Trog: Clay Cavemen, Extinct Gameplay

From all indications, Trog is the first game to utilize clay as its primary means of expression. And as the first game to do so, it does an excellent job incorporating the medium's squishy and kitschy sensibilities. The only drawback is the genre; being a maze game, Trog's gameplay is kept awfully zoomed out, thus concealing much of the hand-modeled craft behinds the graphics. The pictures above are some of the rarer "up-close" moments the game offers.

Everyone knows Pac-Man. The game is a classic, and for good reason—it spawned the video game mascot, the concept of the power-up, and the entire maze-chase genre…rightfully becoming the “electronic game’s” default example for much of that ‘80s arcade craze. To this day, its eponymous protagonist is still world renowned and recognized. And there will never be anything quite like it—or him—ever again.

Well, except for the clones. So many copycats! So many quick rip-offs and shameless riffs. Some, like Jawbreaker, K.C. Munchkin!, and Gobbler, were outright knockoffs of the eat-and-run formula. Others were less egregious—games like Ladybug and Devil World innovated on the maze/escape template significantly enough to be considered more than mere facsimiles. But none, no matter how clever, were able to capture the zeitgeist as Pac-Man had. Not even a sliver. A pellet. A dot. Despite the genre soon exploding with examples, few dodged the doom of obscurity. And maybe, rightfully.

But there’s one that shouldn’t be so easily dismissed. One title that, despite still cribbing from the Pac-Man schematic, is just different and endearing and bizarre enough to deserve, if not a second chance…then at least a speck of genuine respect. Welcome to the strange world of Trog.

Long, long ago in a land named Og—

there lived a one-eyed caveman by the name of Trog!

And in that land there lived four friends—

Rex and Bloop, Spike, and Gwen.

So goes tale of Trog, a 1990 arcade game of fight and flight, of caveman appetite and dino survival. “Trog,” of course, is short for troglodyte, that race of cave-dwellers so caricatured in popular lore, from the Flintstones to Captain Caveman. And Trog is no different; more than a singular being, the Trogs are a race of cycloptic humanoids with a mean hankering for dino meat. And more than Pac-Man’s four chasing ghosts, these fiends come in droves, rising from the earth like zombies in an ever-effort to nab one of the four dinosaur friends for some fast lunch.

Which means, as in Pac-Man, the player’s goal is survival. Or, more accurately, escape—players must wobble their dino through fifty stages/mazes, collecting eggs and power-ups while being pursued by an endless supply of the troglodytes. Once the last egg MacGuffin is snatched, the exit opens for a desperate escape…only for the process to begin again. New maze, more danger.

This is Trog in an eggshell, or would be, if not for two interesting twists. The first is player agency: while most maze games feature relatively defenseless protagonists, Trog’s dinos can fight back, no power-up or enhancement needed. Yes, more than just a joystick, the game includes an extra “punch” button that allows the dinos to pummel their chasing cavemen into oblivion not unlike a top-down brawler. It’s a potent component of the player’s arsenal with no cooldown or balances in place to prevent players from merely hunting the trogs in reverse. And early on, they can. These are dinosaurs, after all, not helpless ladybugs or mice. Dinosaurs, indeed, are supposed to be dangerous.

But, as the stages advance and the trogs start attacking in greater packs, even a dino punch can’t stop all the cyclops from closing in. Hence the power-ups, from jalapenos that smokes the creeps into ash to a pineapple that morphs the dinos into invincible T-Rexes. The latter, more than a means of survival, turns the game into a sort of meta mini-game, encouraging players to snarf up as many hysterical neanderthals as possible to maximize some excessively generous point multipliers. Yes, this is Claymation carnage at its gummiest, yummiest best.

Claymation? Yes, Trog’s second twist is its most obvious and iconic—everything is sculpted and digitized in glorious “Playmation,” the developer’s own brand of stop motion, clay-crafted art. At the time, there was nothing quite like it. And years later, really, it’s still an unusual treat.

Trog offers a variety of land shapes filled with their own gimmicks, including door warps and trampolines and, always, plenty of trogs. The goings get crowded super fast.

Power-ups spice up the proceedings, the most fun being a rampaging T-REX that gobbles up all the now helpless trogs. It understands "chomping" better than even Pac-Man does.

Games composed of clay are still a rarity; more than simply “drawing” assets within a grid of pixels, an artist must first hand-craft the game’s characters and scenery, then photograph/film each object hundreds of times at various angles and poses. Afterward, these sequences must then be digitized into a computer and integrated into the game, creating the illusion of setting, movement, and interactivity in the vein of any usual polygon, sprite, and backdrop. In short, it’s a lot of work.

And Trog, arguably, was the first to employ the “Playmation” style for a video game. An earlier (and super obscure) game, The Last Apostle Puppetshow, is perhaps the first game to employ stop-motion animation. But posable dolls, not clay, were used to bring that game to life…allowing Trog to also claim its piece of history.

And frankly, it makes all the difference. Would stop-motion classics like Rankin/Bass’ Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer be as memorable—be even remembered at all—had it employed traditional hand-drawn animation? Probably not. Same for other films and shows, from Wallace & Gromit to Gumby. And like those classics, Trog also stands alone, then or now. Kitschy and exuberant and drenched in squish, the game is not only a melding of genre, but of the real and the surreal, the handmade and the programmed. If Trog wasn’t groundbreaking in terms of gameplay, it certainly broke the mold in terms of self-expression, making its contemporaries seem dull, even passe by comparison.

As if to prove the point, the game received a less-iconic NES port—one that inevitably excises the clay for a typical 8-bit aesthetic. The gameplay remains intact; the “fun” is still there. But without the goo-goodness of the original’s art direction—the way the trogs groan “uh oh” just as a T-Rex chomps them down, the way Bloop and his pals jiggle with victory after finishing each stage—the game feels smaller, flatter, almost pointless. It’s like the movie Grease without the awesome soundtrack, like Mortal Kombat without its digitized actors and secret fatalities, like a 2-D version of Super Mario 64. None of these examples make sense, should ever exist. And Trog!, with its clayeth taketh away, is simply too reductive to be taken seriously, like photographing a rainbow in black-and-white. Why?

Trog's occasional cutscenes (above) and end-of-level celebratory sequences (below) are a fleeting showcase of the game's Playmation artistry.

The jump pad stages will occasionally fling a trog into the camera lens. Check out the clay on (that) display!

Not that arcade Trog is some piece of absolute genius. Not that Trog was ever particularly influential. The maze-game certainly didn’t resurge back to relevance after the game’s debut, and Claymation, despite being explored again in Clayfighter and The Neverhood, never escaped its niche proclivities. Just like puppeteering, juggling, and clogging are all art forms still seeking full cultural acceptance, using clay as the chief form of audio/visual expression is still regarded as more eccentric than essential.

But Trog has its place; more than just the clay and the quarter-munching, it offers up to four-player play, providing a hybrid cooperative/competitive experience long before games like Pac-Man Battle Royale tried similar concepts. It offers a way to fight back, giving its “Pac-Men” back their bite. And with its warp zones and mini games and humorous cinematics, plus a very difficult no-continue challenge, the game offers plenty of replayability. Even a Ms. Pac-Man would blush at the game’s many maniacal flourishes and sensibilities—an energy her own franchise would only benefit from stealing, er, copying.

The NES's version of Trog! (this time with an exclamation mark) is an example of how graphics do affect a game's appeal, even fun factor. Although the gameplay remains from its arcade counterpart, the overall experience just isn't as compelling. And certainly not as memorable.

Trog's often overlooked multiplayer mode is an almost entirely new experience, a rich mixture of competition and cooperation. (Thanks to arronmunroe for the YouTube netplay feed!)

Beyond the NES port, the only other edition of Trog was an obscure DOS conversion that, actually, is pretty good. And naturally, no one knew it existed (then or now).

The Last Apostle Puppetshow is (likely) the first stop-motion video game. It uses no clay and is especially janky, but the effort is still commendable, predating the digitized Pit-Fighter and Mortal Kombat by a few years.

Outside of Clayfighter, The Neverhood is probably the most well-known clay-based game. It received a spiritual sequel named Armikrog in 2015.

How would I look remade in illustrious, savory clay?

Trog never received a proper port outside an obscure DOS conversion, a tragedy which only hastened its drain into oblivion. As of early 2025, the game has yet to retrieve a port or emulated retread of any kind despite the industry being soaked in retro compilations, and companies like Hamster regularly releasing vintage titles through eShop, PSN, and similar on-line marketplaces. This leaves fans of Pac-Man, arcade games, and Claymation without many options. MAME, for better or worse, is the only realistic way to go.

And that’s exactly what players should do. Find the ROM and give Trog a try. It may be quirky and imperfect and even a bit derivative…and yet, there’s nothing quite like it.

A classic distinct if borderline extinct.--D

Did you know that the term "Claymation" is actually trademarked? First established by industry pioneer Will Vinton, the name is now owned by company Laika, Inc. This probably explains why developer Midway called its own clay-crafting process "Playmation." Don't wanna get sued!