Mick & Mack - Global Gladiators

Mick & Mack - Global Gladiators was released on the Genesis in late 1992, but a SNES version never materialized despite the fact it was worked on. By: Evan G Last updated: February 23, 2017

Mick & Mack was a McDonald's licensed game developed by David Perry at Virgin Games. It appeared on various Sega systems and the Amiga, though they cancelled the SNES version. It is a platform shooter game with an environmental theme. The game was shown at the Winter 1993 CES, apparently after the Genesis version was already out. If I were to venture a guess, it was not completed because it would have come out too long after the Genesis verison, and possibly too close to the release of Cool Spot. The in-game copyright screen says 1993, so it was almost certainly in development after the Genesis version was already release.

A prototype ROM image of this game shows that it was at a late alpha or beta state. It was released by a BBS group known as Sabotage. They hacked the initial splash screen, which includes a level select function. The original file name from my BBS archive states that it has a trainer, but I believe that the level select was a feature of the original binary, as it is not possible to beat the levels. The ROM image that has been floating around in ROM sets has actually been hacked to remove the phone number from the initial screen, but whoever did that also failed to remove the name of the scene release group.

Original scene release with BBS phone number	Hacked version that is now distributed

When you first load the game, there is a bunch of debug stuff, which allows you to choose various levels. The levels seem to be pretty much complete, but there isn't really much you can do. Most enemies are static and do not harm your character. You can use the L button to float around the levels, which is very necessary since pits do not kill you. Pressing the R button skips you to the bonus stages for each level. Pressing start will take you back to the level select menu, which is required because you can't actually exit the levels normally. Visually, it doesn't look all that different from the Genesis game.

Preview in the April 1993 (page 129) issue of Gamepro, with the title "Super Global Gladiators"

Mention in Nintendo Power's report on the 1993 Winter CES (March 1993, page 112)

Slime World intro	The Slime World

By pressing the R button sends you to the rather incomplete bonus stages	Forest Stage

Forest Stage	Toxitown Stage

Bonus Stage - not much to do here since you can't exit

Download the ROM image here

Bibliography

• Nintendo Power, Pak Watch, Publication date: March 1993, Volume: 46, Pages: 113
• Gamepro, Special Feature Winter CES , Publication date: April 1993, Volume: 45, Pages: 126
• Wikipedia info on Global Gladiators (link)