The pace becomes more methodical and deliberate. The slopes and springs soon give way to unique obstacles.

With that in mind High Seas Havoc becomes its own beast in short order. Replace TV monitors with treasure chests and you can see how it is undeniable what audience Data East were after. Otarucean calls to mind both the Star Light Zone with its night skyline and the Labyrinth Zone in its second act. Cape Sealph is very reminiscent of Emerald Hill Zone and as both are the first stages that was probably intentional. Each level has a ten minute limit and each zone has two stages like Sonic the Hedgehog 2. The only power-ups are food to regain health, boots to increase run speed, and gems that grant an extra life for every hundred.īeyond its mechanics the game also patterns itself after Sonic in other ways. It would have been cool and made some of the later parts of the game easier. Sadly despite the game’s cover and promotional art featuring Havoc with a sword it does not exist. All three buttons are for jumping plus you can roll into a ball to pass through tight spaces. Havoc’s two means of attack are the staple butt bounce and a quick flip kick. Bridget is a little too similar to Amy Rose for comfort in my opinion. Put Sonic in a durag and pirate gear and he could easily pass for Havoc. The Sonic the Hedgehog vibes are strong in this one. Unluckily for him Havoc hid the map first and uses it to set out on his quest. When he learns Bridget has the map he kidnaps her and Tide. It seems Emeralda has the power to destroy entire armies and is on the run from the pirate Bernardo. Bridget has a map with the location of a gem named Emeralda on it. Havoc and his sidekick Tide are pirates who find a woman named Bridget washed ashore. The even more shocking fact is High Seas Havoc is actually pretty good! In the wake of titles that took *ahem* “inspiration” from Sonic the Hedgehog this is one of the better of the bunch and a good game in its own right. With that in mind I certainly did not expect a seal to become a platforming star yet here we are. We had bats, opossums, bobcats, and even a god damn skunk. It is always fun to look back on the mascot platformers of bygone days to see which animals were exploited for corporate gain. Developer: Data East Publisher: Data East Released: 1993 Genre: Platformer

High seas havoc arcade