Coca Cola Kid (The full title is Sassou Shounen Eiyuuden Coca-Cola Kid or The Dashing Boy Hero Coca-Cola Kid) is a Platform Game developed by Aspect Co. and published by Sega for the Game Gear in 1994. You play as Cokey, the eponymous kid who has to save Ms. Sakurako after she's kidnapped by Mr. Iwayma. Now it's up to Cokey to platform through five zones with three levels each. It plays and feels a lot like Sonic the Hedgehog Chaos but with more acrobatics, as Aspect also developed that game and recycled its engine for this one.
The other Coke games were Catch-a-Coke for arcade, Pepsi Invaders for Atari, Coca‑Cola Zero Sugar Byte and Dreamworld for Browser and a limited edition reskin of Minna no Golf: Portable.
Compare Pepsiman, a game for a product from Coke's rival company, unlike that game, this features original characters.
Not to be confused with the film, The Coca-Cola Kid, from 1985, starring Eric Roberts and Greta Scacchi.
This game provides examples of:
- Abandoned Laboratory: The third level, the ruins, takes place in a seemingly abandoned laboratory.
- Advertisement Game: For Coca Cola. You see the slogan on the title screen, plenty of bottles, and the logo is plastered in the last zone.
- Art Initiates Life: In an ad for the game, a child pours cola on a comic book, causing Cokey and Mr. Iwayma to come to life and battle in the real world.
- Band Land: The final zone takes place at a disco, with plenty of speaker to destroys throughout.
- Beard of Evil: One thing that's consistent with Mr. Iwayma's disguise and true form is his beard, as seen when he kidnaps Ms. Sakurako.
- Boss-Only Level: The third area only consists of some small corridor, occasionally a bit of simple platforming, and a boss.
- Bottomless Pit: Pits are a common hazard starting from the Central Park area.
- Continue Countdown: If Cokey has at least one continue in his inventory when he loses all his lives, the player is sent to the Continue screen, where they are given nine seconds to decide whether or not they want to continue the game. If they player selects "No" or time runs out, then they are sent to the Game Over screen.
- Crate Expectations: There are many crates you can destroy to get coins or power-ups from them.
- Dash Attack: Pressing Down on the D-pad and then the action button allows Cokey to do a dash attack, which can be used to break through many weak walls at a high speed.
- Death Throws: Cokey lifts his arms and straightens his legs upon dying.
- Dominatrix: The last boss is a woman who wears skimpy clothes and uses her whip to fight.
- Epileptic Flashing Lights: Once Mr. Iwayma transforms and kidnaps Ms. Sakurako, the backgrounds switches between primary colors rapidly.
- Eternal Engine: The fourth level takes place in a steel factory.
- Excuse Plot: Your hot teacher was kidnapped by some dude. Go rescue her.
- Fat Bastard: Downtown has some fat enemies who shortly turn into down arrows that fly at you, while Central Park has ones that roll into you.
- First Town: The first level takes place Downtown.
- Graceful Loser: The fourth boss praises the protagonist upon defeat and states he has infinite power.
- Green Hill Zone: The second level takes place in Central Park.
- Hat Damage: The third boss complains that his helmet broke after the battle.
- Heart Container: Collecting 10 coins lets you purchase a health upgrade that lets you start with one more hit point.
- Hit Points: Your hits left are shown with red squares in the top right corner.
- Hot Teacher: Ms. Sakurako is supposed to be Cokey's teacher. She look fairly young and gives him a Marshmallow Hell in the ending.
- Idle Animation: If Cokey doesn't move, he will look around, chew bubblegum, adjust his hat, or drink cola.
- Invincibility Power-Up: A can of Coke turns our hero invincible, which is represented by him flickering and an energetic tune playing in the background.
- Kid Hero: Cokey is the game's protagonist, and his goal is to save Ms. Sakurako from Mr. Iwayma.
- Marshmallow Hell: In the game's ending, Ms. Sakurako smothers Cokey with her chest, until he faints.
- Power-Up Letdown:
- The skateboard lets the hero ride through the enemies quickly, but the stages are not designed for it and it's likely to be lost within a matter of seconds once he bumps into something. No wonder it doesn't show up in the last two zones.
- The purchasable coke disk is a decent ranged weapon on the ground, but trying to use it to fight enemies in the air is a huge hassle compared to the jump kick.
- Score Screen: A screen at the end of each level tallies up points based on completion time and coins.
- Screen Crunch: The handheld's small screen can make watching out for enemies or telling what's below difficult. The Steel Factory is particularly nasty with leaps of faith.
- Sinister Minister: The third boss is some kind of Elizabethan minister who can turn into a turtle or throw his neck ruff/bald cap.
- Temporary Platform: Red and grey platforms drop when Cokey steps on them.
- Timed Mission: Every level has to be beaten under 10 minutes.
- Video Game Sliding: Pressing Down on the D-pad and then the jump button allows Cokey to do a slide move. This move is useful for getting through tight spaces.
- Wall Jump: Cokey can cling to tall walls and jump off them.
- Your Princess Is in Another Castle!: After beating Mr. Iwayma, you're told Ms. Sakurako isn't here and you should look in the park.