Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit! (lost build of cancelled Sega Genesis port of 2D platformer based on sitcom; 1993-1994)

Cover art of the Super Nintendo port of the game.

Status: Lost

Home Improvement: Power Tool Pursuit is a 2D platformer video game developed by Imagineering and published by Absolute Entertainment that was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. The game was based on the American television sitcom Home Improvement, and featured series protagonist Tim "The Tool Man" Taylor travelling through the sets of various other TV shows in search of a set of power tools that had been stolen from him, fighting his way through mummies, dinosaurs and robots among other enemies as he does so.

The game released in November 1994 to mixed reception from critics,^[1] and it is largely being remembered today due to absurdity of its premise and content, with it still being regarded in some circles as one of the most bizarre games ever based on a licensed property.^[2]

Sega Genesis port

At the summer 1993 Consumer Electronics Show, along with the Super Nintendo version, Absolute announced that a port of the game was also in development for the Sega Genesis. From the only available image, this port of the game appears to have been largely the same as its Super Nintendo counterpart, with no major differences between the games being visible. Multiple different release dates were given for this version of the game, with it initially being set to release in October of 1994 before later being delayed to December, but both dates came and went without the game being made available.^[3]

The Sega Genesis version of the game would ultimately go unreleased, presumably due to the poor sales and mixed reception of the Super Nintendo version and the game beginning development very late into the the Sega Genesis' lifespan. To date, the ROM of the port has not been uploaded online, with various magazine previews and advertisements being all that has surfaced from it.