Croc: Legend of the Gobbos

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (also known as simply Croc, or in Japan as Croc! Pau-Pau Island (クロック!パウパウアイランド)) is a platform video game published by Fox Interactive and developed by Argonaut Software for the PlayStation, Sega Saturn, PC, and Game Boy Color. It was released on September 29, 1997 in the North America. It follows main protagonist Croc, and his attempts to rescue the furry creatures known as Gobbos from the main antagonist, Baron Dante.

It received generally positive reviews from video games critics and was also a commercial success particularly in Europe, eventually becoming a PlayStation Greatest Hits game. Over four million copies were sold.

Plot
The Gobbo King Rufus was watching the sunset when he noticed a small basket in the lake, containing a small, screaming baby crocodile. The Gobbos raise him and train him to become one of their own. Croc eventually grew to twice the size of a normal Gobbo. All is peaceful until one day, a Gobbo shouts out a warning... " Dantinis!". Suddenly, the evil Baron Dante arrives and invades Gobbo Island with the help of his demon rascals, the Dantinis. He imprisons many of the Gobbos, most notably their King, whom he keeps in a steel cage within his castle island. Before the Gobbo King is taken, he strikes a magical gong that summons a yellow bird called Beany. Beany shrinks Croc before whisking him away to safety. Croc then goes on a quest to free all the Gobbos and defeat the evil Baron Dante himself.

Gameplay
Croc is a free-roaming game title, with Croc's movement differing slightly depending on whether players use the directional pad or the analog controller to control him. His main moves consist of a tail whip attack that can temporarily destroy enemies, and a hit drop used for smashing open crates (the same move in the Super Mario series). Croc also possess the ability to swim in select levels. Throughout the game Croc collects crystals which serve as health in a similar fashion to golden rings in Sonic the Hedgehog, meaning the player will lose a life if hit without holding any crystals in their inventory. Crystals retained at the end of a level are stored, with Croc gaining an extra life for every 100 he collects.

Progressing through the levels involves finding and hitting the Beany Gong at the end of the level to move onto the next, facing two bosses during each island. However, to fully complete the game, Croc has to rescue the captured Gobbos throughout each level. Each level contains six Gobbos, including one hidden behind a door at the end of the level. This Gobbo can only be released by collecting five coloured crystals throughout the level. Collecting all the Gobbos before a boss level unlocks an extra level in which a Jigsaw Piece can be earned. When the player collects all of these pieces, a new island is opened up, leading to the game's final boss, Baron Dante in crystal form.

Music
The music for Croc: Legend of the Gobbos was composed by Justin Scharvona. Richard Joseph was also involved.

Structure
Islands

There are four standard islands in the game, each of which has a unique theme. Starting with the lava themed island, then progressing on to the snow, the desert, and castle themed islands respectively. A secret island is unlocked after the player collects all Gobbos and Jigsaw pieces in the game.

Each of the four standard islands contain six standard stages, two boss stages and two bonus stages, as detailed below.

Standard Stages

In the standard stages (levels), Croc has to collect six Gobbos and five Coloured Crystals. The Coloured Crystals open the Crystal Door at the end of the stage which contains the sixth Gobbo.

Boss Stages

A boss stage comes after every set of three levels. Boss stages contain no Gobbos or Coloured Crystals. However, each stage does contain the standard crystals, of which there are always 50.

Secret Stages

After each set of three standard stages and the boss stage the player can access a secret stage if they have rescued all 6 Gobbos on the preceding three standard stages. These contain standard crystals and a Jigsaw piece at the end.

Secret Island

If the player collects all eight jigsaw pieces in the game they gain access to the Secret Island, which consists of five levels. This island contains four stages and a final boss.

The four stages are themed in-order of the original standard island themes and consist of parts of the stages from those islands put together as a new stage. They contain more enemies than before and are more difficult. There are no Gobbos or Colored Crystals to collect and the only aim is to make it to the end of each stage.

Worlds
There are five islands (worlds) in Croc Legend of the Gobbos
 * Volcano Island
 * Ice Island
 * Desert Island
 * Baron Dante's Castle
 * Crystal Island

Characters

 * Croc, the protagonist and playable character. A single toothed, vegetarian crocodile raised by the Gobbos.
 * King Rufus, the ruler of the Gobbos. Indistinguishable from others bar the golden crown he wears.
 * Baron Dante, the primary antagonist, a large reptilian creature dressed in armor and a cape.
 * Beany Bird, Croc's method of transport throughout the islands and main teammate.
 * The Gobbos, cute, fuzzy orange-brown creatures. They are a peaceful race who raised Croc.
 * The Dantinis, Baron Dante's underlings. They appear in many different forms and colours.

Bosses

 * The Feeble, a duck transformed by Baron Dante.
 * Flibby, a giant boxing ladybug.
 * Chumly, a dantini given a rocket pack which frequently malfunctions.
 * Demon Itsy, a group of mountain goats combined to form a strange monster.
 * Neptuna, a fish transformed into a merman with a trident.
 * Cactus Jack, a giant sentient walking cactus who shoots spikes.
 * Fosley, transformed from a pink child with a balloon to a huge monster who throws dynamite.
 * Baron Dante, the game's final boss and main antagonist. He transformed the rest of the Bosses. This boss has three phases.
 * The Crystal Boss (or The Secret Sentinel), Baron Dante's spirit trapped in a Crystalline form. (Rumored, but not much is known about what the Secret Sentinel actually is, apart from resembling Baron Dante in shape.)

Reception
Croc was a bestseller in the UK for 2 months. The game generally received mixed to positive reviews upon release. Praise went to the game's graphics, unique gameplay and music while the game was criticized for its camera angles and repetition and currently holds 5.8/10 on GameSpot.

Sequels and Spin-offs
A sequel, Croc 2, was released in 1999 as well as three (now taken down) mobile phone games, Croc Mobile: Jungle Rumble, Croc Mobile: Volcanic Panic! and Croc Mobile Pinball.

A third installment to the series was being developed for the PS2, Xbox and Gamecube, under the title of Croc 3: Stone of the Gobbos. The game would have been a direct sequel to the events of Croc 2, and would feature 2 player on all 3 platforms. In this game, Croc was to yet again, be faced with stopping Baron Dante and saving the Gobbos. However this time Dante has a spell that is not able to be stopped unless Croc finds the Sacred “Stone of the Gobbos”

After Argonaut Software went defunct in 2004, the rights to the Croc series were bought by Zenimax Media, who later canceled Croc 3 in 2005 due to development troubles, and no Croc related media has been developed since.