Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck
Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck is a slapstick side-scrolling platform game developed by Core Design in 1993 for the Amiga, CD32, Game Gear, Sega CD, Master System, and Mega Drive/Genesis.
Plot
The story takes up a little while after the end of the first game. After Chuck Rock rescued his wife, Ophelia Rock, from the T-Rex bully Gary Gritter, Chuck and Ophelia had a son, named Chuck Junior. Chuck senior works in a factory, where he develops great skill at carving automobiles out of stone. A rival manufacturer, named Brick Jagger becomes jealous of Chuck's abilities and kidnaps him, leaving it up to Junior to rescue his father.Gameplay
The gameplay is similar to the first game, but with some minor differences since the player controls Junior, rather than Chuck. This is a side-scrolling platform game with occasional rock-moving puzzles thrown in. Unlike Chuck, Junior carries a club that gives his attacks further reach.Development
During the development of the first Chuck Rock game, designer Robert Churchill saw the title of the film Son of Godzilla before the first game was completed, which inspired the idea for a potential sequel, Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck. Following the success of the first Chuck Rock game, the developers at Core Design began planning the sequel. They were inspired by their enjoyment developing the first game, and had many leftover ideas not included in it to repurpose for the sequel. Churchill told graphics artist Lee Pullen about the idea of Chuck having a son, so Pullen created the new character, Chuck Junior, whom the developers immediately fell in love with. Wanting to try something different for Chuck Rock II, they changed the game's protagonist, using Junior instead of Chuck. Churchill stated that this decision allowed them to experiment with more gameplay techniques.The game was programmed by Daniel Scott and Barry Irvine and produced by Jeremy Heath-Smith, with graphics by Pullen and Richard Morton. According to Scott, the Sega CD version of Chuck Rock II was based on the same engine as another Core Design game, Wonder Dog. He then started work on the Amiga version of Chuck Rock II, after which the developers decided to convert Wonder Dog to the console as well. The game was distributed in Germany by Bomico and in Italy by Leader. Chris Long programmed the Sega Genesis and Sega CD versions, while Ian Sabine programmed the Master System and Game Gear versions. The opening and ending cutscenes in the Sega CD version were animated by Mark Mason at Tony Garth Animation Ltd. and programmed by Mac Avory and Sean Dunlevy, with Billy Allison scanning the traditional animation and colouring it, alongside Jim Bot-Masey, Simon Phipps, Stuart Atkinson, and Adrian Mannion. The opening cutscene would also be used in the CD32 version.
The game uses an acid jazz soundtrack, composed by Martin Iveson. The end credits thank various contemporary acid jazz bands, presumably listing them as influences. The in-game boss "Ozrics Tentacles" shares a name with psychedelic rock band Ozric Tentacles. The music and sound effects in the Master System, Sega Genesis and Game Gear versions were composed and designed by Matt Furniss at Krisalis Software Ltd. Nathan McCree co-composed the soundtrack with Iveson for the Sega CD version.