It was made a pack-in title on some later-model North American Sega CD consoles and later received a 3DO release by Hasbro and Virgin Interactive in 1994.Set in a not-too-distant post-apocalyptic future, where most of humanity has been forced to live underground, Sewer Shark has players piloting an exterminator-class "Sewer Shark" (known as the "Hole Hawg") as they scour the underground tunnels beneath the above-ground paradise of Solar City as a "sewer jockey" to exterminate a variety of mutated creatures, aided by copilot Ghost and robot scout Catfish. The plot quickly takes a turn when they follow fellow jockey Falco into a restricted zone, and find the true nature of the city's commissioner Stenchler (played by Robert Costanzo).The game makes use of repeating full-motion video sequences for navigating the tunnel, with players both using their targeting crosshair both to shoot various enemies for score and to correctly navigate the tunnels (by making proper "Tube Jumps" at junctions, the path of which is signaled ahead-of-time).Like Night Trap, the video sequences were originally filmed in 1987 for the unreleased VHS-based game system "NEMO". GameplayAs a rail shooter, the player does not take direct control of the ship, but that of the targeting crosshair in order to shoot the various species as they appear. The player does, however, have limited control of the ship during specific navigation spots. While the directions are always different, there is only one specific route to through the sewer for each time the game is played, as specified by Catfish. Occasionally, Catfish will give the player a series of directions (3, 6, 9 or 12) which must be followed or the game will end. When approaching one of the navigation spots, the player must hold down the A button and press the appropriate direction.Energy & H2In addition to following the path, players have to refill their depleting Energy counter by entering Recharge Stations at certain points throughout the tunnel. The lights at the top of the tunnel show which of the two entrances are active (left or right), and choosing the wrong one (or skipping it) ignores the recharge.In later levels, players also have to tend to a Hydrogen gauge which rises over time, requiring players to shoot a special target in order to stabilize.StorySet in the not-too-distant future, humanity has been forced to live in their underground infrastructures for unspecified reasons. Here, bands of "Sewer Jockies" group together and, with the use of their armed ships, scour the tunnel systems in order to exterminate the mutated creatures that inhabit the sewers to prevent them from contaminating the above-ground resort area of Solar City.The player assumes the role of a rookie pilot and is joined by a veteran co-pilot, Ghost, who proceeds to berate the player for the majority of the game, and his robot scout, Catfish, who provides the player with valuable information. Throughout the game, the player receives transmissions from the owner of Solar City, Commissioner Stenchler, who will allow the player into his resort should they kill one million pounds worth of creatures.Meanwhile, a fellow jockey by the name of Falco rides into unsanctioned territory following what she describes as a "crazy looking thing," thinking it will lead her on a secret path to Solar City. Later, this creature provides the route for players as opposed to receiving this information from Catfish.DevelopmentOriginally filmed and created in 1987, Sewer Shark was one of a few games, including eventual Sega CD hit Night Trap, developed for an interactive video system called Nemo, created by Tom Zito for Hasbro. When Hasbro canceled the Nemo project, Zito purchased the rights for Night Trap and Sewer Shark back from Hasbro with the hope that they would one day see release.Years later, Sony would be developing a CD-based add-on for Super Nintendo, dubbed PlayStation. In search of pre-existing FMV-based games to port to the new system, members of Sony discovered Sewer Shark and wished to license it for the Nintendo PlayStation. In response, Tom Zito founded Digital Pictures and worked to port Sewer Shark and Night Trap to the Nintendo add-on, as well as develop all-new FMV-based games.When Sony's development deal for the Super Nintendo add-on fell apart, Sony struck up a partnership with Sega to release the games for the upcoming Sega Genesis CD add-on, Sega CD, instead. Tom Zito would later express minor disappointment with the change, as the Sega Genesis's limitation of only showing 64 colors on screen at one time severely degraded the video quality over the Super Nintendo, which was capable of displaying up to 256 colors on screen at once.
