Overview
Botha peeing on Gorbi (Amstrad CPC)Spitting Image is Domark's attempt to make a licensed game out of a popular satirical puppet TV series of the same name which aired on the ITV network across the UK and featured puppet caricatures of celebrities prominent during the 1980s and 1990s. The result is a more or less funny fighting game in which the combatants are caricatured world leaders of the late 1980s.
Although nicely packaged and with nicely drawn and animated cartoon-style characters the game lacks in playabilty due to the restrictions of character moves. Programmed by Walking Circles the game was available for most models of popular 8-bit and 16-bit home computers at the time.
Story
The story found in the intro screens and the manual goes like this: "Within the next seven years a world war will take place. A war so great that even the Swiss will get envolved this time. A war so terrible the Italians have already surrendered. One leader will emerge from this war to rule the world. It is your task to stop this leader and SAVE THE WORLD. These are the six challengers for world power...."
Gameplay
Character selection (C64)First thing that is seen after the intro is the character selection screen. Here the world is depicted as a time bomb with the fuse already burning and the animated caricatures of the six leaders are arranged around the screen. There are six playable leaders:
The idea is to destroy the credibility of these six most likely candidates for world domination by getting them to beat each other up. The game starts by picking which two leaders are going to fight it out next and the second leader chosen is the one the player controls. The scene then switches to a background appropriate to the one leader you selected as your opponent and the fight begins. So if Mrs. T (Margaret Thatcher) was chosen as the opponent the fight will end up on Downing Street Number 10.
Sidekicks of Mrs T and Mr & Mr Ayatollah (Atari ST)Fighting moves are controlled by joystick or keyboard and include jumping, ducking, hits to head, hits to body and hits to feet. Every successful hit knocks a chunk off the fighter's energy bar.
Each leader has also his or her own special move and can even call in a sidekick who attacks the opponent with various projectiles, such as condoms and whiskey bottles.
Once a leader has been beaten five times they have lost all credibility and is out of the game. When the player returns to the character selection screen the beaten leader is shown as a skull. Another two leaders are then chosen and the whole process is repeated.
When five of the six leaders have been defeated, the remaining character has to fight the mysterious leader. The lights go out and the player must face the ultimate challenge, mud-wrestling with that mystery opponent.
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