Multiple Personality Disorder is fun!
When you think of classic 16-bit console platforming the first names that probably spring to mind are Super Mario Bros. and Sonic The Hedgehog, or as I like to call them “two Guids and a rodent on speed.” There are, in fact, many forgotten heroes of that era. Vectorman, Chuck D. Head, Boogerman, Aero The AcroBat, Bubsy, the list goes on and on. Today however, I’m going to tell you about the greatest of these forgotten ones. His name is Casey, he starred in my favorite platformer of all time, and he made leather jackets and aviators cool before hipster assholes ruined them for everyone with their ironic fashion sense. Yep, it’s Kid Chameleon.
Back in 1992 I was a Sega kid. If you owned an SNES you had your SMB and Donkey Kong. That was all well and good if you wanted to fall into line with the PG status quo, but if you were like me and tried to sneak into R-rated movies, you needed the type of bizarre, violent and crazy fringe entertainment only the Sega Genesis could provide when it came to video games. Kid Chameleon was a first party work of genius that emerged from Sega’s creative renaissance period. The story revolves around a new virtual reality game “Wild Side” that shows up at the arcade, and then begins kidnapping its players when they inevitably lose. Casey goes into Wild Side and becomes Kid Chameleon to defeat its master “Heady Metal”. Classic early 90’s with the jagged neon fonts to prove it.
What really set Kid Chameleon apart from other platformers of the day (and many current ones) was his awesome capacity to use masks that morphed him into different personalities. He was basically ten schizophrenic characters in one that each had their own array of powers, strengths and weaknesses. These abilities could be used to Kid’s advantage to maneuver through the increasingly difficult environments of Wild Side. Forms ranged from basic assault like “Red Stealth” the samurai and “Maniaxe” who looked like Jason Voorhees and whipped hatchets at enemies, to utility characters like “MicroMax” the human fly who could stick to walls, or “SkyCutter” who rode a hoverboard that could defy gravity and stick to ceilings. My favorite form was undoubtedly “Juggernaut”; a huge tank operated by a skeleton wearing a Kaiser helmet. Oh yeah, and he shot SKULLS from a cannon. Are we seeing why this is better than Diddy Kong yet? Good.
There are over one hundred separate maps in the game world. You would only see about half of these if you played in linear fashion, running through each map to the flag at the end. However, teleporters placed in various levels could instantly send you to “elsewhere”; a network of levels outside of the main path. Once in these, you’d basically teleport around, scattershot, attempting to find your way back to the main path, and eventually fight a boss. Why? Because this game delighted in a cruel level of difficulty, that’s why! There are no save points anywhere, or password system. You have to beat what will usually amount to 80+ levels in one sitting. ROM’s later got around this issue, but the original Genesis/Mega Drive version is still an impressive challenge to defeat.
Graphics were on par with other Genesis titles of that time. Environments are colorful and varied, ranging from forests and jungles to sewers and cities. There are also the requisite “volcano and lava pit” levels. Enemies can get slightly repetitive, but are interesting and bizarre including things like skewered tribal heads shouting “DIE!” and oil slick monsters. Special attention was paid to the sprites of Kid and his alter egos, as they are highly detailed. Audio is straight from the early 90’s with tons of bloops and bleeps and plenty of “radical” sound effects like pitch shifted voices and laughter. The soundtrack is classic Genesis, meaning it sounds like someone formed an electo supergroup comprised of chimps playing keytars and table saws, meaning it’s incredible.
In summary, what made Kid Chameleon so great was the incredible variety of game play mechanics elegantly rolled into one game. Additionally, none of these felt shoehorned in because they made sense with the hero’s back story and world. If you haven’t played Kid Chameleon I can’t recommend enough that you give this challenging platformer a try since it’s now available from many services including Virtual Console and Steam. For extra fun, try my meta-game. Pretend that instead of fighting the games actual boss, you are battling Jeff Fahey as lovable dimwit Jobe from The Lawnmower Man.
The Good
When you think of classic 16-bit console platforming the first names that probably spring to mind are Super Mario Bros. and Sonic The Hedgehog, or as I like to call them “two Guids and a rodent on speed.” There are, in fact, many forgotten heroes of that era. Vectorman, Chuck D. Head, Boogerman, Aero The AcroBat, Bubsy, the list goes on and on. Today however, I’m going to tell you about the greatest of these forgotten ones. His name is Casey, he starred in my favorite platformer of all time, and he made leather jackets and aviators cool before hipster assholes ruined them for everyone with their ironic fashion sense. Yep, it’s Kid Chameleon.
Back in 1992 I was a Sega kid. If you owned an SNES you had your SMB and Donkey Kong. That was all well and good if you wanted to fall into line with the PG status quo, but if you were like me and tried to sneak into R-rated movies, you needed the type of bizarre, violent and crazy fringe entertainment only the Sega Genesis could provide when it came to video games. Kid Chameleon was a first party work of genius that emerged from Sega’s creative renaissance period. The story revolves around a new virtual reality game “Wild Side” that shows up at the arcade, and then begins kidnapping its players when they inevitably lose. Casey goes into Wild Side and becomes Kid Chameleon to defeat its master “Heady Metal”. Classic early 90’s with the jagged neon fonts to prove it.
What really set Kid Chameleon apart from other platformers of the day (and many current ones) was his awesome capacity to use masks that morphed him into different personalities. He was basically ten schizophrenic characters in one that each had their own array of powers, strengths and weaknesses. These abilities could be used to Kid’s advantage to maneuver through the increasingly difficult environments of Wild Side. Forms ranged from basic assault like “Red Stealth” the samurai and “Maniaxe” who looked like Jason Voorhees and whipped hatchets at enemies, to utility characters like “MicroMax” the human fly who could stick to walls, or “SkyCutter” who rode a hoverboard that could defy gravity and stick to ceilings. My favorite form was undoubtedly “Juggernaut”; a huge tank operated by a skeleton wearing a Kaiser helmet. Oh yeah, and he shot SKULLS from a cannon. Are we seeing why this is better than Diddy Kong yet? Good.
There are over one hundred separate maps in the game world. You would only see about half of these if you played in linear fashion, running through each map to the flag at the end. However, teleporters placed in various levels could instantly send you to “elsewhere”; a network of levels outside of the main path. Once in these, you’d basically teleport around, scattershot, attempting to find your way back to the main path, and eventually fight a boss. Why? Because this game delighted in a cruel level of difficulty, that’s why! There are no save points anywhere, or password system. You have to beat what will usually amount to 80+ levels in one sitting. ROM’s later got around this issue, but the original Genesis/Mega Drive version is still an impressive challenge to defeat.
Graphics were on par with other Genesis titles of that time. Environments are colorful and varied, ranging from forests and jungles to sewers and cities. There are also the requisite “volcano and lava pit” levels. Enemies can get slightly repetitive, but are interesting and bizarre including things like skewered tribal heads shouting “DIE!” and oil slick monsters. Special attention was paid to the sprites of Kid and his alter egos, as they are highly detailed. Audio is straight from the early 90’s with tons of bloops and bleeps and plenty of “radical” sound effects like pitch shifted voices and laughter. The soundtrack is classic Genesis, meaning it sounds like someone formed an electo supergroup comprised of chimps playing keytars and table saws, meaning it’s incredible.
In summary, what made Kid Chameleon so great was the incredible variety of game play mechanics elegantly rolled into one game. Additionally, none of these felt shoehorned in because they made sense with the hero’s back story and world. If you haven’t played Kid Chameleon I can’t recommend enough that you give this challenging platformer a try since it’s now available from many services including Virtual Console and Steam. For extra fun, try my meta-game. Pretend that instead of fighting the games actual boss, you are battling Jeff Fahey as lovable dimwit Jobe from The Lawnmower Man.
The Good
- Incredible variety of gameplay and powers.
- You can transform into an UNDEAD GERMAN TANK.
- Level of difficulty may cause hair loss.
- Replacing controllers can get expensive.
- Not enough blast processing.
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