An Overtly Adult Cartoon gets a Kids' Video Game

Today is February 24th, 1993! New episode every single Friday!
Consider supporting the Patreon! -- / now90s
Released this week was Cool World, Flashback: The Quest for Identity and The Addams Family: Puglsey's Scavenger Hunt!
Writers: Jared Knabenbauer, David Rota, & Dylan Lawrence
Editor: Dylan Lawrence
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~~MUSIC BY WILLIAM BENCKERT & AGST~~
#retro #retrogaming #nostalgia

[@daviddamasceno6063]

Flashback was the first game I played where you actually had to understand what characters were saying in order to progress. My parents had some english dictionaries laying around and I used them to translate the dialogs, word by word. This is how I started learning english, and thanks to that game I now not only play games, but read books, watch movies, videos and write comments. It all started with that game.

[@dstock9855]

ever played atari or arcade booths?

[@diesel3333]

Boaaa BRASIL! 🤘🤘🤘

[@renatocorvaro6924]

Video games are a great way to learn, when the games in question are themselves good. And Flashback was excellent.

[@denverarnold6210]

Awesome. I hope the story was worth the effort!

[@GmodPlusWoW]

I honestly can't think of a more radical way to learn a new language.

[@Invidente7]

The creator of Flashback never could replicate it's sucess, he went on to make Shaq Fu, the sequel Fade to Black was a PS1 flop, and the less we say about Amy the better.

[@Gatorade69]

Oof. I will say Shaq Fu isn't quite as bad as people make it out to be, it also looks nice and has some great animations... The core of the game though, fighting, falls very flat but I do think there's worse fighting games. Edit : He also worked on Moto Racer which was a competent and fun Motorcycle racing game but yeah probably not as successful as Flashback.

[@nathanweekley5857]

Flashback= They Live meets Total Recall.

[@kapmahn]

Man I love this show. Wish my brother was still alive to enjoy it with me. We were so into video games back then and received 3 different magazines a month (Nintendo Power, EGM, etc). I look forward to reliving my childhood each week with this.

[@catsaregovernmentspies]

I subscribed to Electronic Gaming Monthly, Gamepro, and Nintendo Power at the same time in the early 90s. I was such a nerd, lol.

[@crosstie417]

I am going to call my brother. I feel for your loss and know gaming is only what it is to me because of what it was to me and my brother. I hope your day is good gamebro.

[@Kaveeteh]

The story behind the movie Coolworld is more interesting than the movie itself. The original creator Ralph Bakshi, the guy who made Fritz the Cat and Coonskin, originally had a more dark, mature take on the story and world, but then the director and main actress changed literally everything behind his back. Bakshi was so pissed he punched the director in the face from what I've heard.

[@futuramayeah]

do you know what the orginal story would have been like or about? or where i can read more about it?

[@Kaveeteh]

@@futuramayeah from what i know the original story started out similar to the finished film but instead of Holli becoming real she would give birth to a toon/real hybrid daughter and she would hunt down the main character.

[@futuramayeah]

@@Kaveeteh i googled it, it said he wanted the character to be called Debbi Dallas, like the porn, so maybe they changed her name so she would be an original character

[@Kaveeteh]

@@futuramayeah nah from what I heard the actress they got to be Holli called for the change. apparently she wanted the movie toned down so it would more appropriate for younger audiences or something like that. wasnt the sole reason but one of the main reasons for the change.

[@velociraptor4you3291]

Actually, Ralph Bakshi clarified in a relatively recent interview he did a while back that he *never* punched the producer (Frank Mancusco Jr.) in the face. So _how_ exactly that started regarding "Cool World's" behind-the-scenes story is probably a result of news sources reporting on it misinterpreting some things.

[@CommanderZaktan]

Fun Fact: Cool World's plot was different that Ralph Bakshi conceived. A live action/animated horror film about a hybrid human cartoon girl who wanted to kill her human father. But Frank Mancuso Jr. decided to make it like Roger Rabbit but for adults. And Ralph never worked on an animated movie again until years later with Last Days of Coney Island.

[@Deceptiwolf]

Fun fact: that whole 'intermatrix or something' line, was indeed, in cool world.

[@arcadelinkauthor]

7:43 I've called games that have this sort of depth option "multi-plane," as a bit of a descriptor-but-not-genre, like "sidescroller." I was thinking about this a lot when playing the new DK games with how you can be blasted into the background. They are "multi-plane sidescrolling platformers."

[@prattler]

Your videos are always a Friday highlight for me. Keep up the good work!

[@Tarrot]

Hockey stuff: I forget the reason for this because I'm not a big hockey fan, but for one of the NHL teams, when one of the players gets a hat trick (3 goals in a game), the fans tend to throw Octopi onto the ice for celebration. That's why it was on the box cover.

[@LemonTree9280]

Had to be Detroit Redwings...they did it in real life

[@marcanthonybattenberg7636]

It was Detroit Redwings

[@supersasukemaniac]

It's a Red Wings tradition.

[@Chipstouille]

Actually Out of this World (Another World) was developped by one guy only, Eric Chahi, except for the rare musics and sound effects. Paul Cuisset did most of the work on Flashback and was vice-president of Delphine Software (which Eric Chahi worked for). Eric Chahi did not participate in the making of Flashback, which makes the statement "it was implemented by the same team" not really true :). They both worked on Future Wars: Time Travellers (Les voyageurs du temps) before that, though. So obviously they influenced each other.

[@jasonblalock4429]

And Chahi even returned to his roots a couple years ago, releasing a surrealistic indie VR adventure called Paper Beast. It kind of feels like walking into a Roger Dean painting. So-so as a game, but worth it for the incredibly creative world.

[@popculturehero]

Flashback. What a trip, It does not hold your hand, you just get lost in its world. One of the Best cyberpunk themed games on the genesis.

[@renatocorvaro6924]

Flashback was an excellent game.

[@HylianFox3]

I love games that don't have much (if any) hand-holding. I recently played 'Tunic' and was pleasantly surprised by how much of the game you had to figure out for yourself. Even the item names are in a fictional language.

[@thelaughingrouge]

It reminded me of the original Legend of Zelda in the way it just put you in the world and said "Here you go, figure it out."

[@greenkoopa]

Another World is better 👀

[@daffodyl_n]

my favourite thing about this show is that it could literally go on forever. there will always be games that were made 30 years, and i hope you do make it forever. cant wait for Now In The 2000s

[@saedt]

I hope it does!

[@espio33]

For some reason, in the early 2000s, an older game store in a mall I used to go to every now and then had that wayne's world game behind glass in the middle of the store. Like it was a prized possession of theirs.

[@markkoetsier6475]

"We're not worthy!"

[@sovietdominion]

The coverage of wayne's world was perfect

[@HylianFox3]

Sometimes, you CAN judge a book by its cover...

[@jdiluigi]

From memory. Sega hyped the living crap outta this cartridge. Coverage in my Sega Visions took up half of the magazine.

[@Invidente7]

Yes, it was the better edition due to faster load times. I mean CD quality cinemas on a cartridge was a big deal back then.

[@P.King_]

Forget soccer and futball. I will now only be referring to the sport as kickysphear

[@GmodPlusWoW]

I just now remembered that Cool World was a Ralph Bakshi film. If you don't remember Ralph Bakshi, he was behind the films Fritz the Cat and Wizards, the latter of which was the first film role of Mark Hamill, 3 and a half months before his babyface graced Stars War. "Sploosh-kaboom" kinda sounds like how to describe HDoom. With that said, I wonder how long it'll take before someone makes a pornographic boomer shooter? (Island Peril doesn't count)

[@thelaughingrouge]

I had Flashback as a kid, it was amazing! One of the best Genesis games.

[@Invidente7]

Yes, the génesis edition had faster loading times.

[@Luna-Fox]

Oh the title & thumbnail changed, I thought I was going crazy.

[@nathanweekley5857]

Ocean games were decent, but they always lacked passwords or save files, which made them frustrating.

[@maverickhuntermeta4954]

Jurassic Park on SNES is one of them and I own a copy of that game.

[@neatyneat_Funny]

Fun fact the song Real Cool World from the soundtrack of the movie Cool World was David Bowie first solo song after leaving the band Tin Machine

[@AtlasBlizzard]

I love the players in Hit the Ice. They look like if Bluto took up hockey (and had lost several teeth during his career).

[@ZevSong]

Dang these videos game me feel so cozy! It feels like a show from the old G4 channel, like I feel like I have X-play playing in the background while I do some cleaning.

[@pixelgoat7317]

Flashback, oh man! I loved that game! I had the Sega CD port when it released in the 90s (it had the funniest death scenes with Conrad lmao) and bought the Switch port a couple years ago. It's a solid time, though the controls have a bit of a learning curve. I'd freaking love to see Jared give Flashback a whirl! I totally can guess what comic book game is coming next week, and if the! hunch is correct, it is hands down my favorite genesis game

[@Randomark3087]

Flashback gives me a lot of flashbacks. I'll let myself out....

[@sladeforrester]

It appears that the Dreamcast port of Flashback is the one available for download if you pay for PS+.

[@lankymaccrazyhair264]

I think I've been slacking off on my saying "Reviews still don't make sense"

[@connorgreenwell5731]

Thank you, Jerd! These are still awesome!

[@ChicCanyon]

Always look forward to these. Thanks for the consistency!

[@stax6092]

Lovin Editor Dylan.

[@garou119]

Can't wait for Fatal Fury 2!

[@skulldaisygimp]

That was a fun romp and a lot of stuff to cover; love this show's format! Keep up the good work!

[@shouryuuken4147]

This show is always a pleasure to watch.

[@waynedrew7074]

Jarred your shirt is top notch brother.

[@SteveBrandon]

It seemed like every American videogame magazine published in late 1992 and early 1993 had a Cool World game ad on the back cover for a couple of issues. I did see the movie in theatres, it sure was a "that was okay, I guess?" kind of film, but I don't remember if I ever rented the game. What I'm most curious about is whether the actor used for motion capture in the game is actually Brad Pitt or just a lookalike since I couldn't find a definitive answer on Google. It would be interesting if the Cool World game did manage to get the rights to Brad Pitt's likeness while the Fight Club game that came out over a decade later couldn't (because, by 2004, Brad Pitt was an A-list actor and the rights to his likeness were probably a lot more expensive compared to 1993). Flashback looked amazing. I was no good at it and had to settle for watching my youngest brother play it but it looked amazing. "Hockey octopus" is a real tradition dating back to the 1952 NHL playoffs where, according to Wikipedia, Detroit store owners Pete and Jerry Cusimano threw an octopus, hopefully already dead (Wikipedia doesn't say), onto the ice to symbolize the eight games that the Detroit Red Wings needed to win against the Toronto Maple Leafs in the semi-finals and, then, the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup finals, to win the cup, which they did. Wayne's World is still one of my all-time favourite films. Never touched the game.

[@thehorsefromhorsinabout]

i rented flashback when i was a kid so many times but could never get beyond the first area.

[@frostfangdragonwolf]

I am definitely waiting for December 17th because my favorite game of all time came out in 93 at that time

[@JoaoAgile]

This game was my favorite of all time as well, for a loooong time! You have good taste in gaming

[@frostfangdragonwolf]

@@JoaoAgile MegaMan X, it’s as close as you can get to the Perfect Video Game

[@B.J.Camire]

Wow, no love for Wayne's World. I can't believe you don't want to hear the same guitar strum sound effect 7,654 times over a single playthrough to get to an anticlimactic battle with a gelatinous cube. Some of us are just "more 90's" I guess. ^_^

[@KLegyyn]

Editor Dylan, call it 2(1/4)D. . .

[@05trowa]

Man don't do Ralph Bakshi like that. He was making more adult oriented animated films long before Who Framed Roger Rabbit came out. Cool World was heavily screwed with by the studio though to make it more akin to Roger so that's valid.

[@DawnOfTheOzz]

I just bought Flashback for cheap on the Switch. Pretty good deal for a pretty good game.

[@jonbourgoin182]

Nintendo Power was always way too generous. Did they ever really give a truly negative review of a Nintendo Product? Genuinely asking

[@Zylo1111]

With all these old video game commercials it kind of makes me want Jared to do some reviews of them.

[@chairs9459]

I remember COOL WORLD having a really good soundtrack

[@LouisWritingSomethingCrazy]

"But you won't guess who!" That's correct! Perhaps one of the most correct things I've heard on KZbin.

[@kevinskudalski5838]

Amazing content! Well done.

[@davidmortimer9764]

I'm so glad it wasn't just me being bad (as a kid) at Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt. That game WAS hard. I played it over and over, but I don't think I ever even saw one boss.

[@ajokay]

How cool was the science lab level though? Probably the most tolerable of all the levels. That bathtub level... Ugh!!

[@mstiefan6996]

Flashback was like a combination of Blade Runner, Total Recall, and V (that mini series with the lizard people disguised as humans), and I remember really liking the game, but never got super far without cheats as the later levels get CRAZY hard. The sequel Fade to Black...yeah, most people don't even seem to remember it given it was a completely different kind of game from Flashback in that it was trying to get into that 3D action platforming genre that was popular at the time.

[@TigerNightmare]

Cool World is a weird horny movie that was bludgeoned into a PG-13 rating by the studio so people can take their kids to watch a man have sex with a cartoon lady. She becomes real if she bangs a human? It's one of those lore rules that make no sense created for plot reasons, like Voldemort can't kill Harry because their wands are made from the same magic wood (use a gun or poison him?), or only a Voorhees can kill a Voorhees. It's weird enough that they turned a movie about fucking a cartoon into a game for children, but at the same time, it's kind of surprising they didn't make a Saturday morning cartoon where Holli Would is wearing something less sexualized while solving mysteries or something.

[@wafflerman]

always love when in commercials or or scenes with someone playing video games they show the controller having every button pressed turbo speed gotta hit everything but what shows on screen of the video game is just the character moving forward and jumping once

[@thecunninlynguist]

Flashback is awesome

[@Tacticslion]

"Kicky sphere" is a great name for the game. Compares favorably to "soccer," anyway. :D

[@ChibiKami]

soccer is short for Association Football just saiyan

[@Gatorade69]

I say we should just call football Kicky Sphere and Hand Egg respectively so nobody gets confused.

[@Tacticslion]

@@ChibiKami "-from Earth!" I know exactly where it comes from! But also, here in the US we call a game "football" that's more often held in or thrown with the hand, and only occasionally kicked; meanwhile the game the rest of the world calls "football" we call "soccer" because our publishing system was lazy enough (or trying to save time/ink enough) that they didn't want to write "As[- - -]iation Football"... which is pretty funny, as far as such things go. And "kickysphere" still compares favorably. XD (Even though the soccer ball is technically more of a rough sphereoid than a sphere, or even more accurately an icosidodecahedron.)

[@Tacticslion]

@@Gatorade69 I'd vote for it!

[@Tacticslion]

Dang it, as soon as I hit "Reply" I realized this reads like I'm angry. For any who read it, please understand I am not at all angry. This is meant to be an amused, wry, humorous, and thoroughly silly voice. Wamp-wamp! Tone is hard through text! e-hugs, all! XD

[@claudelarose8831]

Party on Dylan!

[@Headspr0uter]

that's actually pretty amazing that even the cool world video game feels the need to poke fun at the movie's plot and writing.

[@renatocorvaro6924]

This is like the reverse of the Mortal Kombat kids cartoon.

[@ajokay]

I still have my boxed copy of Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt. Such a difficult platformer. It just constantly hurls obstacles at you until the game over screen. I like that they let you play the stages in any order, as it at least means you get to experience all of them. I don't think I ever reached the boss fight in this game, I just never got that far. That said it's a very good looking game. I especially enjoyed the science lab level with drops of acid and Bunsen burner flames to avoid. Incidentally, I received this game as a Christmas gift, however the game on my list was that 1991 game based on the movie, which I still kinda wish I had got instead, and have still never played.

[@ThonyHedgehog]

Flashback is one of the game where the entire soundtrack lasts about 10 minutes (one theme, main menu, credits), but boy is that soundtrack groovy.

[@bottlenecked]

Can't wait for shadowrun on genesis to be shown on this.

[@RavenWitchShade]

Hit the Ice... man, that unlocked a well-hidden memory. I can't remember if I actually owned that as a kid or if we just rented it, but I do remember it being fun, especially when you get to the brawling sections.

[@deadpool3982]

That’s crazy, my son bought me Flashback today just because he saw it randomly while out shopping

[@jdrudeify]

I thought I remember that the Genesis Fatal Fury was listed as a "2.5d fighter" to explain the 2 different planes you could fight in.

[@Soumein]

Hey, finally a game I've played! Battleship. Don't remember much, but I definitely remember seeing that "We're sinking" screen a lot. There's also a depth charge mode where you have to sink a submarine, and have to time your explosions to their depth. Though, I don't remember if the sub can fire back or not.

[@grawderu]

I watched the Vod that had you open the box that one came in. They look awesome.

[@starblaze27]

We have a retro game store where I am at and they happen to have a copy of Flashback for the Sega Genesis right now in box, but I think they are selling it above $35 (though they are known for selling games wav above it's value). I will have to check when I visit the store again and give a update if it is above that price and how much it is.

[@ThisIsCSDX]

I definitely got Flashback and its remake confused in terms of critical reception(I thought it was both of them that reviewed poorly). I remember when Game Grumps played the remake for Xbox's Summer of Games thing back in 2013. Going by the bugs they found in it and poked fun at, I'm gonna guess that's why I haven't really seen Xbox do any sort of sponsorship for them or anything.

[@KeavyGoesLive]

I owned Wayne's World on SNES as a kid and the only good thing I can say about it is my local Target bundled it with the movie on VHS as a "Buy one, Get one" deal. Great movie, totally worth the $10 I paid

[@kiffar]

Oh wow, I used to play Fade to Black all the time as a child. I totally forgot about that game!

[@davidcarmichael4006]

A dual-depth fighting field?

[@UndeadEggmiester]

The whole concept of cool world on the SNES is a anomaly that baffles all knowledge.

[@Alianger]

"reviews used to make no sense" is probably the most common phrase of this show

[@ActuallyAFungus]

I know the hero won't be Boogerman, but I hope it's Boogerman.

[@Gatorade69]

A Pick and Flick Adventure !

[@CptSamel]

The interworld matrix is already disrupted by everybody flipping the switches on the back of unlicensed NES games

[@somnus1057]

I had no clue how to beat Flashback in elementary school. My friend had it so I couldn't spend days on it. He gave it to me later as an adult and I beat it. It's trial and error. Good game though.

[@marcanthonybattenberg7636]

I have Wayne's World on SNES, I got it off of eBay years ago because when I was a teenager I was obsessed with the Wayne's World Movies. I only ever got past the guitar store world once, the whole game consists of things flying at you while dealing with awkward platforming! The only upside I can give the games is that its so bad and the sounds and graphics are so weird, it becomes hilarious to play!

[@jasonblalock4429]

Yeah, it's probably worth playing for fans of kusoge, but everyone else should stay far away.

[@MentalLiberation]

Holy smokes. My comment got highlighted at the end. Neat! To the Other commenters and viewers, keep supporting this channel and tell your friends. This is one of those channels that deserves the support it gets not just out of nostalgia but because, truly, the games from the 1990s and beyond were inspiring to the games we have today. You wouldn't have chained echoes and sea of stars as great indie role-playing games had it not been for Chrono Trigger

[@maverickhuntermeta4954]

After this episode, Now In The 90's is going for more than 10 minutes per an episode from here on out. Hooray!

[@Auspice75]

Oh man, there was an entire summer that I kept renting Super Battleship for SNES. I really enjoyed the campaign mode and some of the later stages were RIDICULOUSLY challenging as a kid.

[@cursedex80]

Ok, this episode solved why I keep thinking of another game whenever Flashback is mentioned.

[@islandott4448]

The highlight of my Friday

[@Mankey619]

Flashback is one of my most favourite games I’ve ever played. The graphics,the cutscenes and the gameplay is awesome,and I can’t wait for its sequel to come out this year.

[@CalebByRamen]

Love these ! Keep up the good work yall.

[@louiseugeniojr.3530]

That was cool.

[@benjamhouse7330]

Flashback & Another World were both awesome. I loved them. ...I also love "The Neverhood" & "Armikrog" btw.

[@mjdf122]

Now In The 90s Brings You Back I’m In My 40s

[@Belgand]

Eh, _Cool World_ was adult-oriented, but PG-13. One of the biggest criticisms of the film was actually that it was too tame, taking a concept that was asking for an R or even NC-17 film (as in Bakshi's iconic earlier film _Fritz the Cat_) and then neutering it. Studio quotes indicate that they were failing to capture the "young" audience that they were going for, presumably teenagers. Something I can agree with as a friend of mine at the time, who happened to be about 13, saw it and said it was "meh". The larger problem is the idea that video games are exclusively for kids. That kind of perception was an issue at the time, but there's no indication that the game was aimed primarily at younger kids rather than the 13+ audience of the film. So yeah, it was a weird choice to license (although that's par for the course for Ocean), but that's really it. What's interesting is how the game also has a lot in common with the _Who Framed Roger Rabbit?_ game. Both being side-scrollers that incorporate a lot of adventure game elements.

[@zombieowen]

My SNES friend refused to believe Flashback wasn't a Sega CD game. Gloaty good times as a Genesis guy.

[@Coolman13355]

I was expecting StarFox, but apparently this week was Japan and over here is a month away.

[@ovlivion81]

Look forward to this show every friday

[@btetschner]

Awesome video! There was so much going on at that time.

[@arcadelinkauthor]

6:20 Hockey Octopus is actually a thing. I remembered seeing octopi being thrown on the ice during some Detroit games, so I had to google to make sure I wasn't out of my mind. And yeah. It's a thing. lmao en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legend_of_the_Octopus

[@searchbar83]

I bet it's the Tick next week. Me and my brother played that game way more than it deserved.

[@D1gital-ZER0]

Oh man, I remember playing the Fade To Black that EA did for the PSX back in the late 90s with my Dad! Back when I was waaaaay to young to play it lol.

[@evillecaston]

Judging by the fact that I've never heard of Cool World before, I'm going to assume it was pretty mediocre/bad. Even more baffling is why they would then choose to adapt it into a kid-friendly SNES platformer. It reminds me of how the Mortal Kombat kartoons were designed for kids (and selling toys, of course).

[@terabitez3374]

Flashback is so weird it got a ps1 sequel that many don’t know is connected , a reboot, a remaster, and flashback 2 was announced last year

[@luliby2309]

Wow, I've never even heard of Cool World, and I am, in fact, a 90s kid.

[@opo3628]

Even as a little kid back then I knew that Cool World was something meant for adults (and I heard that it was terrible), and I felt it was *really* awkward that they actually made a video game about it that kids could play.

[@tylerkulchinsky2167]

That's gotta be Al at 6:15 GO RED WINGS!

[@witecatj6007]

Even though it was missing 2 characters, the Genesis version of Fatal Fury was way better than the SNES. The move sets were complete and it's versus mode gave you access to all the characters. It holds a place in my heart because my one friend and I played it all the time at his house. And he would always win.

[@spencerdokes6056]

I tune into now in the 90s for the weird ass shirt reveals