flabbergasted at the difficulty of this video game
(This is the 67th game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet is in my bio.)
Kid Chameleon, a platformer developed by Sega Technical Institute and released in March 1992 for the Sega Genesis, is the 35th best game for the Sega Genesis according to magazine "Mega". That seems like a pretty good ranking for a game that I found to be overwhelmingly 'meh'.
The game got re-released in multiple collections over the years, and even is available on Steam for just 1€ since 2010 (it has 4 user reviews since then).
STORYTELLING/CHARACTERS | 2/10
Here is how the manual describes the setup: "Wild Side is the newest game in town. It's a hologram that creates a reality not our own. You step inside to play..." Basically, kids enter a building to play the most realistic VR game ever. Turns out, the antagonist of that game, Heady Metal, found a way to enter reality from the game world and started abducting the kids who played. The obvious question arises of how another kid was sent in to play after the previous one disappeared behind closed door, but alas, many kids are "KID-Napped!".
Casey is the cool Kid Chameleon, and he enters the game world himself to rescue these kids. Try to guess why he is called 'Chameleon'... Yep, it's because he can shapeshift into multiple different alter ego's. You collect masks in the game to take the persona of characters called "Iron Knight", who has 5 hit points instead of the Kid's normal 2, "Red Stealth" who can attack with a blade, "Berzerker" who can bull-rush and break walls and, among other options, "Maniaxe", who can throw axes and looks like Jason Voorhees.
That's pretty much all. You go through a bunch of levels to find the bad guy, kill him and free the kids.
GAMEPLAY | 9/20
This game is a side-scrolling platformer. You start off as Casey in his Kid Chameleon persona. Here, all you can do is walk and jump. You have two hit points. The game has Super Mario Bros-type blocks with hidden items in them, like diamonds for currency, clocks to give you more time, keys to give you more lives and, of course, masks to change your persona.
Once you collect a mask and switch personas, you either get 3 or 5 hit points depending on the character you get. You can also use their abilities, like throwing stuff at enemies, climbing up walls and flying upside down, to name a few examples. These characters are varied enough and fun to use, but most of my time, I simply got one of very few masks that would appear based on the situation at hand. A wall needs breaking? The game drops the Berzerker mask. You need to climb? The game drops the Iron Knight. Later levels will definitely get a bit more creative here, but considering that I got about 10% into the game after 3 hours and already saw enough, I didn't get that far.
Overall, the game doesn't play all too well. It falls victim to the control issue that plagues an occasional platformer, which is the icy block phenomenon. For some reason, jumping on a block means Casey takes a few extra steps forward, giving a "slippery" feeling to the controls for no apparent reason. The game also has a few issues with glitches, at least from what I can tell. Sometimes mask simply disappear, sometimes you jump on top of an enemy but it doesn't recognize it and you take the damage instead and sometimes you jump on a block that shoots spikes and for some reason, you get hit by them and instantly die. Fighting the game instead of the enemies is never fun. Finally, the pacing often felt slow. In one level, almost all you do is just stand around and wait for platforms to arrive. Breaking blocks, whether by jumping or running into them with the Bezerker, felt tedious and slow as well. Even boss fights, at least from what I saw, are very slow. And after playing this for hours, I couldn't believe how much game this game still had left. Why make it so long?
Apart from the personas, this game doesn't really stand out in any way, and the novelty of those personas does wear off after a while. So I can't say I am shocked that there is no official sequel, but maybe that had other reasons. According to the developers wiki page, the game sold well for Sega, whatever that means.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 4/10
No voice acting, apart from a specific sound I will mention in a second.
The sound design has that Sega vibe to it but doesn't sound impressive as a whole. For some reason, when certain enemies shoot (or spit) projectiles, the sound that plays is a voice saying "die". Why? The soundtrack fails to have a kick to it in my opinion, it just sounds so stale and more like background music that is uninvolved with the gameplay. Thematically, the songs also often don't fit. The "Fantasy" track for example sounds futuristic for some reason. Didn't really enjoy listening to this a whole lot.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 6/10
I'd say there is both good and bad here. For example, go to 1:07:34 of NintendoComplete's playthrough of this and look at the background. It literally looks like something my six year old brother drew. It looks like it came straight out of Paint and it's truly crazy how bad that looks compared to what you would expect out of a 16-bit console. I'm less insulted by NES games which simply have a black background to be honest.
But if you play most of the other levels, you will realize that this level's background is more of an oddity. Mountains have actual textures on other levels, entire cities are drawn on others, and the game does a solid job on a technical level. One level for example has the trees reflecting into the water, and that image moves as the water flows. Clouds move from side to side. And the sprites look pretty good here. The design of the different personas is especially well done and they remain the highlight of the game graphically as well as they already are from a gameplay perspective.
ATMOSPHERE/IMMERSION | 4/10
Remember that you have entered virtual reality in this game. The game's way of reminding you of this is to have a stock image of a room with square tiling, which is the room that the Wild Side game is accessed in. Those squares fill out to give you the impression that you're in the game world. The game's levels themselves feel like a random mash-up of thematically different levels. There is the fire, water, earth and ice themed levels, there are levels playing below and above ground with no coherent overall map design apparent and all in all, immersion and atmosphere does not feel like a priority for this game apart from that initial set-up for the game's plot.
CONTENT | 4/10
The game has a lot of stages, with not nearly enough variety to justify it. The game is also fairly difficult at times, so the game can drag after you beat one of those more difficulty sections, only to realize you got many, many hours still to go.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 5/10
Apart from there being too many levels in my opinion, a lot of them give the impression of being haphazardly designed. Often, I just felt like I had no idea where I was and somehow, some way I found my way to the exit. Having fewer levels and spending more time on each would have done wonders here, though finding the occasional secret passage to some (bland) treasure was enjoyable enough.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 4/10
The personas are a neat idea, but it's not like that didn't exist before this game. If people reminisce about this game however, the personas will be what they will remember primarily. In every other way, the game is a very basic platformer.
REPLAYABILITY | 2/5
Not much replayability apart from trying to beat your high score and maybe using the personas slightly differently, though you won't be using them differently in a way that makes a notable difference.
PLAYABILITY | 5/5
Works well at almost all times apart from the occasional glitches I mentioned.
OVERALL | 45/100
Worth trying for the novelty of the chameleon aspect, but other than that, the game is a very typical, and slower-than-average platformer that I wouldn't recommend.
Kid Chameleon, a platformer developed by Sega Technical Institute and released in March 1992 for the Sega Genesis, is the 35th best game for the Sega Genesis according to magazine "Mega". That seems like a pretty good ranking for a game that I found to be overwhelmingly 'meh'.
The game got re-released in multiple collections over the years, and even is available on Steam for just 1€ since 2010 (it has 4 user reviews since then).
STORYTELLING/CHARACTERS | 2/10
Here is how the manual describes the setup: "Wild Side is the newest game in town. It's a hologram that creates a reality not our own. You step inside to play..." Basically, kids enter a building to play the most realistic VR game ever. Turns out, the antagonist of that game, Heady Metal, found a way to enter reality from the game world and started abducting the kids who played. The obvious question arises of how another kid was sent in to play after the previous one disappeared behind closed door, but alas, many kids are "KID-Napped!".
Casey is the cool Kid Chameleon, and he enters the game world himself to rescue these kids. Try to guess why he is called 'Chameleon'... Yep, it's because he can shapeshift into multiple different alter ego's. You collect masks in the game to take the persona of characters called "Iron Knight", who has 5 hit points instead of the Kid's normal 2, "Red Stealth" who can attack with a blade, "Berzerker" who can bull-rush and break walls and, among other options, "Maniaxe", who can throw axes and looks like Jason Voorhees.
That's pretty much all. You go through a bunch of levels to find the bad guy, kill him and free the kids.
GAMEPLAY | 9/20
This game is a side-scrolling platformer. You start off as Casey in his Kid Chameleon persona. Here, all you can do is walk and jump. You have two hit points. The game has Super Mario Bros-type blocks with hidden items in them, like diamonds for currency, clocks to give you more time, keys to give you more lives and, of course, masks to change your persona.
Once you collect a mask and switch personas, you either get 3 or 5 hit points depending on the character you get. You can also use their abilities, like throwing stuff at enemies, climbing up walls and flying upside down, to name a few examples. These characters are varied enough and fun to use, but most of my time, I simply got one of very few masks that would appear based on the situation at hand. A wall needs breaking? The game drops the Berzerker mask. You need to climb? The game drops the Iron Knight. Later levels will definitely get a bit more creative here, but considering that I got about 10% into the game after 3 hours and already saw enough, I didn't get that far.
Overall, the game doesn't play all too well. It falls victim to the control issue that plagues an occasional platformer, which is the icy block phenomenon. For some reason, jumping on a block means Casey takes a few extra steps forward, giving a "slippery" feeling to the controls for no apparent reason. The game also has a few issues with glitches, at least from what I can tell. Sometimes mask simply disappear, sometimes you jump on top of an enemy but it doesn't recognize it and you take the damage instead and sometimes you jump on a block that shoots spikes and for some reason, you get hit by them and instantly die. Fighting the game instead of the enemies is never fun. Finally, the pacing often felt slow. In one level, almost all you do is just stand around and wait for platforms to arrive. Breaking blocks, whether by jumping or running into them with the Bezerker, felt tedious and slow as well. Even boss fights, at least from what I saw, are very slow. And after playing this for hours, I couldn't believe how much game this game still had left. Why make it so long?
Apart from the personas, this game doesn't really stand out in any way, and the novelty of those personas does wear off after a while. So I can't say I am shocked that there is no official sequel, but maybe that had other reasons. According to the developers wiki page, the game sold well for Sega, whatever that means.
MUSIC/SOUND/VOICE | 4/10
No voice acting, apart from a specific sound I will mention in a second.
The sound design has that Sega vibe to it but doesn't sound impressive as a whole. For some reason, when certain enemies shoot (or spit) projectiles, the sound that plays is a voice saying "die". Why? The soundtrack fails to have a kick to it in my opinion, it just sounds so stale and more like background music that is uninvolved with the gameplay. Thematically, the songs also often don't fit. The "Fantasy" track for example sounds futuristic for some reason. Didn't really enjoy listening to this a whole lot.
GRAPHICS/ART DESIGN | 6/10
I'd say there is both good and bad here. For example, go to 1:07:34 of NintendoComplete's playthrough of this and look at the background. It literally looks like something my six year old brother drew. It looks like it came straight out of Paint and it's truly crazy how bad that looks compared to what you would expect out of a 16-bit console. I'm less insulted by NES games which simply have a black background to be honest.
But if you play most of the other levels, you will realize that this level's background is more of an oddity. Mountains have actual textures on other levels, entire cities are drawn on others, and the game does a solid job on a technical level. One level for example has the trees reflecting into the water, and that image moves as the water flows. Clouds move from side to side. And the sprites look pretty good here. The design of the different personas is especially well done and they remain the highlight of the game graphically as well as they already are from a gameplay perspective.
ATMOSPHERE/IMMERSION | 4/10
Remember that you have entered virtual reality in this game. The game's way of reminding you of this is to have a stock image of a room with square tiling, which is the room that the Wild Side game is accessed in. Those squares fill out to give you the impression that you're in the game world. The game's levels themselves feel like a random mash-up of thematically different levels. There is the fire, water, earth and ice themed levels, there are levels playing below and above ground with no coherent overall map design apparent and all in all, immersion and atmosphere does not feel like a priority for this game apart from that initial set-up for the game's plot.
CONTENT | 4/10
The game has a lot of stages, with not nearly enough variety to justify it. The game is also fairly difficult at times, so the game can drag after you beat one of those more difficulty sections, only to realize you got many, many hours still to go.
LEVEL/MISSION DESIGN | 5/10
Apart from there being too many levels in my opinion, a lot of them give the impression of being haphazardly designed. Often, I just felt like I had no idea where I was and somehow, some way I found my way to the exit. Having fewer levels and spending more time on each would have done wonders here, though finding the occasional secret passage to some (bland) treasure was enjoyable enough.
CONCEPT/INNOVATION | 4/10
The personas are a neat idea, but it's not like that didn't exist before this game. If people reminisce about this game however, the personas will be what they will remember primarily. In every other way, the game is a very basic platformer.
REPLAYABILITY | 2/5
Not much replayability apart from trying to beat your high score and maybe using the personas slightly differently, though you won't be using them differently in a way that makes a notable difference.
PLAYABILITY | 5/5
Works well at almost all times apart from the occasional glitches I mentioned.
OVERALL | 45/100
Worth trying for the novelty of the chameleon aspect, but other than that, the game is a very typical, and slower-than-average platformer that I wouldn't recommend.
Average platform with too much inspirations from SMB. Sure, those power-ups make it a little more unique, but it doesn't offer much. It's enjoyable still, nothing really atrocious.
I feel like, in the pantheon of 90s Mario Clones, Kid Chameleon is one of the few that actually tries to just up and down Do It. Lots of these games miss the exploration and the feeling of discovering secrets or warp zones or what have you, in favor of making sure you're a little guy who jumps good. I still remember discovering a shortcut in this game that sent me so far forwards I was intimidated to actually try to finish it cuz man, I must be missing something I needed in the earlier levels. A brave attempt.
I heard a lot of hype about this game as a kid and... it doesn't live up to any of that. The level design feels so sloppy to me.
The power ups are really creative and fun. The split paths lead to interesting routing, and going off the beaten path will often lead to really useful secrets. This game just hits for me, I can't say I've played another game like it. It is also janky and way too hard for its own good.
I beat this but it woulda been nearly impossible if it weren't for the rewind feature on the Switch. Fun and varied powers on top of some pretty innovative and challenging platform design. I enjoyed this throwback run-through.
Ami joueur !
Si Kid Chameleon ne te plaît pas, alors épargnes ton temps et passes ton chemin. Car même si l'on me suspendait par les gros orteils et me chatouillait les aisselles et la plante des pieds avec des vers de terre, je serais bien en difficulté pour en dire du mal. Je serais tout aussi inapte à t'aider à réviser ton jugement, car ce qui te déplaît dans ce jeu fais probablement partie de ce que j'apprécie ; ou alors c'est que j'en ai fait mon parti depuis plus d'une trentaine d'années.
Ce jeu fait partie des quelques uns qui m'ont en quelque sorte façonnés en tant que joueur. Peu de jeux m'ont marqués à ce point malgré des premières parties qui ne m'avaient guère convaincues. Depuis sa découverte sur Mega Drive, j'y suis revenu régulièrement, et j'y reviens encore aujourd'hui.
Le conseillerais-je à n'importe qui ? Assurément non !
Le jeu est fourbe, parfois injuste. C'est du traquenard de partout, un véritable labyrinthe, des situations tendues, un "level design" retors, des niveaux à connaître par coeur, sans parler des innombrables embranchements... C'est aussi un excellent jeu de plate-forme avec un concept de transformation séduisant à l'époque et toujours efficace aujourd'hui en matière de jouabilité. Vu le nombre de niveaux et la conception labyrinthique du jeu, la rejouabilité est énorme. La direction artistique est de qualité jusqu'à la fin et techniquement le jeu soutient très bien l'air du temps. Quant aux musiques, ce sont de petites perles.
Kid Chameleon est un de ces titres indémodables, de ces jeux maîtrisés à leur époque et que les années ne parviennent à émousser. Il demeure certain que, nonobstant cette intemporalité technique et conceptuelle, Kid Chameleon ne peut être recommandé n'importe comment et à n'importe qui.
Si Kid Chameleon ne te plaît pas, alors épargnes ton temps et passes ton chemin. Car même si l'on me suspendait par les gros orteils et me chatouillait les aisselles et la plante des pieds avec des vers de terre, je serais bien en difficulté pour en dire du mal. Je serais tout aussi inapte à t'aider à réviser ton jugement, car ce qui te déplaît dans ce jeu fais probablement partie de ce que j'apprécie ; ou alors c'est que j'en ai fait mon parti depuis plus d'une trentaine d'années.
Ce jeu fait partie des quelques uns qui m'ont en quelque sorte façonnés en tant que joueur. Peu de jeux m'ont marqués à ce point malgré des premières parties qui ne m'avaient guère convaincues. Depuis sa découverte sur Mega Drive, j'y suis revenu régulièrement, et j'y reviens encore aujourd'hui.
Le conseillerais-je à n'importe qui ? Assurément non !
Le jeu est fourbe, parfois injuste. C'est du traquenard de partout, un véritable labyrinthe, des situations tendues, un "level design" retors, des niveaux à connaître par coeur, sans parler des innombrables embranchements... C'est aussi un excellent jeu de plate-forme avec un concept de transformation séduisant à l'époque et toujours efficace aujourd'hui en matière de jouabilité. Vu le nombre de niveaux et la conception labyrinthique du jeu, la rejouabilité est énorme. La direction artistique est de qualité jusqu'à la fin et techniquement le jeu soutient très bien l'air du temps. Quant aux musiques, ce sont de petites perles.
Kid Chameleon est un de ces titres indémodables, de ces jeux maîtrisés à leur époque et que les années ne parviennent à émousser. Il demeure certain que, nonobstant cette intemporalité technique et conceptuelle, Kid Chameleon ne peut être recommandé n'importe comment et à n'importe qui.
When people talk to me about difficult games, this little beauty I tend to bring up doesn't seem to draw much attention. It seems unassuming, with its 90s shades and jacket wearing cool dude looking like he's being chased by a comic convention for saying Batman sucks the Joker's dick on the weekends, but do not be fooled.
This game is EVIL. I shall tell you why.
You play as the titular 'Kid Chameleon', esq. as he travels through an evil VR game that kidnaps losers into its sinister clutches, collecting gems and platforming his way to the end of many levels. Throughout the game you can pick up the assistance through many helmets that grant special transformations and powers, like the Knight who can scale walls, Maniaxe, the Jason Vorhees look alike that throws axes, and Eyeclops, who can reveal hidden passages with his ray gun. Helmets also grant special gem powers, used by holding Start and pushing the B button, which are different for each transformation.
The game starts out easy enough, with not many enemies and some jumping challenges which do not prove too taxing at first. Levels can be big and are cleared through the flag at the end. Teleporter podiums also dot the levels, allowing access to other levels, side areas and branching paths that take you on entirely different level structures. With the game touting over 100 levels on the box, you only really go through about a third of them on any playthrough.
Your first challenge should come on Hills of the Warrior I, where you meet the 'Murder Wall', a monstrosity of drills and machinery where Kid meets instant death if touched and will chase through the level. Then, when you fight the halfway boss, the Boomerang Brothers, all bets are off.
The game starts throwing more powerful enemies like leaping rock golems, fire spirits, rolling tanks, Lion Lords (no relation to Ruby-Spears Mega Man) and those godforsaken UFOs which fly in erratic patterns and rain death on anyone that runs under it. Helmets always come in handy supply, and some like the Cyclone are OP as they allow for flight, but the game will make sure you don't hold onto it for long.
Soon, you'll start bleeding lives and continues on painful levels like Forced Entry, Ice God's Vengeance, Alien Isle, The Hills Have Eyes, Forbidden Tombs, The Final Marathon and the most painful of all, Bloody Swamp.
Forced Entry and the aforementioned Bloody Swamp are cited as the hardest levels in the game, as the Murder Walls in these stages are faster and the stages come with multiple hitches and dead ends to enrage anyone brave enough to fight them. Forced Entry is hard enough, but Bloody Swamp is a nightmare of winding paths and difficult jumps that unless with pixel perfect memorization, most games end there. While Bloody Swamp is thankfully skippable, Forced Entry isn't. (Word of Advice, whatever you do, DO NOT take the teleporter at Hoverboard Beach.)
Overall, the way I speak of this game makes it sound awful? Truth be told, I actually really like this game. There's a genuine level of challenge that comes with it, and being able to clear this game with plenty of lives and continues is something I've done about three times over now. The controls are right, if a little slippery and the enemies never present themselves as unfair. (except for the little golems and the UFOs. Fuck Alien Isle, fuck it to hell)
If you're looking for a challenge of a game that rewards exploration and skillful platforming, you'll find something to like with Kid Chameleon.
Just be warned of the absolute hell that awaits you.
This game is EVIL. I shall tell you why.
You play as the titular 'Kid Chameleon', esq. as he travels through an evil VR game that kidnaps losers into its sinister clutches, collecting gems and platforming his way to the end of many levels. Throughout the game you can pick up the assistance through many helmets that grant special transformations and powers, like the Knight who can scale walls, Maniaxe, the Jason Vorhees look alike that throws axes, and Eyeclops, who can reveal hidden passages with his ray gun. Helmets also grant special gem powers, used by holding Start and pushing the B button, which are different for each transformation.
The game starts out easy enough, with not many enemies and some jumping challenges which do not prove too taxing at first. Levels can be big and are cleared through the flag at the end. Teleporter podiums also dot the levels, allowing access to other levels, side areas and branching paths that take you on entirely different level structures. With the game touting over 100 levels on the box, you only really go through about a third of them on any playthrough.
Your first challenge should come on Hills of the Warrior I, where you meet the 'Murder Wall', a monstrosity of drills and machinery where Kid meets instant death if touched and will chase through the level. Then, when you fight the halfway boss, the Boomerang Brothers, all bets are off.
The game starts throwing more powerful enemies like leaping rock golems, fire spirits, rolling tanks, Lion Lords (no relation to Ruby-Spears Mega Man) and those godforsaken UFOs which fly in erratic patterns and rain death on anyone that runs under it. Helmets always come in handy supply, and some like the Cyclone are OP as they allow for flight, but the game will make sure you don't hold onto it for long.
Soon, you'll start bleeding lives and continues on painful levels like Forced Entry, Ice God's Vengeance, Alien Isle, The Hills Have Eyes, Forbidden Tombs, The Final Marathon and the most painful of all, Bloody Swamp.
Forced Entry and the aforementioned Bloody Swamp are cited as the hardest levels in the game, as the Murder Walls in these stages are faster and the stages come with multiple hitches and dead ends to enrage anyone brave enough to fight them. Forced Entry is hard enough, but Bloody Swamp is a nightmare of winding paths and difficult jumps that unless with pixel perfect memorization, most games end there. While Bloody Swamp is thankfully skippable, Forced Entry isn't. (Word of Advice, whatever you do, DO NOT take the teleporter at Hoverboard Beach.)
Overall, the way I speak of this game makes it sound awful? Truth be told, I actually really like this game. There's a genuine level of challenge that comes with it, and being able to clear this game with plenty of lives and continues is something I've done about three times over now. The controls are right, if a little slippery and the enemies never present themselves as unfair. (except for the little golems and the UFOs. Fuck Alien Isle, fuck it to hell)
If you're looking for a challenge of a game that rewards exploration and skillful platforming, you'll find something to like with Kid Chameleon.
Just be warned of the absolute hell that awaits you.