Wednesday, June 18, 2025

Kid Chameleon vs Comix Zone (Sega vs Sega): Round 1 Fight Blogs

 

"Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson

Kid Chameleon, one ultra-cool dude fighting his way through the Wild Side virtual reality game

Sketch Turner, the comic artist sucked into his own world of the Comix Zone

For decades, we as a culture have dreamt of realities other than our own. Whether it be the concept of a multiverse, a virtual reality, or simply journeying inside our favorite franchises, there’s just something special about venturing beyond our own universe. But, when jack-booted jerks with a chip on their shoulders decide to pervert such an experience, they’ll find all it takes is a nerd in a jacket with some sick shades to knock them down a peg. 

Round 1: FIGHT!!!

Before We Start…

Given the limited materials of these two, we’ll stick to anything applicable as canon. Both have their original Sega games, as well as ports of those games, ads, and the like such as the Sega Visions magazine. Kid Chameleon will also get his appearance in Sonic the Comic. 


As a minor note, both of their powers/abilities are notably somewhat or fully reliant on the area (IE: Wild Side giving Casey his powers and Sketch manipulating his comic). So, we'll be placing this in neutral territory where both can use their abilities. 


Enough of that though, let's get into it!


Background

Kid Chameleon

“Yeah, well, this time I’m going for the high score! No pauses, no continues, no limits!”

Back in the 80’s and 90’s games “sweeping the nation” was pretty frequent. Pac-Man was such a hit that he became a “Pac-Mania,” and Sonic the Hedgehog had a massive parade and nationwide celebration for his biggest hits. For a kid named Casey dressing like Happy Days’ biggest star, he would experience a similar craze, and all the crazy adventures that came with it. Despite his “cool kid” look and what the game manuals push of his radical ‘tude, Casey was more akin to a nerd who’d be happier ditching track to play Streets of Rage. His mom got sick of it and forced him to hang out with the new gamer-girl next door, Suzi, who he decided to meet at the arcade. There, they found the newest fad in the Wild Side, a state-of-the-art virtual reality game that literally crafted an entire world for you to enjoy. Suzi was sucked into this world and trapped by the system itself and its alluring voice, so Casey stepped into this new world to save her. 


While he was initially outclassed, he found he could change into various heroes, warriors, and monsters like some sort of Chameleon. This enacted change on an emotional level as well as a physical one, where he became a true hero beyond just the lazy teenager he once was. Casey saved Suzi and even returned to the game in order to save his school bully Brad. He even topped all of this saving kids from all over the world trapped by its grasp; forever destroying the threat of such a dangerous game. For his service and skill, Casey would forever be remembered as the holographic champion who saved the children of the world from the evil boss; the Kid Chameleon. 


Sketch Turner

“I don’t- I can’t - believe this! It’s impossible! I gotta be dreaming… I’m inside my own comic book reality!?”

Like all good stories, cliche or no, the story of one Sketch Turner's journey into the Comix Zone started on a dark and stormy night. Sketch had been plagued with vivid nightmares and bad dreams of all kinds, and he decided to put them into action through his very own comic book! As he was finishing it with his pet rat Roadkill, our heroic artist met some of his art face-to-face through the evil Mortus. This mustachioed cowboy from a bleak future where the New World Order fought his mutant marauders had escaped the comic itself thanks to lightning striking it, and he threw his creator into his own comic book in order to kill him; gaining a fully corporeal body in our world. Of course, that's only one possible beginning. In the promotional comic, Sketch's dreams were actually of an entire separate dimension, who he manifested a gate to in the comic book. 


Regardless of how it started, Sketch was thrown into the comic book world of his own creation, and forced to experience that world for himself. He was initially pretty skeptical of this: after all, who would place their trust in a nerdy nobody like him? Even despite that, he teamed up with a new friend in Alissa Cyan, who guided him in his adventure to stop Mortus and helped him realise that he was much more than he seemed. After venturing across the planet through New York, the Himalayas, and New Zealand, Sketch came face to face with a nuke that would wipe all of mankind off the face of the Earth. Mortus stepped back into the comic to drown Alissa while facing Sketch, but his efforts were halted and he literally met his maker. Saving Alissa and destroying Mortus, he returned to the real world and formed a relationship with his heroine. Sketch even gained legitimate fame after his comic was released to become the best-selling of all time, while his new girlfriend soon became the US chief of security (relationship goals am I right?). Like all comics, Sketch eventually found the happy ending he was searching for, and proved that no matter who stands in his way, he is the author (and artist) of his own destiny.


Experience & Skill

Kid Chameleon

As we see from the jump, Kid Chameleon is no mere novice at gaming. In fact, the comics make a point of his skill in them that is better than most gamers; explicitly at Sega classics like Sonic and Streets of Rage. He’s just as impressive in the Wild Side, and the original game noted he was “the toughest, coolest head in town.” Seems like hyperbole, but he was officially the only one to actually beat the Wild Side and free all the captured children/teenagers from the worldwide range losing to this game. Even without any powers or abilities, he’s dodged slashes from several enemies, and caught a much stronger off-balance to kick it off of a building. When actually using all these powers, he puts the Master in Master System. 


Little known fact, changing into these separate forms actually inserts a new personality into his body, like how Maniaxe had an insane bloodlust he actively fought against. While someone like that murderer is an expert at slashing through foes, the Red Armor samurai form makes him an instant black belt in several martial arts without weapons, while with them he instinctively knows how to fight while battle plans flood his head at will. His adventures have had him fight various demons as well as fire elementals, flying foes and rock monsters, beat bosses like the Shishika, etc. He’s also escaped this giant spike wall chasing him, or adventures in literally over 100 levels for one of the most notoriously annoying games of the decade. 


Sketch Turner

You wouldn't expect it from being a comic writer, but Sketch is quite skilled in combat. Even beyond simple street-smarts, Sketch has fought pretty much every dystopian monster imaginable in the Comix Zone, like his own creations mere moments after first dropping into the comic. He's fought sewer hook blade monsters, aerial creatures, ooze mutants, multiple enemies at once, and put his martial arts skill to the test. 


Whether it be besting staff fighters, winning a martial arts tournament explicitly for “Kung-Fung” graduates, or beating the elemental teacher of that tournaments worth in fighters, Turner's one skilled son of a gill. He's also used several martial arts moves against the monsters he faces (more on that in abilities) and is a quick thinker, like how he tricked a monster into lighting a can on fire and then burning it to death with that same can.


Arsenal

Kid Chameleon

Chameleon Helmets

While Casey is certainly an impressive gamer and quick-thinker, he’s not much of a threat on his own. Fortunately for him, he is by nature the Kid Chameleon, and can change his form like the actual lizard to better adapt to the environment. The comic and game vary, where the latter has him collect helmets to change that he has to find first, while the former has him change at will without the need to collect power-ups. Whatever the case, Kid can become several other heroes with all of their own special powers, and all the more ways to bring you a bodacious butt-whooping. 


Diamond Powers

As the standard collectible currency in the game, Casey can use these diamonds for several abilities/supermoves. Granted he needs to collect them on repeat if he wants to use them, as well as turn into the select form to use their own type, but the sheer power of them usually justifies the cost. 


Sketch Turner

Roadkill

You wouldn't expect it, but man's best friend in this game is a literal rat. Sketch's rodent pal got an upgrade from the lightning that zapped them both into the comic; thus becoming strong enough to directly help his owner fight monsters. He can shock enemies he comes across, and is a cheese whizz at tracking down items for Sketch. Specifically, he can sniff out and tear the page to find random items, with seemingly no real limit in amount provided he has the time to do so. Being a rodent, Roadkill can also squeeze through tight spaces and go off in the area to hit switches for Sketch. 


Inventory Items

Aside from his little pet/pal, Sketch has access to a few combat items for trashing monsters in his comic. Granted, he can only carry 3 at a time (R'kill included) but given his pet can just find more, it shouldn't be a problem most of the time. 


Abilities

Kid Chameleon

None notable

Resistances

None lol

Sketch Turner

Comic Book Physiology

Upon entering his own comic, Sketch inherently molded himself into a butt-kicking machine, like an artist would a drawing. The manual and prologue comic both imply and state that his journey here increased his stats, added new powers, and etc. Sketch is pretty unique, because he still has some power of reality in this fictional world. He can literally leap between the comic pages and tear through the comic page binding (as shown above) while other enemies can tear at the page themselves. Mortus, as the writer, can also do this, but it’s still pretty notable in a comic environment. 


Combat Moves

Upon arriving in the Comix Zone, not only were Sketch’s physical stats improved, but his skill as well. The manual describes him as “a one-man mercenary platoon,” and considering he soloed a martial arts tournament along with its teacher, that’s more true than you’d think. He has several specific moves for various purposes as well, with each having their own place in combat.


Resistances


Allies

Kid Chameleon

None Notable


Sketch Turner

Alissa Cyan

Sketch’s primary ally in the game, and eventual lover as well (my man). She’s actually the freaking general of the N.W.E (New World Order) Command Center in Newer York City, from which she constantly backs up Sketch with constant situation reports and battle advice. She gives him advice on basically everything, like how to destroy a combination lock, and has her own technology to help him out in other areas. Alissa can scan lifeforms in the vicinity even if they're hiding, pick up enemies incoming, access satellites for photos of the area, pick up radiation and scan for nukes, or even fly to the area herself if worse comes to worse. She’s obviously pretty smart, but also supremely skilled in a fire fight, and tenacious enough to become the US Chief of Security after accompanying Sketch to the real world.


Feats

Kid Chameleon

Overall

  • Defeated Lion Lord, Shishika Boss, Plethora/Voice

Power


Base


Costumes

Speed


Base


Costumes


Durability


Sketch Turner

Overall

  • Survived the Comix Zone and all its monsters

  • Stopped Mortus’ mutant army

  • Outmatched Kung Fung and his entire tournament of martial artists

  • Rescued Alissa from Mortus

  • Stopped Mortus’ NU-K warhead

  • Escaped the Comix Zone with Alissa

  • Defeated Mutants, Kung Fung, Mortus

Power


Speed


Durability


Weaknesses

Kid Chameleon

Despite his skill, Casey's not exactly perfect at this game. All his weapons and skills are pretty cool, but he can and has gotten overwhelmed by multiple monsters with greater strength despite that. Losing access to those methods of fighting (like Red Stealth losing his weapons or Skycutter losing his board) leaves him pretty much helpless. His powers are also not unlimited in versatility, like how he doesn't share them between forms (can only use one at a time), or how he lacks control over turning into the select form in the comics when they're not helmets. 


Casey’s forms have also been endangered by AOE, and all of them taking damage reverts him back to base Kid, who is much weaker than his other forms. This is actually consistent with the comic, where he explicitly had to turn back into a human after expending power in naming a storm, and thus couldn't turn back for an extended time until he recharged. Pair that with his underestimating situations and not often thinking of those flaws, and his success rate can dip if he's not careful.


Sketch Turner

Sketch may be one comically competent cad, but he’s far from invincible. Punching certain materials like metal slowly drains his health bar, as does making paper airplanes. His arsenal is also pretty limited if he doesn’t play it smart or have Roadkill, who can himself be taken out of the fray if Sketch doesn’t help him. If Sketch isn’t careful, many of his exploits that he doesn’t plan out can also go awry, like blowing up bombs to traverse but harming himself as a result. 


Verdict

Due to the shortness of the blog, Scaling and Before the Verdict sections won’t be needed. Everything will just be explained in the main verdict. Speaking of, enjoy!

Stats

Starting with the power these punks wield, both are pretty impressive for nerds sucked into fictional worlds. For Kid, he’s no slouch thanks to all the costumes he’s used. He can shatter bricks in base, but with the suits, Casey has broken chains and diamond even with more normal additions. The stronger suits, like Berserker and Juggernaut, can smash or blast through walls, and then there’s Cyclone, who created a small storm. Usually this would be a game-changer, but it’s surprisingly never shown how big the storm would be. In a “Gale-Force” move, he stated he wanted to bring down “Islecatraz,” which created some clouds behind him and brewed up a small storm in the area… then promptly vanished after a short burst. Don’t let the multi-city block calculation fool you, it’s really not as impressive as it seems. That method was assuming he covered the entire island, when nothing implies that. 


Genuinely, the only showing we have of potential size is the clouds behind him when he flies to another person, with no reference shot to how big they were. To top it off, there’s several more problems with applying this power to him even if it was legitimate. None of Kid’s other powers showcase anything close to MCB levels of power, and Cyclone would only get there to begin with in horrific highballs. Granted, creating any number of clouds is impressive, we just don’t know how much. Even still, Kid Chameleon expliticly had to power down after this and expending too much energy, being unable to maintain that or any form for an extended timeframe. So, anything beyond the high-wall busting power he’s shown is guessing at best and a brief ability always. For speed, he’s dodged bullets, energy beams, and even electricity from cloud enemies; likely lightning speed as well. 


Moving to Sketch, he’s just as impressive. He can destroy large stone objects, crates, metal doors, smash through walls, cause explosions by killing his enemies, and survive similar himself from multiple landmines at least 0.0882 tons of TNT. This isn’t an outlier either, considering he beat Mortus, who can tank several blasts from a large nuke’s rocket thrust. That gets anywhere from 1.4 to 14.7 Megajoules, and both values are well above traditional wall values. Actually, surviving two land mines going off doubles the value to nearly 0.2 Tons of TNT, which is pretty impressive for the kind of game he’s in. His bombs scale above this and can blast apart objects his regular punches take a bit to break, while his Superhero transformation one-shots everything in the area for even stronger power. As for speed, he’s frequently dodged fireballs, and even explosions in the water from elemental warriors. Scaling to Alssa who has survived multiple firefights, and assuming the explosions are literal, Sketch could potentially get supersonic in some form in speed.


When compared to each other, both hold large advantages. Kid Chameleon, thanks to his storm being pretty much meaningless thanks to lack of size and how quickly it vanished, tops out at somewhere around blasting through walls or destroying large vehicles. Sketch punches through walls and destroys reptiles in explosions in just his base form, and scales to people who take much bigger explosions in raw power. His own minefield feat is much higher than any of the values Kid has shown, with the highest end of wall being 0.005 tons of TNT vs his 0.1764 (a 35 times gap) and he thus solidly AP stomps him, which he can further with explosions or his Superhero power. Still, Sketch himself would cap at supersonic with generous assumptions on Alissa and his dodging explosions, while Kid has dodged bullets and lightning, placing him likely over a hundred times faster than Sketch. 


Given their rather dominant advantages in each field (Kid takes speed and Sketch takes strength), we instead have to look at their other factors to determine a victor.


Arsenal & Abilities

Moving on to their powers and weapons, Kid does seem to take an initial advantage here. With all his transformations, weapons, forms, etc, he’s clearly more versatile across the board. He’s got blades, shields, shrinking, good area control with his skateboard, bombs with Juggernaut, and elemental powers like shooting lightning or rotating into a tornado with Cyclone. Better still are his Diamond Powers, which lend him powerful attacks that one-shot most enemies, seek out enemies like Death Snake, slow down enemy movements with Samurai Haze, launch ranged blasts as EyeClops, turn invulnerable for a time, or launch wind blades at people. In Sketch’s corner, he’s got blades, bombs, grenades, Roadkill sniffing out items for him, healing tools, paper airplanes with potent attack power, or even the massive AOE/strength of the Superhero transformation. Alissa can also find hidden enemies for him, give him information on the area, and general give advice on his situation. 


So, this seems like Kid can just wear down Sketch with his far greater speed and much more versatile arsenal, right? Surprisingly, no. While all of his suits have their own boons, Kid can only ever use one at a time. Sure, he can switch without collecting helmets in the comic, but the issue still remains except worse, because he can’t actually choose the form he takes. This doubles for his Diamond Powers, which are reliant on collecting Diamonds to begin with, leaving him high and dry in a prolonged battle. Even when giving him a good supply to use all of his extra powers, he will still eventually run out, and this is worse than you’d think considering again, he can only remain in one form at a time. His more useful powers like Samurai Haze are only usable in Red Stealth, as are invulnerability, and all of them are finite that can’t be spammed due to their costly diamond consumption. Even his enemy one-shotting is simply just hitting them until they die, and not a one-hit kill hax. 


Now, Sketch’s own tools aren’t necessarily better, but they are more useful in comparison. Kid can dodge things like the knife, but he’s going to have a tougher time avoiding bombs and their AOE. Roadkill can find more items for him, providing him an easier time in that front when compared to Casey’s more finite resources. His roll can help dodge attacks, and his tea can heal most wounds dealt to him. Even with those, that doesn’t necessarily help him escape the massive blitz, so, who will break first? To answer that, let’s look at their flaws and weaknesses, as a drawn out battle where both are at a major disadvantage is where they will seriously matter, and where things ultimately favor Sketch. 


Sure, Sketch isn’t perfect, but his own weaknesses aren’t nearly as exploitable or detrimental. He can drain his health punching stronger objects, but that only really applies to hard materials like metal. It doesn’t apply to fighting enemies, and even then, Sketch is much stronger than Casey’s numerous forms. His items can be used up quickly, but given his higher durability, he won’t need to rely on health items much, and only the explosives or Roadkill are useful (mostly). Roadkill being able to sniff out more items for him, and Alissa giving him advice, lend him a solid strategy of just wearing Kid down despite his speed, which is easily the most likely outcome here. For Kid’s weaknesses, he’s much more reliant on his tools than Sketch is, and has openly been made helpless or put on the back foot without them like in Red Stealth or Skycutter. Heck, Iron Knight openly lost and was about to die against a much stronger but slower gorilla, who ignored and shattered his weapons. Since none of his tools can reliably hurt Sketch very much, the same can and will eventually happen here. 


Even worse for Chameleon Kid is that he doesn’t share these tools between forms, and all his Diamond Powers will eventually leave him dry of anything he could potentially spam to try and outlast Turner, like slowing down time or turning invulnerable. Without suitable hax options to overcome the massive strength gap, he just can’t make use of his own speed advantage very well, and this especially matters because he can’t control the form he shifts to in the comic. Even in the game, he has to find new helmets and change into them, while getting struck reverts him to his normal human self, and much weaker than his other forms. Finally, Casey’s general forms have been endangered by AOE like Red Stealth, his forms actively drain energy and eventually prevent him from using them for an extended time in the comics, and he himself has always underestimated situations. Against Sketch, all of this combines into his eventual undoing. 


We already established that all Kid can do is drain his better powers against Sketch, but his stronger attacks in moves like Cyclone explicitly forced him back to normal and prevented him from changing at all for likely over an hour given context. Since he has no method of damaging Sketch, and he has been known to overestimate himself against stronger opponents, he will simply drain or ruin his options until he is reverted to his much weaker base form. Even hitting him once reverts him to base form, and potentially even worse considering Sketch’s greater strength. Still, how will he hit him to begin with? Simple, his Superhero form. The massive AOE and one-shot nature of this form is something Casey can’t escape no matter his form, and at absolute worse it will reduce him to his base, with no real way to continue avoiding a foe who is even stronger than him now. Even against slower opponents, Kid Chameleon still has lost to them once his options are removed, and the same will happen here. Ultimately, only one of them has the likely ability to lose, and he’s not Sketch.


Kid Chameleon is more versatile, but Sketch’s powerful and potent abilities paired against Casey’s weakness ultimately leave him the last man standing. 


Tertiary Factors

Finally, let’s briefly cover their other factors, like skill and experience. Starting with the latter, both of their adventures traversed mostly the same. They hopped into a dangerous alternate reality and fought all kinds of similar enemies like flying or mutant goons, all of this despite being competent street-smart nerds. For skill, Kid is likely deadlier in forms like Red Stealth, but given Sketch defeated a martial arts master on top of the tournament he trained, it’s likely he could adapt, as well as outskill any of his other forms that lack that same skill. His many moves could also put Kid at a disadvantage, considering his dodging and varied techniques. Intelligence is nothing to write home about for either, but Sketch isn’t one for overestimating himself in comparison, and he’s less likely to make a fatal mistake then the opposite way around.


Despite being matched in most areas, Sketch should take the advantage in general skill as well as other mental facilities. 

Conclusion

Kid Chameleon

“You don’t know what you’ve taken on, Voice. I’m ready. Chameleon!”


Advantages: 

  • Much faster no matter how you slice it

  • Greater versatility and arsenal

  • Abilities like time slow and invulnerability are greatly useful for avoiding attacks

  • Superior skill in some forms, and matches in experience

  • Has more actual comics (lol, lmao even)


Disadvantages:

  • Far weaker and less durable; lacking any means to overcome that despite his arsenal

  • Inferior stamina/item usage, and will eventually revert to his much more manageable base form

  • No counter or defense against the Superhero AOE

  • Generally worse skill in most of his forms

  • Healing items and bomb AOE reduce most of his progress

Sketch Turner

“I still kinda half-believe this is all some weird dream, but what the heck? Bring on the bad guys!”


Advantages:

  • Much stronger and tougher

  • Inferior in versatility, but superior in usages of what he has

  • Healing items and bombs reduce Kid’s progress

  • Can bypass the speed gap with the Superhero AOE

  • Greater overall skill, similar experience, and better intelligence generally

  • Got the girl


Disadvantages:

  • Far slower

  • Less skilled compared to Red Stealth

  • Much less versatile, and lacks counters 

  • Has less comics (bruh)

  • Whatever’s going on with his supposed movie (3 years and nothing)


Ultimately, this debate is pretty varied, but it all eventually leads to Sketch outlasting Kid. His far greater strength, despite Kid’s far greater speed, means that none of his arsenal can really tilt things in his favor. Sketch’s AOE, like the Superhero, has the perfect means to tag him and reduce him to base form or kill him outright, and all of Kid’s other weaknesses (lack of control over the select form, power draining with better moves that revert him to base, overestimating himself and losing to slower/stronger opponents before) leave no other option other than Sketch eventually landing the hits he needs to win. Sketch certainly turner-ed the tables here, almost as if he was in the Zone. 


The winner… is Sketch Turner.


Next Time…

How’d you like this bonus blog? Don’t worry, Ultron Sigma vs Dark Kahn is coming soon, and I mainly worked on this as a present to those still waiting. Thanks for reading, and I suppose I’ll explain why I like this. 


Both are 90’s Sega video game protagonists and glasses/jacket-wearing nerds sucked into their niche for an alternate reality journey (games and comics) as the chosen hero to save it all from a maniacal villain. They save and fight alongside love interests (Suzi and Alissa), make frequent pop culture references, and imitate the heroes they wished to be before ultimately becoming them after doubting themselves. It’s simple but effective, and an interesting retro match for overlooked Sega characters. Pairing the visual styles of comic and game in their media as they swap realities could do really well in an animation, as well as mixing things like their music, weapons, combat, forms, and etc. The sky is really the limit here, since Sketch can punch him through the comic, Kid Chameleon can engage him in martial arts contests or get greater attacks for more colorful effects through Juggernaut or Cyclone, and there’s still more you can access through Sketch’s superform. 


I hope you liked this blog, and thanks for reading! I will be back soon with the long-awaited Ultron Sigma vs Dark Kahn, as well as, following it, my wave 2 finale blog. See you then!
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1 comment:

  1. MacedaaceJune 18, 2025 at 1:43 PM

    This was a really fun bonus blog. I've played both games on a re-released Sega Genesis, but could never get past level 2 for either of them.

    ReplyDelete

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Kid Chameleon vs Comix Zone (Sega vs Sega): Round 1 Fight Blogs

  "Fiction reveals truth that reality obscures.” - Ralph Waldo Emerson Kid Chameleon , one ultra-cool dude fighting his way through th...