Croc: Legend of the Gobbos

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (also known as simply Croc, or in Japan "Croc! Pau-Pau Island") is a third-person, 3D platform game developed by Argonaut Software and published by Fox Interactive in 1997. It was created and released for Game Boy Color, PlayStation, Sega Saturn, and Windows.

The game received several positive reviews and sold well, becoming a PlayStation Greatest Hits game. The game soon spawned a sequel, Croc 2 which released in 1999. There were also two Croc games released on mobile phones made by a studio related to Argonaut named Morpheme (the first being a platformer titled Croc Mobile: Jungle Rumble, while the second was a pinball game titled Croc Mobile Pinball). However, the games now no longer exist, due to Morpheme's site no longer being available.

Croc is a free-roaming game title, with Croc's movement differing slightly depending on whether players use the directional pad or the analogue controller to control him. His main moves consist of a tail whip attack that can temporarily destroy enemies, and a butt stomp used for smashing open crates. 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.

Source: Wikipedia, Croc: Legend of the Gobbos , available under the CC-BY-SA License.