Kid Chameleon is fucking stupid, and that's both what makes and breaks it. Most of the charm is found in how utterly goofy it all is, especially the powerups, while on the other hand it all comes crashing down because of the prominent absurdity, even cruelty, of the level design. This had to have been a heavy influence on those kaizo games and Mario Maker levels you see around nowadays.

And it's got no passwords or saves, either. A major selling point for this one was that it has over 100 levels in total, it's even on the front of the box. You probably won’t see all of them, as some are on alternate routes and such, and some routes get you through the game faster than others. Whatever the case, it's still really long for a 4th gen platformer, so what gives? It even has limited continues, so I have to wonder really if anyone actually beat this when it came out. Difficulty-wise it's just...such a different breed, even for the time.

I really wish I liked this one more, it definitely has a lot going for it, but the length and all around bullshit design just deal a massive blow to the overall quality. Despite being in a bunch of compilations, I sadly can't recommend it.

Reviewed on Nov 15, 2022


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