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Cool Spot copy protection screen (MS-DOS).png

For the Sega Genesis, SNES, and Sega Master System versions of Virgin Interactive's 1993 platform game Cool Spot, you will first have to connect the console to your television set and switch the television on; you will now have to insert the game's cartridge into the console and switch it on. In the case of the Sega Game Gear and Nintendo Game Boy versions, however, you shall just have to insert the cartridge into the console and switch it on - and in the case of the Commodore Amiga version you shall have to insert the game's disk into the console to make it load automatically. To play the MS-DOS version, you'll have to download it from a site that hosts it (along with DOSBox and Loonies' DOSShell), then set that latter application up to run it (as it shall not run by itself on today's Windows operating systems); however, when you start it you'll be greeted with the copy protection screen seen above, which asks you to type a word from a randomly-generated position in the game's instruction manual (ignoring all headings). For those of you who think you'll be unable to play this version without owning a copy of the manual, you don't actually need it - you just have to type anything and press Enter.

Cool Spot title screen (MS-DOS).png

On every version's title screen (most of them feature Spot surfing across an ocean on a 7UP bottle, but its label was removed in the EU versions), two options are shown ("START GAME" and "OPTIONS") but the MS-DOS one has a third one ("EXIT TO DOS") below them; push the D-Pad, joystick or arrow keys up and down to pick an option, then press Start button (Genesis/SNES/Game Boy), 1 button or 2 button (SMS/Game Gear), the joystick button (Amiga), or Enter (MS-DOS) to confirm it. On every version's options screen, you can choose to play the game on "Easy", "Normal" or "Hard" skill level (which, mentioned on the previous page, affects the amount of Cool Points you need to collect to clear each level and qualify for a bonus level, along with the chance that an enemy will leave a 7UP beaker behind when killed) - and you may also toggle the music and effects on and off. The MS-DOS version, however, has two added options of redefining the keys and switching control to joystick (if one is connected); once you've started the game the "Hero Wanted" poster which informed Spot that his friends had all been imprisoned shall appear (it tells you to find cages and shoot their locks, collect 7UP beakers and 1UPs, avoid spiked balls, follow pointing gloves, and collect Cool Points and 7UP logos). For the EU versions the 7UP logos (which are equal to 7 regular Cool Points) were changed to Cool Points with Virgin's V logo on them - and Spot will now proceed to the first level, "Shell Shock".