Fun fact - this was the second ever Game Boy game I owned. I mentioned the story behind my first Game Boy game here, and I would get both Pokémon Yellow and Pokémon Sapphire for my birthday subsequent to this, but this was a little surprise my mother got me, since the whole family liked The Muppets and it must've caught her eye. Thanks, Mom. =)
I of course mean this as no slight against my mother when I admit that this game really doesn't hold up. I don't think that's much of a surprise once you learn the game's high concept - a minigame compilation with practically no narrative thrust, where each minigame is only a little more involved than your average Game & Watch game (only without the mechanical complexity, if that makes any sense).
The game's so short, I can run through each minigame here and now:
- Kermit's Banjo Bayou Serenade: Switch lanes, avoid Miss Piggy, use the spin attack if you have it. Weirdly the most fiddly of these minigames, since Kermit has a bigger hitbox than you'd think and Miss Piggy is an insta-fail. Decent musical loop though.
- The Sweedish Chef Cooking Hour: Yes, that's how it's spelled in-game. Whack Rizzo and the other Rat, dodge Camilla's eggs. At some point you get a second frying pan, and the game plays itself for a bit.
- Muppet Labs: Fling away junk, don't fling away potions. An extremely forgiving game, despite how easy it is to get stunned by steam; I've gotten five stars even without getting the meter all the way in the green.
- Gonzo's Stunt Race: Run through targets and avoid obstacles. Weirdly the only one of these that breaks the framing device of these being part of the Muppet Show, since there's no way this Excitebike-esque stunt track could exist on the stage. Maybe the best minigame, though?
- Jurassic Pork: A... boss fight??? Karate chop projectiles, avoid mirrors and attacks that will hit Kermit. Decent, but kind of a weird choice for a Miss Piggy-centric game.
- Electric Mayhem Band: A pretty limp call-and-response rhythm game. You know the drill, hit the buttons when they come up in the song. For some reason, even though Medium and Hard difficulty are up-tempo, the interstitial music between rounds stays at the same tempo on all songs. I guess that's part of the difficulty?
These six minigames represent the full campaigns, but Medium and Hard clears respectively unlock these two bonus minigames:
-Pigs in Space: Horizontal space scroller. Avoid meteorites for as long as you can. PIIIIIIGS IIIIIIIN SPAAAAAAACE
-Fozzie: Helmet. Avoid falling objects for as long as you can. Why is Fozzie relegated to a bonus round?
Paradoxically, while there isn't much to this game at all, I sort of find that there's a decent amount of care to this game as a licensed property. Statler and Waldorf riff on every minigame, with different comments based on how many stars you get and whether you actually finish it. The Newsman is there on the Pause Screen, being abused by falling objects related to the minigame. "Gonzo's Stunt Race" notwithstanding, every minigame is presented as a skit would be presented on the Muppet Show, complete with the Muppets' lower halves being off-screen. The rasterized CGI models are... a respectable job at communicating how the Muppets themselves animate (though something about Kermit's fingers feels off). There's generally that sense of mayhem that the Muppets are known for, perhaps a bit restrained, but not too far off...
Don't expect much game at all, but it's a decent enough time waster. Really nothing in the way of staying power, though. Not hard to see why this game uses passwords instead of a proper save system.
I of course mean this as no slight against my mother when I admit that this game really doesn't hold up. I don't think that's much of a surprise once you learn the game's high concept - a minigame compilation with practically no narrative thrust, where each minigame is only a little more involved than your average Game & Watch game (only without the mechanical complexity, if that makes any sense).
The game's so short, I can run through each minigame here and now:
- Kermit's Banjo Bayou Serenade: Switch lanes, avoid Miss Piggy, use the spin attack if you have it. Weirdly the most fiddly of these minigames, since Kermit has a bigger hitbox than you'd think and Miss Piggy is an insta-fail. Decent musical loop though.
- The Sweedish Chef Cooking Hour: Yes, that's how it's spelled in-game. Whack Rizzo and the other Rat, dodge Camilla's eggs. At some point you get a second frying pan, and the game plays itself for a bit.
- Muppet Labs: Fling away junk, don't fling away potions. An extremely forgiving game, despite how easy it is to get stunned by steam; I've gotten five stars even without getting the meter all the way in the green.
- Gonzo's Stunt Race: Run through targets and avoid obstacles. Weirdly the only one of these that breaks the framing device of these being part of the Muppet Show, since there's no way this Excitebike-esque stunt track could exist on the stage. Maybe the best minigame, though?
- Jurassic Pork: A... boss fight??? Karate chop projectiles, avoid mirrors and attacks that will hit Kermit. Decent, but kind of a weird choice for a Miss Piggy-centric game.
- Electric Mayhem Band: A pretty limp call-and-response rhythm game. You know the drill, hit the buttons when they come up in the song. For some reason, even though Medium and Hard difficulty are up-tempo, the interstitial music between rounds stays at the same tempo on all songs. I guess that's part of the difficulty?
These six minigames represent the full campaigns, but Medium and Hard clears respectively unlock these two bonus minigames:
-Pigs in Space: Horizontal space scroller. Avoid meteorites for as long as you can. PIIIIIIGS IIIIIIIN SPAAAAAAACE
-Fozzie: Helmet. Avoid falling objects for as long as you can. Why is Fozzie relegated to a bonus round?
Paradoxically, while there isn't much to this game at all, I sort of find that there's a decent amount of care to this game as a licensed property. Statler and Waldorf riff on every minigame, with different comments based on how many stars you get and whether you actually finish it. The Newsman is there on the Pause Screen, being abused by falling objects related to the minigame. "Gonzo's Stunt Race" notwithstanding, every minigame is presented as a skit would be presented on the Muppet Show, complete with the Muppets' lower halves being off-screen. The rasterized CGI models are... a respectable job at communicating how the Muppets themselves animate (though something about Kermit's fingers feels off). There's generally that sense of mayhem that the Muppets are known for, perhaps a bit restrained, but not too far off...
Don't expect much game at all, but it's a decent enough time waster. Really nothing in the way of staying power, though. Not hard to see why this game uses passwords instead of a proper save system.