Global Gladiators

Global Gladiators (also known as Mick and Mack: Global Gladiators) is a 1992 platform game by Virgin Interactive, originally programmed by David Perry (who at the time had already moved to the United States and was located on the recently formed Virgin Games USA development studio) for the Mega Drive/Genesis and eventually ported by other Virgin Interactive teams in Europe (with the help of Graftgold and Krisalis Software) to the Sega Master System, Sega Game Gear and the Commodore Amiga. A Super Nintendo port was also in development but was never completed for undisclosed reasons, though a prototype exists on the Internet. The game is loosely based on the McDonald's fast food chain and has a strong environmentalist message.

Released: 1992
Platforms: Amiga Game Gear Master System NES SNES Sega Genesis
Genres: Platformer
Developers: Virgin Interactive
Publishers: Virgin Interactive
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action Fantasy
Country: United States
Languages: English
Composers: Tommy Tallarico

About

Global Gladiators is a 1992 platform game developed by Virgin Games, originally programmed by David Perry for the Sega Genesis and eventually ported by other Virgin Games teams in Europe to the Master System, Game Gear, and Amiga. The game is based on the McDonald's fast food chain and has a strong environmentalist message. The game is a spiritual successor to the NES game M.C. Kids, another McDonald's-themed game that also featured Mick and Mack as its playable characters.

Keywords

minigames
side-scrolling
advergame
based on - brand
tie-in

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Development

In 1992, Virgin Mastertronic, while expanding into the United States, entered a deal with McDonald's to publish a video game themed around its restaurants within six months. Virgin contacted Probe Software programmer David Perry and made a generous offer to hire him into their American development branch in Irvine, California; Virgin was convinced by Perry's work on The Terminator that he could quickly make a satisfactory game for the Sega Genesis. Virgin granted Perry an apartment overlooking Laguna Beach, which he remarked was "like living in Baywatch".

For Global Gladiators, the development team combined tools that they had developed for previous titles. The animation, background art, and music were respectively created by Mike Dietz, Christian Laursen, and Tommy Tallarico. David Bishop served as the game's designer, while the levels were designed by Bill Anderson. Aside from some branding, the game had little to do with the McDonald's franchise.

Reception

Sega Pro magazine gave an overall score of 93/100, noting the game's challenging difficulty, praising the game's graphics—stating "brilliantly animated sprites and characters give this game a very polished feel"—and the game's sound as "very much geared to the rave style with a few rocky tunes for good measure" and concluding "[A] great game that will keep up till the wee hours, a definite purchase for all of you seeking a big challenge." Mega Action gave an overall score of 93%, describing the game as "a brilliant game with some really nice sprites".