I laugh at a game like 2018's Agony, one of the most aptly named titles ever. Watching that try to be as edgy and controversial as possible in a time where most messed up fetishes are a Google search away is almost adorable. Agony doesn't have the refined dignity of 1994's Boogerman, a game that may as well have been produced by the kid who wrote the Great Green Gobs of Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts.

Released for the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo, Boogerman was produced by Interplay, who developed some of the coolest 16-bit games. One of the producers, Michael Stragey, who has provided work to titles like Contra 4 on the DS and the original Shantae. It's a side-scrolling platformer that plays very similar to the Genesis version of Disney's Aladdin. 

So to brace oneself for what Boogerman has to offer for lore, the story begins when Professor Stinkbaum is working in his lab on a Zap-O-Matic beneath Takey Dump (uh-huh), a device that is supposed to rid the city of pollution. Eccentric millionaire Snotty Ragsdale goes undercover to investigate. After an explosion caused by Ragsdale's powerful sneeze, a hand grabs the machine's main power source, called Snotrium-357. Sensing the danger afoot, Ragsdale dashes into the men's room to transform into his alter ego, Boogerman. There's almost something respectable about a game that is clearly taking a jab at the freshly legislated ESRB system, which was formed earlier that year in 94. This game is literally flicking snot at the old fogie Joe Lieberman, who was offended by Night Trap. Probably unhappy that he didn't have a Sega CD.

Gameplay wise, Boogerman is a very simple platformer. You have meters that gauge how much booger and burp/fart ammunition. These can be replenished, but if you run out, you can defeat enemies by jumping onto them. Boogman can take several hits of damage, indicated by the color of his cape. The controls are pretty fluid, Boogerman controls well and actions taken are fairly responsive. I mentioned Aladdin earlier, but it also shares some common traits with other platformers around this like VectorMan and Cool Spot. I feel like the Genesis version is a little more slippery than the SNES port, but it's not a vast difference.

The music is pretty good. Veteran British composer Matt Furniss, who has done work for many Sega titles like Mortal Kombat and arrangements for the Genesis port of The Lion King, provides music supervision. The 'Drive version's audio isn't quite as crisp as the Super Nintendo's, so the burping and farting have that gritty and renegade metal vibe. You know, just in case you want your flatulence to sound less outrageous. 

Probably best to not really eat a great deal of snacks while playing this one, unless you've endured a lot of Ren & Stimpy or Rocko's Modern Life. The boogery green permeates most of the screens in Boogerman. There's more green goop in this game than on a set of Nickelodeon Double Dare. Graphically, it looks impressive. The animation is incredibly sharp and the character sprites have a fantastic amount of detail to their movements. At few points does it feel like it suffers from any slowdown or lag. 

With 20+ levels, Boogerman is an enjoyable platformer. The gross-out humor is definitely juvenile as hell, but it fit with the rebellious nature of the early 90's. We stayed up late, watched Beavis & Butt-Head, MTV's Liquid Television, and preferred a lot of poopy jokes in our cartoons (not to wander off topic too far, but it makes me laugh when people my age complain Teen Titans GO relies too much on potty humor, considering what we grew up with). The crude theme is certainly for its time, but beneath that is a quality game that's fun. Some of the later levels can get a little frustrating, it's got a weird difficulty spike. Some boss fights are cakewalks, while the stages will sometimes be a bit of a headache.

In 2013, Stragey and Tremmel attempted to launch an HD remastering of Boogerman through Kickstarter, announcing it on the official Boogerman Facebook page. Backers would've had the chance to pledge for a co-op mode that would've starred Earthworm Jim. While it did not reach its stretch goal, they sent it to Steam Greenlight, which helps launch independent games, so see how it goes. As of 2017, nothing has been heard from the project.