Flashback Friday: Sewer Shark

Now what am I doing? Sewer Shark? Yes, THE Sewer Shark for the Sega CD. Why? Well because, unfortunately, Writer/Designer Ken Melville passed away at 65 years old on February 1st. I figured I would look back at one of the most talked about games for the system. (Aside from Night Trap, which he also had a hand in).

This gentleman seems very pleased at your desire to play Sewer Shark.

Ah, the Sega CD. FMV gaming at its finest. To be fair, this was the first real attempt at something of this nature. While I have never seen Sharknado (I know, shame on me) I like to think it compares pretty close to this.

The story: In a post-apocalyptic world, environmental destruction has forced most of humanity to live underground. You play as a "rookie pilot" and, along with a group of "Sewer Jockeys" travel through the sewers and kill mutant creatures, cleaning it for "Solar City", which is an island paradise ruled by the evil Commissioner Stenchler.

And this would be the game screen.

So the whole objective here is to travel through the sewers without crashing or running out of energy. It's a rail shooter basically. the D-pad on top of the screen is how you dictate which turn to take in the sewers. At points throughout the game you receive a set of directions on where to go, miss one of those turns: you crash into a grate or a wall and it's game over.

Pretty brutal.

Also, throughout the game, your co-pilot, Ghost, or the Commissioner will cut in to give you a progress report. They don't like how you are doing: eventually leads to a game over.

Pretty brutal.

Overacting in a Sega CD FMV game....ya don't say? 

Sewer Shark was released on October 15th, 1992 for the Sega CD and the 3DO. Though, I'm guessing, most people experienced this on the Sega CD. This game was on the Associated Press list of top ten games of 1993. Man, what else came out that year?

Again, this is the first real attempt of a console trying to do games like this. People were (and are still) Way into this game and Night Trap. These games have cult followings and they are still a fun romp through nostalgia. At the very least, you should go to YouTube and watch videos and even full-plays of this.

Thank you, Mr. Melville. Hope you are still Turnin' and Burnin' in the Great Beyond.