The Ooze

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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

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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 STI would publish for the aging 16-bit platform.

Gameplay

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 using an advanced fluid-like algorithm developed specifically for the game. Attacking enemies and navigating obstacles involves stretching out the ooze puddle into a controllable “arm” whose length is provided by briefly shifting ooze from the main puddle. Additionally, small portions of the puddle itself can be shot as a projectile attack. Taking damage will reduce the size of the ooze puddle, and will result in death if reduced too low, or if the puddle’s head is attacked directly.

Levels

	Toxic Dump
	Waste Plant
	Genetics Lab
	Power Core
	Plague Factory

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 powerup effect was actually created by decreasing the viscosity of the character.

Legacy

The game's status as a cult classic is confirmed by its inclusion in the Japanese version of Sonic Mega Collection and in all versions of Sonic Mega Collection Plus. It is unlockable in two ways: In the Xbox and PlayStation 2 version, it can be unlocked if you have a Sonic Heroes save. In all versions, it can be unlocked by playing any game on the disk for 30 hours.

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
• Created by: Sega Technical Institute
• Presented By: Sega & Sega of America

Source:

In-game credits

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
Cart

Technical information

ROM dump status

System	Hash	Size	Build Date	Source	Comments
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-07-31					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-07-28					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-07-03					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-06-29					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-06-29					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-06-26					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-06-22					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-06-19					Page
?	CRC32 MD5 SHA-1		1995-06-15					Page