The Ooze

n/a

The Ooze
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Sega
Developer: Sega Technical Institute, Sega of America
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code JP 1995-09-22 ¥5,8005,800 G-4134 US 1995-05-06 $49.9949.99 1512 EU 1995-12 1572-50 PT 1995 MDJSE0142 UK 1995-12 £24.9924.99 1572-50 AU 199x FTHE18SMC BR 1995-10

The Ooze (ジ・ウーズ) is a Sega Mega Drive action strategy game developed by Sega Technical Institute and published by Sega. Released in 1995 to mixed reviews, the game is the last that STI would develop for the aging 16-bit platform.

Story

Introduction

Dr. Caine becomes suspicious of the Corporation's behind-the-scenes research and scans its databases during an evening shutdown, discovering that the Corporation has successfully developed a hybrid plague so dangerous and fast-spreading it could wipe out humanity in a few days, and intends on infecting the entire planet by polluting the water supplies with it and extort billions of dollars from world governments to supply the cure.

Upon discovering this information, Dr. Caine was caught by the Director and his henchmen, and was injected with a glowing green substance with intentions of killing him. However, the substance had instead transformed him into a living puddle of toxic ooze. Filled with rage and a strange power, Caine now seeks revenge on the Corporation and the Director, intending to destroy them and prevent them from unleashing the plague upon the world, hoping to regain his humanity no matter the cost.

Gameplay

Collected DNA strands

Taking place with an overhead point of view, the main character is a puddle of green ooze which can be moved about the play area with the D-Pad using an advanced fluid-like algorithm developed specifically for the game. The player must explore the maze-like levels to find switches to unlock different parts of the level before eventually finding the exit. Each level has three parts, the last of which contains a boss that must be defeated to open the exit. Levels contain hidden DNA strands that can be collected to earn the good ending.

Defeating organic enemies makes them drop pieces of ooze, which can be absorbed to increase the puddle's size. The size of the puddle acts as a form of health for Caine, though it also makes him a bigger target to attacks and hazards. Taking damage reduces the size of the ooze puddle. Levels include obstacles such as drains that devour the puddle. Attacking enemies involves stretching out the ooze puddle into a controllable "arm" whose length is provided by briefly shifting ooze from the main puddle, which is done with . The punch can be extended longer by holding the button longer if the ooze puddle is large enough. It can be guided in multiple directions using the D-Pad, allowing it to navigate around obstacles to collect items or activate switches or to attack enemies without entering their direct line of fire. Levels also contain lighted poles that can be punched by the ooze to safely transport it between points. Small portions of the puddle itself can be shot as a projectile attack with , as long as there is enough ooze to do so.

Caine loses a life if the ooze puddle is reduced too low or if the puddle’s head is attacked directly. The game ends if the player runs out of lives.

Items

	Extra Ooze
	Gives Caine more ooze.
	Speed
	Increases Caine's speed. The ooze turns yellow when it is active, and turns orange when it is about to run out.
	Industrial Strength Toxin
	Allows Caine to defeat organic creatures just by touching them. The ooze turns red when it is active, and turns black when it is about to run out.
	Extra Life
	Awards an extra life.
	DNA Helix
	Caine needs to collect all 50 of these to regain his humanity at the end of the game. Each level has 10 to find.
	Waypoint
	Serves as a checkpoint, allowing Caine to restart from it whenever he dies.

Levels

	Toxic Dump
	Waste Plant
	Genetics Lab
	Power Core
	Plague Factory

Bonus level

Bonus level

There are ten different bonus levels hidden throughout the game where the player can attack rabbits to gain more ooze. The rabbits become hostile when the ooze gets near them and try to consume the puddle. These bonus levels are timed and end if time runs out.

History

Development

The Ooze is based on an algorithmically-generated cellular automaton. As such, the main character can be split apart and reformed like a viscous liquid. The gameplay is reminiscent of The Bitmap Brothers' game The Chaos Engine (called Soldiers of Fortune in the US). The art style evokes a cartoony (necessitated by the constraints of the medium) H.R. Giger. The story recalls The Toxic Avenger. The development team included people who later worked for Blizzard North on Diablo and Diablo II, including designer Stieg Hedlund. Some of the programming was fairly advanced for a 16-bit system; for example, the speed power-up effect was actually created by decreasing the viscosity of the character.

Legacy

The game is considered a cult classic. It was included in the Japanese version of Sonic Mega Collection in 2002 and in all versions of Sonic Mega Collection Plus in 2004. In the latter collection, it is unlockable in two ways. In the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions, it can be unlocked if the user has a Sonic Heroes save. In all versions, it can be unlocked by playing any game on the disk for 30 hours.

In 2022, the game was included in the North American and European versions of the Mega Drive Mini 2.

Production credits

• Producer: Michael Wallis
• Concept & Lead Programmer: Dave Sanner
• Art Directors: Robert Steele, John Duggan
• Artists: Alan Ackerman, Stieg Hedlund, Dean Ruggles, Joe Stephenson, Craig Stitt, Tom Tobey, Marte Thompson
• Design: Jason Kuo, Stieg Hedlund, Dave Sanner
• Intro & Ending Artwork: Tony De Zuniga, Tom Tobey
• Music & Sound Effects: Howard Drossin
• Boss Programming: Robert Morgan
• Lead Tester: Rey Alferez
• Testers: Timothy Spengler, Todd Slepian, Mike Benton, Nelson Chiu, Alfred Dutton, Steve Fallas, Richie Hideshima, Michael Ironside, Dylan Manger, David Paniagua, Sean Potter, Jeff Sanders, Stan Weaver, Michael Wu
• Programming & Technical Thanks: Scott Chandler, Jason Plumb, Mark Cerny
• Special Thanks: Roger Hector, Sheri Hockaday, Emi Kawamura, Sue Ortlip, Paul Sears, Dean Lester, Michael Kosaka, Hoyt Ng

Source:

In-game credits

---

• Localization: Masanobu Tsukamoto

Source:

Uncredited

Digital manuals

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  Mega Drive Mini 2 US manual

• 

  Mega Drive Mini 2 EU manual

Magazine articles

Main article: The Ooze/Magazine articles.

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score 1700 igr dlya Sega (RU) 60 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 39 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 64 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 43 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 64 Joypad (FR) 70 Mega Force (FR) PAL 84 Mean Machines Sega (UK) PAL 79 Next Generation (US) 50 Player One (FR) PAL 82 Power Up! (UK) 75 Saturn Fan (JP) NTSC-J 61 Sega Pro (UK) PAL 81 Sonic the Comic (UK) PAL 70 Tricks (RU) 78 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 80 VideoGames (US) NTSC-U 90

	69
Based on 17 reviews

The Ooze

Mega Drive, JP
Cover
Cart Manual Inner Cover

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, EU
Cover
Cart Manual

Mega Drive, PT
Cover

Mega Drive, AU
Cover

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart

Mega Drive, ZA
Cover
Cart

Technical information

Main article: The Ooze/Technical information.

External links

• Sega of America webpage: Mega Drive