectile attack. Overall, more emphasis is placed on the game's political satire than its actual mechanics, under the likely assumption that its star feline and the title's unique premise would be enough to carry its sales.

While the Mega Drive version remains undumped, and was developed by an entirely different company, the two were working off the same shared design document and overall premise, and if released would have resulted in two very similarly-playing games.

History

As one of the more high-profile unreleased games, Socks the Cat Rocks the House saw a significant amount of investment from Kaneko USA, and is assumed to have neared completion before the publisher's closure caused its late cancellation. Since then, the mascot platformer's unique history has provided the gaming community with a particular amount of intrigue over its content and current whereabouts.

Background

Partly due to the ongoing media coverage of 42nd President of the United States Bill Clinton and his affable personality, the first family's pet cat Socks Clinton also found himself thrust into the limelight. Socks' frequent appearances on the Press Briefing Room's lectern eventually bestowed him with enough household name recognition to be sought out by Kaneko USA for an officially-licensed video game tie-in. Seeking to capitalize on the cat's newfound popularity, and inspired by the success of previous mascot platform games like Sonic the Hedgehog, Kaneko USA began production of a similar title - one starring Socks himself.

After acquiring the relevant license from the Presidential Socks Partnership, an independent Socks Clinton fanclub and owners of the cat's licensing rights, Kaneko USA set about developing two separate games under the Socks the Cat banner - one for the Super Famicom, and another for the Mega Drive. Both were planned as action platform games starring the titular feline, with the company contracting development of the former to Realtime Associates; while both were unreleased, the Nintendo version was eventually located and dumped. The latter was contracted out to an unknown Western development studio, with little known about Sega's version of the game.

Promotion

File:GamePro US 051.pdf Socks the Cat Rocks the House was one of the Western game industry's more high-profile mascot platformers; one of few to star a real animal, and one that already had a fair amount of household name recognition. Due to this, Kaneko USA was able to base the game's promotion directly on this recognition, banking on the assumption that many Americans were already familiar with Socks from his appearances in contemporary political coverage, and leaning heavily on the cat's association with his photogenic owners, the Clinton family.

The game's prototype cover artwork, and the vast majority of its marketing, features a caricaturized Socks donning black sunglasses and flashing an attitude-laden grin at the viewer. The cat appears rising out of a saxophone played by Bill Clinton, an accomplished saxophonist also known for his well-televised saxophone performances.

Cancellation

Along with its Super Famicom counterpart, Socks the Cat Rocks the House is thought to have been cancelled following the closure of publisher Kaneko USA. It would remain unheard of for the next 25 years, until an aftermarket seller acquired a prototype copy of the Super Famicom version and released in on a run of physical cartridges. While that version's ROM was soon dumped, the Mega Drive version's whereabouts remain unknown.

Physical scans

Mega Drive, US (prototype)
Cover

Promotional material

Print advert in GamePro (US) #51: "October 1993" (1993-xx-xx)
also published in:

• GamePro (US) #54: "January 1994" (199x-xx-xx)

• 

  An article from the June 1992 issue of Playthings magazine.

Magazine articles

Main article: Socks the Cat Rocks the House/Magazine articles.

Images

• 

  Socks, along with other Kaneko USA mascots, appear on the cover of Playthings magazine, June 1992.

• 

  Kaneko USA's invitation for their Summer CES 1993 announcements and cocktail party.

External links

• Socks the Cat Rocks the Hill article by Evan G. at Snes Central