Plok

Plok! is a side-scrolling platform game developed by British studio Software Creations and its concepts and characters created and owned by Ste and John Pickford; it was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) in late 1993 by Tradewest in North America, Nintendo in Europe, and Activision in Japan. Players portray the hood-headed titular protagonist, the king of the island Akrillic who is protecting it from fleas spawned by the Flea Queen, who is under the island's ground, as well as other bosses trying to overthrow Plok's power. His versatility lies in his four separable limbs, which can be used to shoot at targets and enemies (although later segments require some being temporarily sacrificed), and several power-ups scattered throughout its colorful stages as 'presents.'

Plok! has two difficulty modes: 'Normal' which is the entire game, and 'Child's Play' which omits the harder stages and decreases the speed and hit points of enemies. 'Plokontinues' are earned if four P-L-O-K tokens are collected, and a token is garnered if a level is finished without dying; if a Game Over occurs, the player will restart with a 0 score, three lives, and at the place the Plokontinue was received. Saving is limited to two 'Permanent Continue Positions' after the completion of Bobbins Brothers and Rockyfella boss fights which the player can go back to every time the game is reset, and there is no password feature.

Plok can launch any of his four limbs (two arms and two legs) at will to damage enemies as projectiles from his arms and feet. While a limb instantly returns to Plok's body if it hits an enemy, it takes longer if it does not collide with anything. Limbs can also fire through certain barriers like rock pillars. The only limitation is that he cannot shoot limbs while doing a somersault. In later levels, some puzzles involve having to 'sacrifice' one of Plok's limbs to activate scenery-changing targets. Once a limb hits a switch, it is placed on a hanger that's usually next to the target; some targets also require certain limbs. Once Plok is limbless, he moves by bouncing and becomes harder to control.

Plok's secondary attack takes the form of 'Speed Blade,' a buzzsaw-like jump that not only gives him increased speed as items, but also dispatches enemies at the highest damage. Plok can pick up shells, which award extra lives and serve as ammunition for a special amulet received partway through the game. The amulet converts shells into power for Plok's secondary attack. There are also 'Magic Fruits' that can heal Plok's health; the more he punches a fruit, the bigger it gets and more health he receives. Less frequent are bigger 'Golden Fruits' that increase Plok's energy to its fullest. In some levels, some fruits can either send Plok to a timed bonus stage where he must reach a goal, or a strange room where he must collect all the shells to progress. Completing these will have Plok warp to the next level - some of them can possibly skip boss fights.

'Presents' temporarily upgrades Plok into a character from his favourite movies, such as 'Plocky' which equips him with boxing gloves, 'Vigilante Plok' which makes him a flamethrower-equipped character a la the 'Ploxterminator,' the Deerstalker-wearing 'Squire Plok' equipped with a blunderbuss, a gun-slinging 'Cowboy Plok' based on westerns, and 'Rocket Plok' where is equipped with multiple rocket launchers. Presents in the Fleapit yield high-tech, futuristic vehicles with weapons, such as a unicycle with a water canon, an 'off-road truck' with rocket launcher, jetpack with lasers, motorbike with grenades, tank, bomb-dropping helicopter, Flying saucer with plasma cannons, and a pair of spring pogo shoes.

The player encounters a number of different enemies, such as the aforementioned fleas. For fleas, in order for the player to complete the level, Plok must destroy every single one them in every level (with the exceptions of Cotton Island, Legacy Island, and Fleapit), where the last one drops a flag which levitates to its flag pole and allows the player to progress.