Taz-Mania

Genesis, Game Gear, Master System, SNES1992

  1. JP—
  2. NA1992
  3. EU1992
  4. RU—

Taz-Mania was released under the same name on Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Gear, Master System and SNES, but only the Mega Drive/Genesis game is this one: the other versions are different games by other developers. No current digital re-release was confirmed when this page was checked.

Taz-Mania is a platform action game developed by Recreational Brainware and published by Sega for the Mega Drive/Genesis in North America and Europe in July 1992. The San Francisco studio was led by Burt Sloane and Jonathan Miller, who had worked on Spider-Man vs. The Kingpin and the GEMS sound tool, and Sloane's 'compositor' sprite tool gave Taz a wide range of facial expressions.

Hugh Tazmanian Devil tells of giant seabirds whose eggs could feed a family for over a year, so Taz heads to a Lost Valley in Tasmania to find one. He can jump, spin into a tornado and eat almost anything: chilli peppers give him fire breath, while bombs and weed killer hurt him if swallowed.

Game Gear, Master System and SNES games with the same title appeared in 1992 and 1993, made by other developers. Sega later released a semi-sequel, Taz in Escape from Mars, on the same platforms between 1994 and 1997.1

Names and releases

RegionTitle on the boxPlatformDatePublisherSrc
NA Taz-Mania Genesis July 1992 Sega 1
NA Taz-ManiaDifferent game developed by NuFX Game Gear October 1992 Sega 1
NA Taz-ManiaDifferent game developed by Visual Concepts SNES May 1993 Sunsoft 1
EU Taz-Mania Genesis July 1992 Sega 1
EU Taz-ManiaDifferent game developed by Technical Wave Master System Dec 10, 1992 Sega 1
EU Taz-ManiaDifferent game developed by NuFX Game Gear December 1992 Sega 1
EU Taz-ManiaDifferent game developed by Visual Concepts SNES 1993 THQ 1

Box art by region

  • Taz-Mania box art, North America release
    NA Taz-Mania
  • Taz-Mania box art, Europe release
    EU Taz-Mania

Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: libretro-thumbnails.

Version differences

  • GameplayGame GearMaster SystemSNES

    Despite the shared title, the Game Gear (NuFX), Master System (Technical Wave) and SNES (Visual Concepts) versions were made by other studios and are different games from the Mega Drive/Genesis original.1

  • ContentGame Boy

    The Game Boy titles Taz-Mania and Taz-Mania 2 are separate games by other developers as well.1

Reception

The Mega Drive version was a UK bestseller for two months and ranked 19th in Mega's Top Mega Drive Games of All Time. Mean Machines gave it 81/100, praising the visuals but calling it too easy; Sega Force gave it 96% and MegaTech 82%.1

Sources

  1. 1en.wikipedia.org

Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13

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