Cool Spot
Ride the 7Up revolution!
Cool Spot is an advertorial game, that focuses on the Spite tackling beverage 7Up1 To be cool and interesting it creates a surf boarding game in which you have nothing else but to ride the waves on top of a 7up bottle and in the process, manage to ride for as long as you can. It's not as much a sport as it is an exercise of dexterity. In the game, you have to tilt the bottle, and make sure you are at all times guarding your position on the surf board. The more you are able to keep the bottle riding the waves, the more points you gain. It's cool, sidescroller like produced, and, given the fact that it's an advert, after all, it's more than alright. Graphically, it's sidescroller 2D, with the bottle of 7Up looking great, and everything else kind of alright, but none too fancy. But, more than anything, Cool Spot looks cool and is well done. What I also love about it is the fact that it also has cool music. So, give it a try if you like oddities and games that are definitely not high up in terms of diversity. And try Zool as well, which is also an advertorial game that does a good job still at showcasing what the genre was all about.
A clever 7-up Game
Cool Spot, is actually a very well made video game by Virgin games. I only found out much later in my life that the "Cool Spot" is actually a cleverly made advertisement campaign for the 7-up soft drink brand. For some reason I couldn't relate as I didn't see the 7up spot advertising campaign as a kid, but this game is certainly subtle advertisement, unlike other corporate sponsored games like Zool and McDonald Land. The corporate references aside, the games physics are well made, the graphics are impressive and the game will keep you interested and curious to play more. The hero of the game "Spot" is exactly just that, a red spot with arms, legs and a pair of sunglasses. It is an interesting concept for a side scrolling platform game. If you complete the game on very hard mode (which just makes the enemies harder) you apparently can take a screenshot (I mean photo) of the game and send in away for a t-shirt, if this was still the 1990's. The game ended up being a classic and released on many different consoles including Sega Master System, SNES and the PC, with the main variation of the game being the difference in graphics, as well as the European versions of the game have the 7-Up references replaced with generic soft drink bottles. An all around great 1 player platform action game from the 90's.
