Claymates

Claymates is a platform game for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). It is one of Interplay's clay animation titles which also included the ClayFighter series.

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Claymates
North American cover art
Developer(s)Visual Concepts
Publisher(s)Interplay Productions Ocean Software
Producer(s)Michael Quarles
Designer(s)Gregory A. Thomas
Programmer(s)Brian Greenstone
Artist(s)Colin Silverman
Composer(s)Brian Luzietti
Charles Deenen
Platform(s)Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Release
  • PAL: November 20, 1993
  • NA: April 26, 1994
Genre(s)Platform game
Mode(s)Single-player

Overview
Gameplay screenshot.

The protagonist of the game is a boy named Clayton, whose scientist father has developed a serum that can transform people into animals when it's combined with clay. Suddenly, Jobo the witch doctor appears and demands the formula for the serum. The father refuses, to which Jobo replies by changing Clayton into a ball of clay and stealing away both his father and the serum. Clayton vows to save his father in spite of his new form and embarks on a journey through his backyard, the Pacific, Japan, Africa, and finally outer space. The player uses samples of serum lying around in these levels to transform into one of five different animals (Muckster the Cat, Doh-Doh the Duck, Oozy the Mouse, Goopy the Guppy, and Globmeister the Gopher) to best fit with the environment and make it to the end of the level. Special abilities that are in a clay ball transform Clayton into helpful animals as he races the clock to collect as much as possible and still make it to the end, jumping over obstacles and attacking with the animal in use. Clayton must also be careful not to be hit while a blob or he'll die.

Development and release

Claymates was developed by Visual Concepts and published by Interplay Productions. Interplay entered into a distribution contract with clay animation studio Cineplay Interactive, a subsidiary of Will Vinton Productions which also included the fighting game ClayFighter and the chess game Battle Chess 4000. Claymates was produced by Interplay veteran Michael Quarles, designed by Gregory A. Thomas of Visual Concepts, and animated by A-OK Animation, the last of which was responsible for mascots such as Gumby and the Pillsbury Doughboy. Thomas conceived Claymates under the working title "Animal Connection" for the Nintendo Entertainment System before production moved to the SNES. Quarles stated the game's clay characters were made in an attempt "to have the consistency of something like Flintstones in character and story" while Thomas claimed was designed to have "the speed of Sonic, the maps of Mario, and colors that have never been done before".[1] For the game's audio, Interplay employed the Advanced Real-time Dynamic Interplay (ARDI) Sound System. This proprietary MIDI tool allowed composers to play music and sound effects directly from SNES ROM files to save on memory by only occupying 18 kilobytes of space.[2]

Characters from Claymates would also appear in the pre-fight introductions of ClayFighter, which was released around the same time.[3] The line "Blaze Processing" featured on the box art and in the manual[4] of Claymates is a reference to Sega's claims of "Blast Processing" in some its US Sega Genesis advertisements.[5] A Genesis version of Claymates was planned but never released.[6] In July 2021, Claymates was added to the Nintendo Switch Online classic games service.[7]

Reception

Claymates received mostly positive reviews.

Notes
  1. In Electronic Gaming Monthly's review, three critics scored Claymates 7/10, one 6/10, another 8/10.[10]
  2. GamePro scored Claymates 4/5 three times for sound, control, and fun factor, and 4.5/5 for graphics.[11]
  3. Nintendo Power scored Claymates 3.5/5 three times for play control, challenge, and theme/fun, and 3.6/5 for graphics/sound.[14]

References
  1. Ceccola, Russ (March 1993). "A Hundred Pounds of Clay". Electronic Games. Vol. 1, no. 6. Decker Publications, Inc. pp. 36–7. ISSN 0730-6687. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  2. Worley, Joyce and Chamberlain, Ross (January 1994). "EG Hotline: Sound System Improves SNES". Electronic Games. Vol. 2, no. 4. Decker Publications, Inc. p. 13. ISSN 0730-6687. Retrieved March 27, 2022.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  3. Jasper, Gavin (July 11, 2016). "ClayFighter: The Muddy Fighting Game Series of the 90s". Den of Geek. DoG Tech LLC. Archived from the original on May 14, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  4. Interplay staff (April 26, 1994). Claymates Instruction Manual. Interplay Productions. p. 5. SNS-Y5-USA.
  5. Carter, Chris (July 21, 2021). "Claymates SNES is on Switch now and y'all need to try it". Destructoid. Enthusiast Gaming. Archived from the original on October 11, 2021. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  6. "News: Interplay Announce New Sega Titles". Sega Power. No. 50. Future Publishing. January 1994. p. 6.
  7. Hardawar, Devindra (July 21, 2021). "Nintendo's next SNES Switch Online games include Claymates and Jelly Boy". Engadget. Yahoo. Archived from the original on July 21, 2021. Retrieved September 11, 2021.
  8. Weiss, Brett Alan. "Claymates". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 16, 2014. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  9. Rand, Paul (November 1993). "Claymates". Computer and Video Games. No. 144. p. 89. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  10. Semrad, Ed; Carpenter, Danyon; Manuel, Al; Sushi-X; Weigand, Mike (March 1994). "Review Crew". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Vol. 7, no. 3. pp. 30–42. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  11. Music, Boss (February 1994). "Claymates". GamePro. No. 55. pp. 110–111. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  12. Fish, Eliot (August 1994). "Claymates". Hyper. No. 9. pp. 42–43. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  13. Philipp; Markus (June 1994). "Claymates". Mega Fun. p. 36. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  14. "Now Playing". Nintendo Power. Vol. 56. January 1994. pp. 102–107. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  15. Andy; Steve (October 1993). "Claymates". Nintendo Magazine System. No. 13. pp. 84–85. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  16. Nicholson, Zy (October 1993). "Claymates". Super Play. No. 12. pp. 50–51. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  17. "Claymates". Video Games. June 1994. p. 105. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  18. Ceccola, Russ (January 1994). "Claymates". Electronic Games. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  19. "Claymates". Nintendo Acción. No. 21. August 1994. pp. 42–43. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  20. Paul; Allie; Andy (April 1994). "Claymates". Super Control. No. 11. pp. 22–25. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  21. Keith; Andy; Ryan (May 1994). "Claymates". Super Gamer. No. 2. pp. 62–63. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
  22. Butt, Ryan (October 1993). "Claymates". Super Pro. No. 11. pp. 92–94. Retrieved March 26, 2021.
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