Plok! — stories left

Ste vaguely recalled Fleapit in a 2014 interview, comparing its gameplay to Excitebots: Trick Racing (2009), where the player had to catch one of several flying footballs to score a touchdown in the middle of a level.

Kong recalled that most of the game was completed near the end of Equinoxs testing.

It was categorized by Nintendo World Report as typical of other kid-friendly platform games, though "a bit manic, deceptively bombastic, and diverse in tone".

Hay said that Miyamoto wrote a letter to Hay claiming it was the third-best platform game, below Sonic and Mario, and that he would make it the second-greatest in the genre, above Sonic but below Mario.

Tradewest presented Plok! at the summer 1993 Consumer Electronics Show; a GameFan writer called Tradewest "one of the [show's] most impressive third-party line-ups," highlighting Plok! as "a colorful new action title with a lead character that hurls his arms and legs at attackers."

A frequent comparison was made to Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), particularly in its "sugary" tone and Plok's speed ball attack; GameStars FI derogatorily labeled the titular character as "a puny version" of the Sega franchise's blue hedgehog, criticizing his weird design and calling him names such as "hot pink reddy coloured duck penguin thing" and "freaky pork chop.

Trenton Webb found the limb mechanic "quite fun to mess around with uselessly," and an Electronic Gaming Monthly critic called it "catchy" with "plenty of situations to test it.

The cartoony graphics were praised as colorful, surreal, adorable, and featuring "vivid backgrounds";.

Ste, in 2004, publicly stated that developers and producers with more financial backing were aware of previews of the Fleapit coin-op, which may have influenced them to produce similar games; though there are no other reports verifying this.

When listing Plok! on a list of "The Most Unappreciated Platformers of the '90s" for Kotaku, Ben Bertoli wrote it was "influential for portraying a world, named Akrill[ic], based on craft supplies and cloth, a concept that Nintendo itself has come to rely on for many games.

In 1989, Rare became the first company outside of Japan to obtain a Game Boy, instructing Zippo Games to develop a game for the handheld console.

was the first non-Japanese company to have a development kit for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System.]]

After leaving Zippo, John contacted Richard Hay, the head of Software Creations, the first company outside of Japan to possess a development kit for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES).

However, Nintendo only published Plok! in Europe, while Tradewest and Activision published it in North America and Japan, respectively.

While Nintendo's reasons for this remain undisclosed, Ste believes that Miyamoto found the game, particularly its mini-race levels, too similar to the then-in-development first-party title Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

Tradewest's US print advertisement depicted the top half taken up by Double Dragon and Battletoads, with the bottom half showing an image of the Plok character; the only information revealed was that Plok! was published by the two other franchises.

Nintendo's UK print ad depicted a faux desktop screenshot with an image of an angry old lady in the house as the wallpaper; the only Plok! visual depicted was its box art, placed in the bottom right and very small-sized.

Plok! was first announced in June 1993; upon its announcement, an N-Force journalist called it one of the most "surreal" games in the September 1993 line-up.

Plok! received positive reviews from critics, who praised its innovative ideas, variety, music, presentation, versatile protagonist, and level design.

Some print advertising was later criticized by Ste for not showcasing enough of the game itself.

Some critics ultimately thought it was and criticized its lack of depth.

A frequent comparison was made to Sonic the Hedgehog (1991), particularly in its "sugary" tone and Plok's speed ball attack; GameStars FI derogatorily labeled the titular character as "a puny version" of the Sega franchise's blue hedgehog, criticizing his weird design and calling him names such as "hot pink reddy coloured duck penguin thing" and "freaky pork chop.

Super Plays Jonathan Davies felt it kept adding new concepts as the game went on, and praised some of them, such as patterns of item placements directing the player to off-camera platforms and bouncing off water instead of drowning to death.

The cartoony graphics were praised as colorful, surreal, adorable, and featuring "vivid backgrounds";.

The music was highlighted (by one critic as the game's best aspect) and noted for pushing the hardware limitations, and sound effects were praised.

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.

In the summer of 1988, Ste and John Pickford, employees at Zippo Games—owned by John and their friend Steve Hughes—were struggling to complete games for 16-bit Atari ST and Amiga computers, with many projects being canceled.

Ste vaguely recalled Fleapit in a 2014 interview, comparing its gameplay to Excitebots: Trick Racing (2009), where the player had to catch one of several flying footballs to score a touchdown in the middle of a level.

As a result of Zippo Games' closure and dwindling funds, Fleapit was canceled half-completed in 1990.

Kong recalled that most of the game was completed near the end of Equinoxs testing.

However, despite Webb announcing the port's completion in an April 1994 interview, it was never released for unknown reasons.

Software Creations' leader and Plok! executive producer Mike Webb reported compressing 50% of the game's 16-megabit graphics data (equivalent to Street Fighter II) down to eight megabits.

On July 27, 2019, it was issued on cassette by CANVAS Ltd. It was also released as a limited-edition 500-copy double vinyl on Record Store Day (April 18) 2020 by Respawned Records; Respawned's release featured official song titles, liner notes, and artwork by the Pickfords, with both 180-gram vinyl records colored red and yellow.

In 2009, North American company Super Fighter Team released Zaku, a horizontal shooter for the Atari Lynx, which features a special guest appearance by Plok.