Riding rhinos before the Kongs made it awesome.
"I'm awesome!"
Awesome Possum... Kicks Dr. Machino's Butt is a 1993 platformer by Tengen for the Sega Genesis. You play as the titular possum, fighting against Dr. Machino and his robot army as they despoil the environment. Its main selling point was having a character with a plethora of digitized voice samples, something thought largely impossible in a cartridge title at a time.
This game was created during the Mascot with Attitude boom following Sonic the Hedgehog.
This work contains examples of:
- All There in the Manual: Exactly how Awesome came to be fighting against Machino, as well as how he first came to meet Killer Bee and Rad Rhino, is only revealed in the Comic-Book Adaptation which came with the game's manual.
- Badbutt: As with most Mascot with Attitude era protagonists, though he takes it up a few notches.
- Barefoot Cartoon Animal: Awesome wears a shirt and pants, but no shoes.
- Big Bad: Dr. Machino is the evil man who leads a robot army that trashes the environment. It's Awesome's job to kick his butt.
- Big "NO!": Awesome's Death Cry Echo, except when he loses his final life.
- Boss Rush: Awesome Possum refaces all the past bosses in the last round before Dr. Machino.
- Captain Ersatz: Awesome and Dr. Machino are clearly based off of Sonic the Hedgehog and Dr. Robotnik. Awesome's main attack is outright copied from Sonic's own spin attack.
- Comic-Book Adaptation: The manual came with a short comic retelling the events in the game.
- Down in the Dumps: "Dr. Machino's Domain" and "The Fortress of Garbage" an actual landfill complete with the additional dark skies, menacing mechas and jefferies tubes.
- Ecocidal Antagonist: Dr. Machino is the main Big Bad who actively seeks to destroy the environment, and is the ruler of the polluting robots.
- Excuse Plot: Dr. Machino is polluting the environment! Go through levels and stop him!
- Expressive Health Bar: Awesome's expression sours as he loses health until he eventually puts on a comedic "dead" expression, complete with cross-shaped eyes and his tongue hanging out.
- Fishbowl Helmet: Awesome gets one of these to navigate the Sea Caves levels (which all take place entirely underwater), giving him unlimited air for the whole of them.
- Goomba Stomp: Despite having a rolling move like Sonic, this is Awesome's method of attack; though you have to hit enemies almost precisely up top to use it without getting hurt yourself.
- Green Aesop: Dr. Machino is destroying the environment and you have to stop him. Not just the storyline, either. Every level ends with a quiz about the environment. You even collect recyclables instead of coins or rings.
- Idle Animation: When left alone, Awesome will get impatient, ask to keep moving, and occasionally juggle.
- Informed Attribute: If you haven't gotten it yet, Awesome Possum will frequently remind you that he is very "awesome".
- Informed Species: Possums are grey, not brown, and they certainly don't have furry striped tails. The titular "Possum" looks far more like a raccoon. Of course, it's also possible he's an Australian possum, some of which are brown with furry tails.
- It's a Wonderful Failure: Running out of lives gives you the macabre sight of Awesome's grave in a garbage dump, with the environment rotting all around it.
- Jungle Japes: The first level takes place in the Amazon Rainforest, where deforestation is taking place.
- Law of 50: Pick up enough pieces of trash and Awesome picks up an extra life. As a nice bonus, it also tops up his health.
- Literal Ass-Kicking: As part of the ending, while a chorus sings the game's title, just like it does when the game starts up. All this happens while Awesome literally does kick him in the rear.
- Literally Shattered Lives: One of the animations that can play when Awesome dies is him shattering and a tombstone popping up over his remains.
- Mascot with Attitude: Awesome Possum plays this as straight as an arrow, from his appearance, attitude, and his own name.
- Mecha-Mooks: Dr. Machino's robotic minions.
- Mechanical Animals: Some of the robots that Machino sends out resemble real-world animals, such as mechanical sharks and eels.
- Ow, My Body Part!: Awesome may occasionally say "Ow! My tail-end!" when hit. He'll also yell "Ow! My head!" whenever he slams up against a wall.
- Pop Quiz: Every round ends with a bonus question about the environment, which will reward the player with bonus points if answered correctly.
- Power-Up Letdown: The speed boost. Considering how touchy the controls are, all the speed boost does is send Awesome Possum careening into either a bottomless pit or an enemy.
- Power-Up Mount: Assorted animals, such as the Rhino (which is prominently featured on the game cover) and the Giant Bee, allow Awesome to ride them, which lets him get through stages more quickly and mow down enemies more effectively.
- Rushmore Refacement: Awesome Possum is added to Mt. Rushmore in the ending for his good deeds.
- Slippy-Slidey Ice World: The third level takes place on the oil rigs of Antarctica.
- Spikes of Doom: They look different in each level (thorns for the Rain Forest, icicles for the Arctic, etc.), but these are a recurring threat in most levels. With the slippery controls, you will end up in them a lot.
- That's All, Folks!: If Awesome loses his last life, he'll shout "Game over, man!"
- The Many Deaths of You: Awesome has several death animations, including:
- Shattering apart, with or without a tombstone popping up among his remains.
- Rigidly falling unconscious on his back.
- Rotting into a skeleton (this was also the only animation that played in the beta).
- Title Scream: A digitized "Awe-SOME Possum, kicks DOC-TOR MA-CHI-NO'S BUTT!" "I'm Awesome!".
- Totally Radical: Perhaps the most extreme case done in total sincerity. He even shouts "Attitude!" out of context, appropos of nothing.
- Under the Sea: The Sea Caves, which gives Awesome a matching Fishbowl Helmet so that he can swim underwater indefinitely.
- Virtuous Bees: One of the characters assisting Awesome in his attempt to save the environment is a giant bee called "Killer Bee".
- Wingding Eyes: Awesome's eyes in his Expressive Health Bar turn into the classic "dead" Xs whenever he runs out of health, slumping over with his tongue hanging out as well for extra comedic effect.
