Zool also known as Zool: Ninja of the Nth Dimension is a video game originally produced for the Amiga by Gremlin Graphics in 1992.

Zool was intended as a rival to Sega's Sonic the Hedgehog. It was heavily hyped upon its initial release, including being bundled with the newly launched Amiga 1200, although not the AGA version with enhanced graphics which followed later. In 2000 the game was re-released as part of The Best of Gremlin compilation.

Plot

Zool is a gremlin "Ninja of the Nth Dimension" who is forced to land on Earth. In order to gain ninja ranking he has to pass seven lands.

Gameplay

The game is a pure platform game, relying on smooth, fast moving gameplay, colorful graphics and a soundtrack by Patrick Phelan which overlaps with the Lotus 3 soundtrack and inspired several modern electro/techno remixes. The game also contains a number of embedded minigames, including several arcade games, a scrolling space shooter and a game accessible only by making Zool play a certain tune on an in-game piano or finding certain invisible warp points.

Development

George Allen came with the idea of Zool as he was criticized on his previous game Switchblade II for having a lack of enemies. In development, Zool could cast spells to get him out of trouble by collecting potions. For example, Zool could escape from pits with high jump spells and cast a shadow spell to make a clone of him that follows his actions (thus doubling the fire power). In the final version, the spells were replaced with collectible powerups. The very early name for the project was Pootz. Many reviewers assumed that Zool was an ant, although this was refuted in a press release.

Zool was also ported to the Atari ST, Game Boy, Sega Mega Drive, SNES, Master System, Sega Game Gear, Amiga CD32, PC, Acorn Archimedes, and RISC OS platform, as well as for the arcade machines.

Most PC ports are close to the Amiga original but the Mega Drive and Super Nintendo port are very different with different levels which are smaller likely due to shortage of RAM, different graphics and bosses. The SNES port is very buggy with a low horizontal resolution, which makes it easier to run into enemies and being overall a slower game.

Reception

Review scores
Publication Score
Amiga Computing 97%
Amiga Format 95%
CU Amiga 91%
Amiga Power 90%
Super Play 65%

Reviews for the Amiga version of the game were mostly very positive. However, some criticism was aimed at the blatant and pervasive product placement in the game for lollipop company Chupa Chups, in the first three levels (the "Sweet Zone"). Another common criticism of the game was that it was excessively difficult; some contemporary reviewers complained of not being able to get further than the "Music Zone", the second of six worlds. Reviews for other platforms were more mixed.

Virgin Media included Zool on the list of top ten video game ninja heroes.

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