Designers Shelley Day, Ron Gilbert | ||
 | ||
Publishers Humongous EntertainmentNight Dive Studios First release Putt-Putt Joins the ParadeOctober 30, 1992 Genres Adventure game, Educational entertainment Games Putt‑Putt Joins the Circus, Putt‑Putt Enters the Race, Putt‑Putt Travels Through, Putt‑Putt Saves the Zoo, Putt‑Putt Goes to the Moon | ||
The Putt-Putt series is a collection of children's adventure and puzzle computer games created by Humongous Entertainment. This franchise was Humongous Entertainment's first game series to be developed. They primarily involve clicking to get to a destination, although some sub-quests and mini-games involve the keyboard. The main character, Putt-Putt, an anthropomorphic purple convertible, and his pet dog, Pep, travel to various locations.
Contents
- History
- Adventure games
- Putt Putt Joins the Parade 1992
- Putt Putt Goes to the Moon 1993
- Putt Putt Saves the Zoo 1995
- Putt Putt Travels Through Time 1997
- Putt Putt Enters the Race 1998
- Putt Putt Joins the Circus 2000
- Putt Putt Peps Birthday Surprise 2003
- Customization
- Availability
- Main characters
- Baby Animals Putt Putt Saves the Zoo
- Recurring characters
- Peps Birthday Surprise only characters
- Books
- Reception
- References
History
Putt-Putt was originally thought up by Shelley Day as a series of bedtime stories for her son, Travis; the first story involved Putt-Putt saving a cat caught in a tree. Child actor Jason Ellefson did Putt-Putt's voice for the first eight of the games. In the games released between 1998 and 2000, Nancy Cartwright (of The Simpsons fame) voiced Putt-Putt. Michelle Thorson voiced Putt-Putt in Pep's Birthday Surprise.
The games are supported by ScummVM and thus can be played on other platforms such as handhelds. Humongous has brought several Putt-Putt and other titles to iOS and Android.
In 1997, Humongous made an agreement with Lancit Media Entertainment to create an animated TV series of Putt-Putt, along with movies and home video releases. However the plan was never put into action.
Several games from the original series were later re-released by Humongous on Steam in April 2014, alongside games from the Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, and Spy Fox series.
Adventure games
Humongous Entertainment classified these games as Junior Adventures (for kids 3-8)
Putt-Putt Joins the Parade (1992)
Released in 1992, this is Putt-Putt's first game, as well as the very first Humongous Entertainment computer game. It also shows how Putt-Putt and his dog Pep first met.
Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon (1993)
When Putt-Putt visits the fireworks factory, a slip of Pep's paw sends him rocketing to the moon. Once there, he needs to gather the pieces of a rocket ship to get himself, Pep, and his new friend, Rover back home to Earth. There was a hidden sneak peek to this game if Fatty Bear looks through a telescope in Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise. The game was ported from DOS to Windows in 1995, and re-packaged in 1999. It was rereleased on Steam on May 1, 2014
Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo (1995)
In this game, Putt-Putt has to rescue the zoo animals and return them to Outback Al (who also appears in Putt-Putt Enters the Race) before the Zoo's grand-opening. The animals he needs to rescue are Baby Jambo the elephant, Masai the giraffe, Kenya the lion cub, Zanzibar the hippopotamus, Sammy Seal, and Little Skeeter the snake. The game features the song "Topiary Creatures".
Putt Putt Travels Through Time (1997)
In this game, Putt-Putt visits Mr. Firebird's lab on his way to school. Due to a malfunction in the time machine, the portal sucks up the dog Pep, along with Putt-Putt's school supplies. Putt-Putt travels through four different eras to recover his school supplies and Pep.
Putt-Putt Enters the Race (1998)
Putt-Putt has to find a number of important objects before he qualifies for the Cartown 500 race: high powered, high octane gasoline, 4 racing tires, a safety helmet for Pep, and a flag with a specific number on it (1-9, Redline Rick tells Putt-Putt his official number on his checklist). When all of the objectives are completed, Putt-Putt is allowed to enter the race. The player is then allowed to race as Putt-Putt at the end of this game, the first time in the series where the Putt-Putt can be directly "driven." This is the first game to have Putt-Putt's voice done by Nancy Cartwright. Many characters from previous games make return appearances, including Smokey the Fire Engine, Rover, Outback Al and others. This game was released on iOS and Google Play on June 27, 2014.
Putt-Putt Joins the Circus (2000)
"Putt-Putt Joins the Circus" is the sixth Putt-Putt adventure from Humongous Entertainment. In this game, Putt-Putt (voiced by Nancy Cartwright) and his dog Pep go to see BJ Sweeney's Big Top Circus (a reference to Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus) in Apple Valley. They hopped on Roll-Along Cassidy, a circus train after a goat ate their ticket. When they reached Apple Valley, everything was in chaos. The circus' five main acts, Honko the Clown, The Flying Porkowskis: Herb, Pearl and Hammy, Phillipe the Flea, Reginald Cornelius Andronocles III the Lion, along with two tiger sisters, Terri and Marie, and Katie Cannonball; and all the minor acts, Marvin the Marvellous, Eunice the Unicycle, Francine the Hippo High Diver, Ivan the Semi-Strong Van, Sebastian the Juggling Seal, Mama Mombasa (from Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo), and Belobrodnik the Ballet Dancing Bear, are having serious and okay problems. Putt-Putt and Pep also meet new friends like Lester the Flea Janitor, Bart the Peanut Cart, Hank the Security Car, and Bette Bandwagon, along with Baby Jambo (the elephant from Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo). Putt-Putt needs to help all his new circus friends, so they will practice and finally perform under the big top in the opening night. It becomes a "Huge Success". Original music and songs were composed by Scott Lloyd Shelly. This game was released on iOS and Google Play on October 4, 2013.
Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise (2003)
It's Pep's birthday tomorrow and Putt-Putt wants to throw a surprise party for him. He just needs to get everything he needs before the party tomorrow morning. In this game, Putt-Putt is voiced by Michelle Thorson. Some of the music is reused from Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo. This is the only Putt-Putt game without a demo, possibly because the game was only released after Atari's takeover along with Pajama Sam: Life Is Rough When You Lose Your Stuff!.
Customization
Players can change Putt-Putt's color to red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or rainbow. All colors can be painted on again. This also changes the color of the dashboard in Putt-Putt Enters the Race, Putt-Putt Joins the Circus, Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-O-Rama, Putt-Putt Travels Through Time and Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo. However, in Putt-Putt Joins the Parade and Putt-Putt Enters the Race, the player needs to put 3 coins in a coin slot before changing his color. But in Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise, the color can only be changed temporarily as it just turns back to purple immediately.
Availability
Main characters
Baby Animals (Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo)
Recurring characters
Pep's Birthday Surprise-only characters
Books
Various Children's books about Putt-Putt have been published by Lyrick Publishing and Random House. A cassette tape audio adaptation was created for "Putt-Putt's Night Before Christmas".
Reception
The Putt-Putt series received various awards including "All-Star Software Award" from Children's Software Revue, "Reader's Choice Award" from Mac Home Journal and "2000 Best Picks Award" from Choosing Children's Software.