Croc: Legend of the Gobbos

This is the game that started it all. 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. In Japan, this game can be found as: "Croc: Pau Pau Island!"

The game employs the use of a stunning 3-D environment and the scenery in the game is amazing, intriging, and calming all at once. The game itself is beautiful, and the music at times can be haunting, calming, and lovely. A must-play for any Croc fan out there.

Plot
The Gobbo King Rufus was watching the sunset when he noticed a small basket in the lake, containing a small, screaming baby crocodile. The Gobbos begin to raise him and train him to become one of their own. Croc mostly ate buckets of peas when raised by the Gobbos. Croc eventually grew to twice the size of a normal Gobbo. All is peaceful until one day, a Gobbo shouts out a warning... " Dantinis!". Suddenly, the evil Baron Dante arrives and invades Gobbo Island with the help of his demon rascals, Dantinis. He imprisons many of the Gobbos, most notably their King, whom he keeps in a steel cage within his castle island. Before the Gobbo King is taken, he hits a magical gong that summons a yellow bird called Beany. Beany, in turn, causes Croc to shrink and he whisks Croc away to safety. Croc then goes on a quest to free all the Gobbos and defeat the evil Baron Dante himself. He travels through 4 islands in this order, woodland / forest, ice, desert and Baron Dante's castle island, along the way he encounters many enemies such as Dantinis of different types, worms, bees, rats, dogs, fish, sharks, crabs, mummies, a yellow creature chained in a dungeon and many more. Also along the way Dante transforms many island creatures into bosses to stop Croc which Croc must defeat to turn them back and carry on. Eventually Croc encounters Dante at the top of his castle and fights him, Croc succeeeds and Dante shrinks and vanishes and he saves Rufus. Back at the forest island in honour of Croc, Rufus and the gobbos build and put up a statue in honour of Croc. Soon after Croc collects all the jigsaw pieces and assembles them together to form a fifth island known as 'Crystal Island' which is made up of 4 sections similar to the 4 islands. Finally Croc encounters the 'Secret Sentinal' which is a crystal form of Dante created by the form of the island, Croc defeats the sentinal and peace is restored.

Gameplay
There are four accessible islands and one secret island. Each of the four main Islands contain six normal play levels, in which Croc has to collect six Gobbos and five Coloured Crystals. The Coloured Crystals open the Crystal Door at the end of each normal level and contain the sixth gobbo required. This is usually the hardest part of the level.

Each Island also contains two Boss Levels, in which Croc does not collect any Gobbos, but collect crystals and defeat 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, there are two secret levels in which Croc has to find a jigsaw piece. He has to collect all eight jigsaw pieces in each secret level to gain access to the secret Crystal island.

Items/Interactive Elements
See Items in Croc: Legend of the Gobbos for full list of items.

Switches: Often you will come across Switches on the floor. Jumping on one may make a platform move, or appear. Some Switches reset themselves after a set time.

Monkey Bars: These allow you to swing hand over hand across dangerous parts of a level (such as lava pits, bottomless pits or electrified water). You can swing below them, or if you can jump high enough, run along the top.

Climable Walls: Although you can’t climb up most walls, certain areas have Climbable Walls. Look for ridges and notches on walls to see if you can climb up.

Beany Gong: Hit the Gong at the end of the level, and Beany the Bird will swoop down and whisk you off to the next level of your choosing.

Obstacles
Just like any other platformer game, Croc must overcome certain obstacles to complete his journey.

Dantinis
See Dantinis page for more information.

Bosses
Croc will have to face 8 stage bosses, two on each island. See Bosses for more information.

Reception
Croc: Legend of the Gobbos got mainly positive reviews:


 * Electronic Gaming Monthly - 7.5/10
 * Game Revolution - B
 * Official Playstation Magazine - 4/5
 * IGn - 8/10
 * Aboslute Playstation - 91/100
 * GamePro - 4.5/5

However, Gamespot gave the game a score of 5.8, labelled: 'Mediocre'. They cited that it was "a handsomely sized game" but "just didn't live up to its potential".

Trivia

 * Due to a bug in the game Croc's head was missing in the original UK release on Saturn. There was a yellow piece of paper that was quickly bundled into the games' case explaining to the gamer how to solve the problem.

Gobbo Timeline
Ancient Gobbo Civilisation→ When Croc Appears→ Invasion of Gobbo Valley→ Croc: Legend of the Gobbos→ Croc 2→ Beyond