James Pond 2
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| James Pond 2: Codename RoboCod | |
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 James Pond 2: Codename Robocod Amiga cover |
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| Developer(s) | Millennium Interactive, Vectordean |
| Publisher(s) | Millennium Interactive (Amiga, Atari ST, CD32, C64, DOS, ) U.S. Gold (Master System) Electronic Arts (Mega Drive) Play It Ltd (Playstation, Playstation 2, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS) Ocean (SNES) |
| Designer(s) | Chris Sorrell |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Amiga CD32, Atari ST, Commodore 64, DOS, GBA, PlayStation, Mega Drive/Genesis, SNES, Nintendo DS, Playstation 2 |
| Release date | 1991 (Amiga, Atari ST, Mega Drive) 1992 (C64) 1993 (CD32, AGA Amigas, DOS, SNES, Master System) 2003 (Game Boy Advance, Playstation) 2005 (Nintendo DS) 2006 (Playstation 2) |
| Genre(s) | Platform game |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Media | Floppy disk (Amiga, DOS, Atari ST, C64) Cartridge (Mega Drive, SNES, Master System, Game Boy Advance) Compact Disc (CD32, Playstation) Game Card (Nintendo DS) |
James Pond 2: Codename RoboCod is a platform game originally released on the Commodore Amiga in 1991. It was originally released for the Commodore Amiga, DOS and Mega Drive/Genesis, from three different publishers. Later, the game appeared on Amiga CD32, Atari ST, Commodore 64 and SNES. The SNES version was called Super James Pond in North America, whereas in other regions was named Super James Pond II. More recently the game was released as a budget title for the PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS by Play It Ltd - however, these recent iterations are re-makes rather than ports of the original games and are generally considered to be inferior games.
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[edit] Basics
James Pond 2 is primarily side-scrolling game starring the James Bond spoof hero, James Pond. James Pond is a walking fish with body armour, who is in a battle with his adversary Dr. Maybe. Dr. Maybe has captured lots of penguins as well as toys. Given the code name RoboCod (a pun on RoboCop), the remaining penguins send James on a mission to rescue the other penguins, retrieve the toys and defeat Dr. Maybe.
[edit] Environment
James starts outside a giant castle that turns out to be Santa's toy factory. There are many doors there, two and two situated next to each other. Each door leads to a stage with many toy-theme levels, 50 in total. Hostile creatures lurk about in these levels, and they come in all thinkable forms. There are no weapons in the game, so James must jump upon them to defeat them. After completing two stages (doors), James goes on to another door where a boss is awaiting.
James's body armour enables him to extend his body vertically to incredible lengths and grab hold of the ceiling. This allows him to travel along the ceiling and drop down on the top of an unsuspecting enemy. James can also pick up items that provide points. Power-ups include extra lives and wings that grant James the ability to fly. From time to time James may enter a vehicle, namely a car, plane or (flying) bath.
[edit] Game Boy Advance/Nintendo DS version
James Pond 2 was released for the Game Boy Advance on August 16, 2005. The DS version (identical with the exception of the map) was released on December 5, 2005. The version of the game released for Nintendo's handheld consoles is largely different from that of the original. The graphics have been polished and improved to take advantage of the consoles' colour depth, and whilst the levels are themed the same as those in the original, their layout is entirely different. In addition, the Hidden Levels have been omitted entirely from the game.
[edit] Product placement
In the original UK version of the game, the penguins featured as in-game product placement for the McVitie's biscuit company's Penguin Biscuits, making it one of the earliest games to use this form of advertising. According to a 1994 article in the UK edition of PC Gamer, Penguin outsold arch-rival KitKat for the first time in the product's history soon after the release of the game.
[edit] Reception
UK magazine ACE gave the Amiga version a score of 934 out of 1000, calling it "polished, playable and (...) fun" and "completely excellent".[1]
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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