Last week I decided to dust off my Genesis and get into some 16-bit fun. After playing through Altered Beast and texting a friend, "Why did I ever think this was so awesome?" I decided to try out Boogerman, a game I never played for either platform when it was released. I knew of the game, I remember the box art vividly and the look of the hero, but that was the sum total of my experience with the game. I kind of had an idea of what to expect, but nothing could've prepared me for what was a game that could've only existed in the 90's.

Upon bootup I see that it's an Interplay game, so far so good. In my youth I spent a lot of time on Clayfighter and Earthworm Jim on SNES and Descent on the PSX. I watched the intro and the game began. The first thing I noticed was how great the animation was (though maybe it seemed better as I had just played Altered Beast) and the overall attention to detail with even background pieces being animated. Even in 2012 I still think the game looks great. The next thing I noticed was Boogerman saying "cool!" and "rad!" after every acquisition of a powerup. Oh how I miss the 90's! Once I realized the attacks were boogers and farts I started to think the game was just a cheesy gross out game that wouldn't have any substance, but I played on and found what was surprisingly a pretty darn good game.

You can either just blow right through the stages, or attempt to collect enough plungers to get the 1UP at the end of the level. This is where I think a lot of replay value is added since there are multiple paths throughout each level. If you're looking to gather all the plungers on a given level you'll have to cover the level from top to bottom, often doubling back to cover other areas. There are also bonus zones similar to SMB where you'll find more plungers or powerups. From what I've played so far there don't appear to be any tricky jumps or anything remotely resembling puzzle solving about the game, you just advance from the left to the right. There are some powerups hidden in areas you can't see, or in places that need to be accessed by farting to destroy an obstacle. I can't believe I just typed that. The bosses are true retro style where they are frustrating and seem impossible until you spend enough time to figure out their patten and weak spot.

The downfalls to the game are pretty few and far between. The first problem I have with the game is the sometimes very poor collision detection. Considering how few hits our booger flicking hero can sustain, it's frustrating to take a hit that is a result of bad collision detection. Similar to that, there also seems to be a problem when you stomp on an enemy, if another enemy is nearby, you will land and take a hit. It seems impossible to be able to jump multiple enemies as you would multiple goombas in SMB for example. Lastly, you will occasionally run into enemies that are hidden by foreground scenery.

Considering that I've spent quite a lot of time on this game instead of playing it for 10 minutes, saying "this is crap" and turning the game off, I'd say this is a quite above average platformer. I'm not sure if I'd put it in the category of an underappreciated or undiscovered gem, but it's certainly an enjoyable game and worth a play for any retro gamer. Sorry to any Genesis fans, but I'm anxious to check out the SNES version and see how much better the graphics are compared to the Genesis release.

That's my opinion as a first timer playing the game in 2012 without nostalgia fogging up my vision. I'd be interested to see what others think of the game, whether you had it in 1994 or have picked it up recently.