Cool Spot (SNES)

A charming little mascot platformer starring 7 Up's wayward punctuation.

Prerelease Info

Debug Menu#

To access the debug menu, hold L + R on the Virgin Games logo screen and press Select 30 times.

Or, to avoid developing carpal tunnel syndrome, you can use Pro Action Replay code 7E1E061D (US version) so that you only have to press Select once.

Memory Chart#

Pro Action Replay code 00814606 will display this screen on startup, which appears to show the beginning of free ROM space in each bank. Interestingly, this screen refers to the game as "Spot 2", which is seemingly a remnant from an early stage of development.

Hidden Credit#

At 0x028AC3 in the ROM is the following string:

(C) 1992 Basement Boys Software

Basement Boys Software was a group that made hacking tools for the Commodore 64 in the mid-to-late 80s. Some of its members later moved on to Chip Level Designs, who provided sound programming in several SNES games. The same credit appears in Bubsy.

Regional Differences#

This page or section needs more images. There's a whole lotta words here, but not enough pictures. Please fix this. Specifically: Images are needed of the Japanese version's title screen, and the collectibles that were changed. The background used in the bonus stages also has some differences in each version that need to be documented.

North America	Europe

The European version replaces the 7 Up bottle that Spot surfs on in the intro with a generic plastic bottle with an "S.O.S." note inside. This is because 7 Up's mascot wasn't Spot in Europe, but rather Fido Dido as Pepsi owns 7 Up in Europe. In the American version, Spot jumps off of the 7 Up logo and onto the bottle, while in the European version, Spot is already on the bottle when it comes into frame. For some reason, the bottle also takes longer to enter the frame in the European version. The 7 Up logo on the health pickup item was changed to a white V on a red circle, referring to Virgin Games. The 7 Up item which gives seven cool points was also changed to a horizontally-rotating cool counter with a white V on one side, and the 1-Up was edited to remove Spot's face, likely to make it less obvious that it's just the 7 Up logo with the number changed.

The Japanese version is based on the North American design, but most instances of the 7 Up logo are replaced with the legally distinct (and entirely fictional) "TOP" brand. The trademark red circle is changed to a triangle, although Spot himself is naturally unchanged. Unlike the European version, Spot still jumps out of the logo, causing him to rather conspicuously change from a triangle to a circle. On the bottle in the intro, "THE UNCOLA", 7 Up's ad slogan at the time, is (rather hilariously) changed into "THE COoOL!". The 7 Up logo on the health pickup item was also changed to the "TOP" logo, and the 7 Up item was changed from the 7 Up logo to the "TOP" logo as well, though the 1-Up was not changed.