"Beware my superheroey fist of doom..."

Story
You're this cartoonist dude that gets pulled into his comic strip by the comic's bad guy and you have to fight your way out and beat the bad guy to become real again. Should you fail, the bad guy will become real to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world, while you spend the rest of your life on the pages of a comic book.

The entire game takes place on the pages of a comic book, as you knock your opponents through the panel gutters and into the next panel. It's also great how you can slam them into the panel border and they do that little slide to the ground. If you don't know what I mean by that, watch any Bugs Bunny cartoon and wait for Elmer Fudd to slam into a tree.

Graphics
The comic book style graphics of the game are very groovy, and are among the best I've seen for any gaming system, new or old.

The characters are huge and are animated very well, with no slowdown should too many moving things be on the screen at once. This is unlikely. Counting your guy, there are only one or two more opponents on the screen at one time. The boss characters look great too, but the animation seems to be a little choppy at times. I also dig the little sound effect things, like the ''WHAM!'' and ''KAPOW!'' you get when you're really kicking butt. The characters even converse with speech balloons, which adds to the comic book fun of the game.
My Rating: 9/10

Sound
The background music is pretty rockin, and you won't get tired of it as it varies from stage to stage. There's even a sound test on the options menu that lets you dig all the tunes that are in the game. All except for the opening theme, for some reason.

Other great sound elements include the realistic sounds when you punch or kick a bad guy. It's not like a ding or a piff, it's more like an actual street brawl punch. It sounds like you're really waffling the guy. When you finally beat an enemy, they scream their last words, usually a $@#^! thing.
My Rating: 8/10

Challenge
It's a tough game, but once you master Sketch's attacks, it will be a little easier. The enemies start out pretty easy, but are still a challenge. They get tougher as the game progresses.
My Rating: 10/10

Enemies
My only beef with this game is that there aren't many enemies to fight. And there should be more opportunities to fight multiple enemies, other that two or three of the same guy in a panel.

Arsenal
The lack of weaponry isn't a bad thing, but it could stand a few more things. The only weapons that seem to exist are a knife, some TNT, and the 'superheroey fist of doom', as I like to call it. Sketch also seems to be a master of the martial arts. Maybe he was a blackbelt in the dojo as a youth. Maybe this explains the lack of weaponry, as Sketch himself is a weapon.

Overall
It's a great game with a novel concept. The only downsides are the lack of weaponry and enemy battles could have a little more variety, to make the player have to employ several different fighting techniques to take out the baddies. The animations can be choppy at times, especially during boss battles. But the action will be fast and furious, you may not even notice it.

This is a tough game. The graphics are excellent. The game's tunes are addictive and you might even catch yourself humming them after playing the game a few times. Roll all that in with a great concept and a few cool bad guys, and you got yourself a winner. This is one no Genesis gamer should be without.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 03/05/02, Updated 03/05/02