Plok
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Plok is an irresistible, irrepressible, unstoppable, highly improbable and downright dangerous bundle of pure energy. |
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Sorry. The above editor lost his hands halfway through typing.
Plok was a Super Nintendo game developed by Software Creations in 1993. It's a Platformer starring Plok, an animated pile of clothes, who wakes up one day to find out that the flag on his house (a family heirloom) has been stolen. After retrieving it from nearby Cotton Island, he returns to his island of Akrillic and finds out that it's been taken over by fleas! He travels through his colorful, surreal island, vanquishing fleas along the way and eventually entering the Flea Pit to battle the Flea Queen.
Plok's special power lies in how he can launch any of his limbs at will to damage enemies. Once the damage has been done, they return to Plok until he decides to attack again. Another integral use of this ability is using it to solve puzzles that involve having to "sacrifice" one of Plok's limbs to activate switches. Once a limb hits a switch, it is placed on a hanger that may be right next to the switch or several screens away. If he loses all his limbs, he becomes a defenseless bouncing ball-thing. With an amulet found halfway through the game, he can collect shells and use their power to transform into a buzzsaw when he jumps.
The game's most notable feature is its prog rock-inspired soundtrack, which was composed by Tim Follin and pushed the SNES to its limits.
Unfortunately, Plok was released right when colorful platformers were facing a massive backlash, and it quickly fell into obscurity.
Some very cool pictures and insights on the game are over here on the website of John and Ste Pickford, the creators of the game.
A re-release on the Virtual Console looks unlikely, as the Pickford Bros. are unsure who currently owns the rights to the game, but they have dropped occasional hints over the years of possibly making a sequel. However, Plok himself did show up in another game - as a miniboss in the Atari Lynx game Zaku - and since 2013 stars in a webcomic by the Pickford Bros.
- Alliteration: The Shprouts come in several forms: the Shcuba Shprouts, the Shcuba Shield Shprouts, the Shky Shcuba Shield Shprouts…
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: The American box art shows Plok sporting a noticeable scowl. This is never seen in-game.
- "BANG!" Flag Gun: The cowboy suit has this as a weapon, and it does pretty much nothing.
- Berserk Button: Plok is quite protective of his grandpappy's flag.
- Bonus Boss: All the bosses become this in Child's Play, since they only show up when getting a continue just before the point at which you'd normally fight the bosses. The Penkinos were very obviously designed to work like this, since the previous level practically gives the player one.
- Bonus Stage: Hitting certain HP-restoring fruit when they're at their maximum size will take you to bonus stages (instead of just destroying them), which allow you to collect tons of shells or warp 2-3 levels ahead.
- Color Coded for Your Convenience: Text in the game comes in three colors: red indicates narration (and Cotton Island levels), yellow is Plok's dialogue (and Akrillic levels), and blue is enemy dialogue (and fleapit levels).
- Detachment Combat: Plok can fire out both his arms and legs at the enemy.
- Dummied Out: The Brendammi Bog, Badream Fens and Breezy Beach levels, as well as a test level for vehicles.
- Easy Mode Mockery: Playing the “Child's Play” mode leaves you unable to enter the Fleapit. Or Legacy Island, or several of the game's other stages (largely boss fights). Although one of the particularly annoying skipped boss fights becomes unskipped if you continue from a certain stage after gameovering.
- Fake Difficulty: The Fleapit in its entirety. Every stage involves a new and different vehicle, most of which have touchy controls and hard-to-use weapons.
- Giant Spider: Womack Spider.
- Identical Grandson: The only thing that differs Plok from his grandpappy is a mustache.
- Kung Fu-Proof Mook: Shprouts, which need to be hit a second time immediately after the first hit to defeat them; taking too long resets their vulnerability. They become even more kung fu proof in later stages, where they carry shields that render them invincible unless they are hit in the back.
- Leap of Faith: Two of them at the end of “Plok's House”. A bridge appears from under you if you jump off a certain spot.
- Meaningful Name: The boss Rockyfellow is a monster made of rock.
- Mercy Invincibility: Present in this game for Plok. AND his enemies!!!
- Monochrome Past: The flashback levels, which also use silent film-style title cards and piano music.
- Mook Maker: The aforementioned Budd.
- Nintendo Hard: Many people actually never get to complete the game without the help of an emulator. Who would've thought a cute-looking game would be hellishly hard?
- Noob Cave: The Cotton Island levels.
- Power-Up Letdown: The Secret Super-Vehicle hinted at in the manual and shown only in silhouette. It's a football helmet, spring shoes and a can of Flea Spray. Arguably, you'd have an easier time taking on the final boss without it.
- Even worse is the cowboy outfit: It makes Plok shoot a fake gun (with a “BANG” flag coming out). It doesn't do anything but give you back missing legs.
- Pun:
- There is a giant miniboss flower called the Budd, which spits out mini versions of itself called Budd Lites.
- Also, Rockyfellow.
- Raymanian Limbs: Sorta… except Plok came out two years before Rayman.
- Retraux Flashback: The Grandpappy Plok dream sequence (see Monochrome Past above).
- Rocket Punch: What happens when you shoot your arms out. One of the power-ups gives Plok an even better version of this.
- Save Point: Mostly averted. If you die and run out of continues (or “Plokontinues” as they're called), you have to start over. Since this game is so long and difficult, few people actually manage to finish it. Luckily, modern emulators allow you to save whenever you please. But still…
- The Plokontinues are single-use, tied to the level you got them in. To give an example: in one playthrough, you got Plokontinues in Garlen Beach (the 1st level in Akrillic) and Plok Town (4th level) and then got a Game Over afterward. If you choose to continue, you'll start from the level after the most recent Plokontinue, The Penkinos (5th level), and that Plokontinue disappears. If you get another Game Over without obtaining any more Plokontinues, you'll start from Sleepy Dale (2nd level) instead and your progress from the later levels will have been erased.
- Short-Range Shotgun: One of the power-ups gives Plok a short range blunderbuss that fires out a spread of 5 bullets that travel a rather short distance. Much more useful than you'd think because it overrides the enemies' Mercy Invincibility.
- Turns Red: Almost all the bosses.
- The Penkinos are four flying, penguin-like things that drop damaging stars down on Plok. When low on health, they will drop those stars in rapid succession.
- Womack Spider shoots many more green glob projectiles once his health gets low.
- Rockyfellow the rock monster summons more hands for his rock throwing attack as his health gets lower.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: Again, the Fleapit, where each level puts Plok behind the wheel of a different vehicle that arguably cripples Plok (in exchange for letting him fly or jump wide gaps or whatever the stage calls for).
- Warp Zone: Due to any save system (even passwords) being absent, the developers placed a number of warps around Cotton Island, allowing players to skip through those levels as fast as possible.
- Wolfpack Boss:
- The Bobbins Brothers. That's the first time you fight them. The second time (which is actually in a flashback), you have to fight THREE of them with Plok's grandpappy.
- The Penkinos also count.