Croc: Legend of the Gobbos

Overview

Croc: Legend of the Gobbos (known in Japan as Croc! Pau-Pau Island) is a 3D third-person platformer developed by Argonaut and published by Fox for the Sony PlayStation in North America (on September 29, 1997), in Europe (on October 1997), and in Japan (published by MediaQuest on December 18, 1997).

Originally planned as a Nintendo platformer featuring Yoshi, players control a green crocodile named Croc, who must travel across the islands of Gobbo Valley to rescue furry little creatures called Gobbos from the evil Baron Dante (and his minions, the demonic Dantinis).

The game was later released for the Sega Saturn in late 1997 (March 1998 in Japan) alongside a NA-exclusive PC version. A handheld version was later developed by Virtucraft for the Game Boy Color, released by THQ on June 6, 2000 as Croc. The original game would receive a direct sequel in June 1999, along with three mobile games by Morpheme throughout the mid-2000s.

Gameplay

There are four islands and one secret island in the game. In each of the four main islands there are six levels, in which Croc has to collect six Gobbos and five Colored Crystals. The Colored Crystals open the Crystal Door at the end of each normal level which contain the sixth Gobbo required. This is usually the hardest part of the level.

Each also contains two Boss Levels, in which Croc collects crystals instead of Gobbos and fights a boss at the end of the level. If all six Gobbos are collected in each set of three levels, and the boss is defeated, two secret levels are unlocked in which Croc has to find jigsaw pieces. Collecting all eight jigsaw pieces in each secret level grants access to the secret island.