Captain Planet and the Planeteers (video game)

Captain Planet and the Planeteers
NES cover art of Captain Planet
Developer(s)	Chris Gray Enterprises[1]
Publisher(s)	Mindscape[1]
Platform(s)	NES[1] Amiga[2] Amstrad CPC ZX Spectrum
Release	NES: NA: September 1991[1] EU: August 20, 1992[1] ZX Spectrum: EU: 1991[3] Amiga: EU: 1991[2]
Genre(s)	2D action platformer[1]
Mode(s)	Single-player

Captain Planet and the Planeteers was a video game released for various platforms in the early 1990s, loosely based on the environmentalist animated series, Captain Planet and the Planeteers and produced by the third party developer Mindscape Inc. Three different versions were developed to suit three different platform capabilities, each with markedly different gameplay. The Amiga/Atari ST version was released in 1991, as was the ZX Spectrum/Amstrad CPC version, while the Nintendo Entertainment System version was released in 1992.

Gameplay

The NES version of the game has five levels, each of which are divided into two different type of stages. The first stage involves controlling the international teen heroes (Planeteers) flying their Eco-Jet to an enemy fortress, while trying to avoid the instant death that occurs by touching any of the scenery or getting hit by the various projectiles or birds. The second stage involves controlling Captain Planet himself as he fights his way to an ecovillain from the TV series.

The Amiga/Atari version has five stages, one for each planeteer, and a final stage in which Captain Planet could be controlled. Each planeteer stage has at least one objective, while some had two: to clean up pollution using the planeteer's magic ring power, and/or to rescue a particular type of animal with the aid of one of the planeteer vehicles. Completing the objectives opens the exit gate for the level; touching environmental hazards or the unusual monsters in the level will lose the player a life, while failing the objective by killing any of the animals will crack the planeteer's ring depicted at the bottom of the screen (in the Amiga version), opening the level's exit gate early. The final level allows the player to control Captain Planet, who must navigate to the end of the stage by using and swapping powers held in bubbles throughout the level, before defeating one of the ecovillans, which is either Hoggish Greedly, Dr. Blight and her computer MAL, Looten Plunder and his assistant Argos Bleak, or Duke Nukem.

The game features level set in the Yellowstone National Park, the Atlantic Ocean, Africa and Antarctica.^[4]

Reception

The NES version of the game was panned by most video game critics for its weak graphics, limited playability and difficulty. Mindscape was one of the many third party publishers of NES games that had a reputation of releasing low quality products. The difficulty in the game arose from the fact that the various powers of the geocruiser or Captain Planet had to be cycled through while the player was being actively attacked.

References