Plok!

Plok! is a 1993 platform game developed by Software Creations and published by Nintendo for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The player controls the hood-headed titular protagonist, the king of the island Akrillic, who is defending it from fleas spawned by the Flea Queen, hidden beneath the island's surface, as well as other bosses attempting to usurp Plok's power. Plok's versatility lies in his four detachable limbs, which can be used to attack targets and enemies, along with various power-ups scattered throughout the game's colorful stages, referred to as "presents". The history of Plok! began in the late 1980s as a self-funded coin-op project by Ste and John Pickford called Fleapit. They developed it while working at Zippo Games and programmed it for Rare's 'Razz Board' hardware. The project was canceled in 1990 following the closure of Zippo Games, but was later revived as an SNES game developed at Software Creations after the Pickfords were promoted to higher positions, with Ste becoming an art director and John a producer. Software Creations self-funded the game, with the Pickfords retaining ownership of its intellectual property rights. A port for the Mega Drive was planned, but was canceled for unknown reasons. Plok! received positive reviews from critics, who praised its innovative ideas, variety, music, presentation, versatile protagonist, and level design. However, some noted skepticism about its similarity to other colorful platform games of the era. The Pickfords attributed the game's underwhelming sales to the market saturation of mascot-driven platformers.