Gargoyles

For the 2023 aftermarket re-release, see Gargoyles (Limited Run Games).

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Gargoyles
System(s): Sega Mega Drive
Publisher: Buena Vista Interactive
Developer: Disney Interactive
Distributor: Tec Toy (BR)
Sound driver: GEMS
Genre: Action
Number of players: 1
Release Date RRP Code US 1995-11 T-239056 US ▼ (Sega Channel) 199x SUBsub BR 1996-12 047200

Gargoyles is an action game for the Sega Mega Drive made in 1995 by Buena Vista Interactive made to tie in with the Gargoyles television series created by Buena Vista for Disney (though the Disney name is nowhere to be found on the actual game).

Story

The game loosely follows the plot of the show. The player controls the protagonist Goliath as he seeks to put an end to the Eye of Odin, a corrupted magical talisman that can transform whoever comes to possess it. Demona, the most recent owner of the Eye, ultimately becomes the main antagonist.

Gameplay

The game is an action platformer in which the player controls Goliath, leader of the Manhattan Clan of Gargoyles. He moves with and and ducks with . He jumps with . He is able to pump his wings once to increase his jumping distance by pressing again while in mid-air. He can climb walls and ceilings with his claws and automatically grabs them when he jumps onto them.

He swipes enemies with his claws with , which can be repeated two or three times to perform combo moves. He can also grab weaker enemies that are within reach with and then slam them into the ground with again. He can perform a shoulder roll to attack enemies or break through doors and weak walls by pressing while running. He can also dive into the ground with to attack enemies or break through skylights and weak floors.

Goliath's health is indicated by a meter in the lower-left of the screen. It goes down as he takes damage from enemies. When it flashes red, he is close to death. The number of lives he has is shown as a Roman numeral next to his health meter. If the player runs out of lives, the game ends unless the player has found an Enchanted Gargoyle Totem item to earn a continue.

Items

	Shield
	Temporarily makes Goliath invulnerable.
	Hammer
	Temporarily gives Goliath one-hit kills.
	Chalice
	Restores a small portion of Goliath's health meter.
	Goblet
	Fully restores Goliath's health meter.
	Gargoyle Totem
	Gives the player an extra life.
	Enchanted Gargoyle Totem
	Gives the player a continue.

Levels

	Evil Awakens
	Siege of the Rookery
	Stone and Steel
	Subterranean Terror
	The Forge
	The Final Fury

History

Development

The game uses the Motorola 68000's tas (test and set) opcode to do condition-related things (exactly what is unknown; TODO). tas runs in a different way from other CPUs, and for some unknown reason the Genesis is wired differently (what exactly is going on is unknown; TODO). The designers of the VA2 revision of the Genesis 3 overlooked this, and for some unknown reason, the game will not run on this model, making it the only game not to run on the Genesis 3 due to something other than additional hardware not being supported. The VA1 revision of the Genesis 3 runs the game as it should.

Programmer Chris Shrigley has released the source code to the game on his web site.

Legacy

In September 2022, game journalist Max Nasikan released extensive interviews with ten of the game's developers, including some unreleased material from the development of the game. In January of the same year, issue 229 of Retro Gamer magazine featured an article on the creation of the Gargoyles game, based on these interviews.

On September 9th, 2022, it was announced during the Disney D23 Expo that a remastered version of the game was in development. Gargoyles Remastered was released on October 19th, 2023 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Steam, and GOG. It includes new high-resolution, hand-drawn graphics and a redone soundtrack, with the visuals and sound of the original game available as an option. Limited Run Games released physical editions of the console versions, in a standard edition, Classic Edition, and Collector's Edition, as well as producing a re-release of the original Mega Drive game.

Versions

A Super NES version was in development but canceled.

Production credits

• Programmer: Chris Shrigley
• Senior Producer: Patrick Gilmore
• Assistant Producer: David Bergantino
• Lead Artist: Thom Ang
• Lead Level Design: Joel Goodsell
• Backgrounds: Katherine Murta Adams, Tom Barlow, Tom Breeden, Jody C. McMurrian, Roddy Navarro, Mark Lorenzen
• Additional Art and Animation: Shelli L. Droe, Kurt Dumas, Raymond Fung, Tamara Holcomb, Brian Horton, Hugh Jamieson, Ruby Lee, Paige Pooler, Nancy O. Ramirez, Matthew Smith, Oliver Wade, Brent Whittington
• Art Support: Arden Ishimaru, Dao Le, Toby Espiritu
• 3-D Art and Animation: Spencer Hale, Ed Trillo, J.P. Asperin
• Music Composition: Michael Giacchino
• Audio Engineering and Sound Design: Patrick Collins
• Project Manager: Bob Rademacher
• Production Administrator: James Mellott
• Asset Management: Jayne Shrigley

Creative Capers Entertainment

• Animation Producer: G. Sue Shakespeare
• Animation Directors: Terry Shakespeare, David Molina
• Directing Animator: Greg Tiernan
• Character Poses: Adam van Wyk
• Production Manager: Darci Ernst
• Production Accountant: Patrice Monis
• Animation: Connor Flynn, Ron M. Friedman, Michael Kiely, Dermot O'Connor, Adam van Wyk, Ron Zorman
• Clean-Up Artists: Adam Burke, Richard Draper, Aidan Flynn, Ron M. Friedman, Tom Higgins, Shannon Murphy, Sandra Ryan, Richard Smitheman, Janice Tolentino, Monica Zorman
• Animation Checkers: Penelope Sevier, Carla Washburn
• Camera Manager: Robert Rose
• Test Camera: Brendan Harris, Tony Quinn, Arantxa Rodriguez
• Asst. Prod. Coordinator: Kathy Burton
• Production Assistants: James Arnold, Leanne Howard, Bobbi Swartzendruber

Renegade Animation

• Director: Darrell van Citters
• Producer: Ashley Quinn
• Lead Animator: Dean Wellins
• Additional Animation: Lee McCaulla
• Assistant Animation: Heidi Daven, Diana Dixon, Sandy Henkin, Karenia Kaminski, Mark Cote, Cristi Lyon, Bill Mims, Randy Myers, Jennifer Stillwell, Calvin Suggs, Vicki Woodside

• Product Evaluation Supervisor: Jeff Blattner
• Lead Testers: Kevin Ocampo, Shane Cleavelin, Aki Kim
• Game Testers: Brian Adriano, Roger Bray, John Castro, Daryl David, Jerry Gillett, Matthew Montgomery, Wilfredo Panganiban, Luigi Priore, and Marcus Pregent

Source:

In-game credits

Magazine articles

Main article: Gargoyles/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in Game Informer (US) #31: "November 1995" (1995-1x-xx)

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) 90 Ação Games (BR) 75 Cool Gamer (RU) 80 Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U 58 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 1 (RU) 70 Entsiklopediya luchshikh igr Sega. Vypusk 3 (RU) 80 Freak (IL) 79 GameFan (US) NTSC-U 90 Game Players (US) NTSC-U 85 GamePro (US) NTSC-U 88 Game Informer (US) NTSC-U 83 Igry Sega Luchshiye iz luchshikh. Vypusk 2 (RU) 56 MAN!AC (DE) NTSC-U 72 Mega Force (FR) NTSC-U 84 Tricks (RU) 85 Tricks 16 bit (RU) 84

	79
Based on 16 reviews

Gargoyles

Mega Drive, US
Cover
Cart Manual Poster

Mega Drive, BR
Cover
Cart Manual

Technical information

Main article: Gargoyles/Technical information.

References

Games based on Disney animated television series for Sega systems
	TaleSpin (1992) | Bonkers (1994) | Gargoyles (1995)
	TaleSpin (1993) | Bonkers Wax Up! (1994)
	Bonkers Wax Up! (1995)