We toys are sick and tired of how you use us then toss us aside!
A child named Andy (Guthy in the European version, mostly referred to on screen as “Toy Commander”), who gets new army-themed toys for Christmas, and neglects his childhood favorites. The toys, led by Huggy Bear, Andy’s childhood teddy bear, rebel and try to destroy the new toys.
“Andy, the time has come!. We toys are sick and tired of how you use us then toss us aside!. So prepare For a mutiny as I, Huggy Bear, claim the title of TOY COMMANDER!” – Huggy Bear
Each boss has taken over a specific area of Andy’s house, serving as one of Huggy Bear’s Generals.
Real behind the game facts:
Toy Commander is an action game for the Dreamcast developed by No Cliché and published by Sega.
A Microsoft Windows version was planned for release in 2001, but despite being almost completed, it was ultimately cancelled, due to No Cliché shutting down the following year.
Gameplay
In the game, the player must complete missions by controlling toys (usually in the form of vehicles). These missions take place in rooms of a house. The game is known for its unique tasks themed around the various household areas. For instance, the first mission, which takes place in the kitchen, is a basic training level involving swapping vehicles and different types, including a helicopter, pick-up and plane. Meanwhile, the second level involves using a toy car to roll eggs over to a pot of boiling water.
The game has five basic types of playable vehicles: race cars, which are primarily used in racing missions (although some missions have the player navigating mazes in race cars), armed ground vehicles such as tanks or trucks with rocket launchers, airplanes, helicopters, and transport vehicles (which are always unarmed, but are typically used to transport various smaller toys). Not all vehicles are available for use outside of one-player, which are the unarmed and transport vehicles.
A battle mode, with other modes, is also available in the game for multiple players, allowing up to four players, with no online play.
Development
When interviewed by Official Dreamcast Magazine the game’s executive producer David Chomard stated that:
…the original idea [for Toy Commander] comes from Didier Chanfray, our artistic director, and Frédérick Raynal, our creative director. The basic idea was to fly small planes and fight in a house. Then the idea of having plenty of small missions with different styles of gameplay and vehicles was added. Finally, the storyline of the rebellion of toys was added.
Chomard said that No Cliché attempted to “avoid any comparison to Toy Story” but acknowledged that the studio were “big fans of Micro Machines, and it’s true we took it as a reference of a good game with small cars”. However, in a later interview with programmer Frantz Cournil it was stated that “Didier Chanfray, the art director, had the soul of a child and he loved the Toy Story computer-animated film”, which led to him wanting to produce “a game in which everyone could remember their childhood and the toys they played with in their house”.