Games: Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension (SNES, Gen, GG, GB, computers/1992), Zool 2 (Amiga, Jag, Blackberry, MS-DOS/1993)
Mascot for: Gremlin Graphics
Zool was created specifically to compete against Sonic, which is probably why Zool moves very quickly. This has been a criticism by some such as EGM, which stated "your character moves much too fast and with little control." The game does have some mini-games which gives the player some variety of gameplay. The second game is arguably better than the first, as it has two protagonists (a female counterpart of Zool named Zooz) and a two player mode. Both of these games are decent, so the question is, why was Zool eventually discarded as a mascot and gaming franchise?
What happened: Gremlin Graphics, the developer for Zool, went on to make other games after Zool 2. In 1999, they were bought by Infogrames and helped to make all kinds of computer games. Despite success with Zool, they have never returned to the franchise. Although ninjas are always cool, Zool seems to be lacking personality and his design is certainly strange. He doesn't have the appeal of Ninja Turtles or Goemon, for example. It would have been cool if they had tried to make a Zool cartoon, but truth is, we will never know if that would have worked or not. Zool appears to be lost to time.
With his green color and those ears, Zool looks like a goblin ninja, which sounds like a very interesting concept to explore. Imagine a Castlevania or Ghosts 'n Goblins world but with a ninja protagonaist. That would have been cool.
No, that would have been "Zool".
I love it! Someone needs to make "Goblin Ninja" or should I say...Goblinja LOL
I have DEFINITELY never heard of this one, not even when I was into emulating everything in the late nineties.
Don't worry, you're not alone.
Know what's cooler than cool? Zool!
Song: "Action ninja, goes so fast,
"He's the coolest, NO! He's Zool!"
Just need a jingle and it's sold.
I see you beat me to the rhymes and puns.
They really do almost write themselves.
I kinda want this mascot to make a comeback now.
Yeah, he totally needs his own cartoon with a goofy theme song.
I never played the Zool games. They came out at a time I was more into RPGs and was tired of all the me-too Sonic inspired mascot platformers.
There's a rumor that Ninjabread Man, considered by many to be one of the worst Wii games ever made, actually started out as a 3-D Zool title!
There's a Ninjabread Man game???? Of course it's horrible, but I find that very interesting. A 3D Zool game would be really cool, but the right developer would need to do it.