I'd been wanting to play this game ever since I got a Genesis a few years ago because of how unique it is. A few weeks ago I finally found a decent priced copy on fb marketplace and I've been picking at it ever since.

Normally I like to go into games blind, but this one was the opposite. I had heard about frustrations around how hard the game is, and how you take damage just for hitting environmental objects, and so I wanted to go in with a bit more info.

Watching Sega Lord X's video on the game really helped. He said to approach the game as a puzzle game in beat 'em up clothing, which is exactly right. He also said to make lots of use of your rat, which is also correct. And I read elsewhere about pressing different directions on the d-pad, especially diagonals, while fighting to mix up your moves. This is key for defeating many enemies because they start to block you if you do the same move too many times. The last tip is that if you're having to beat on an environment object too much (and thus losing too much health) it's generally a hint that there's another way to solve the puzzle.

The obtuse design (having to use your rat to find hidden items, taking damage when hitting the environment, lots of jank in the programming, extremely limited continues) really holds this game back. But with some modern knowledge it's pretty fun. I don't think the game is "hard" exactly, but it's very unforgiving and what it wants from you is very precise. It takes some practice.

You really have to know the game inside out in order to get through all the puzzles and janky gotchas (e.g. pressing down intending to pick up an item but instead going to the next screen, or clipping the huge hitbox on a mine and blowing everything up on the screen, or accidentally pressing jump while holding onto a rope and falling to your death and using up a precious continue). On my winning run I finally put everything together and did it without continuing. 

I intended to play the game entirely legit on original hardware, but ended up giving in after a while and practising the final page using save states before going back and beating it on my original cart.

I'm really glad I got to experience this game and I would definitely encourage anyone who's been put off by the difficulty to read up on some tips and give it another go.

I finally beat Comix Zone!