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.
Video Putt-Putt (series)
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.
Maps Putt-Putt (series)
Games
Adventure games
Humongous Entertainment classified these games as Junior Adventures (for kids 3-8)
- 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: Pep's Birthday Surprise (2003)
Other games
Customization
Players can change Putt-Putt's color to original purple, 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 Goes to the Moon and Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise, the color can only be changed temporarily as it just turns back to purple immediately.
Availability
- For Steam the games were released as single games, or bundled together in the "Putt-Putt Complete Pack" or came packaged with all Humongous Entertainment games in "Humongous Entertainment Complete Pack".
- Humongous Entertainment released a CD titled "Humongous Entertainment Triple Treat", which included Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, Pajama Sam's Sock Works and Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds.
- Humongous Entertainment released a CD titled "Humongous Entertainment Triple Treat 2", which included Putt Putt Travels Through Time, Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside and Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness.
- Humongous Entertainment released a "Putt-Putt Fun & Learning Kindergarten Edition" package with a Putt-Putt notebook and a CD that included Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo and Big Thinkers Kindergarten.
- Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-O-Rama was released for Windows and Macintosh on a compilation CD titled "Super Duper Arcade 1", along with Spy Fox in: Cheese Chase, Pajama Sam's Sock Works and Freddi Fish and Luther's Water Worries and .
- Putt-Putt and Pep's Dog on a Stick was released for Windows and Macintosh on a compilation CD titled "Super Duper Arcade 2", along with Spy Fox in: Hold the Mustard, Pajama Sam's Lost & Found and Freddi Fish and Luther's Maze Madness.
Characters
Main characters
- Putt-Putt - A purple convertible car, full fun and excitement and happy to help those she meets.
- Pep - An abandoned puppy, whom Putt-Putt adopted and has been his pet and best friend ever since.
Baby Animals (Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo)
- Baby Jambo the Elephant - An elephant calf who has the fear of mice. He later returns in "Putt-Putt Joins the Circus," traveling with B.J. Sweeney's circus with his mother, Mama Mombasa and spends his time outside the menagerie tent, painting pictures.
- Masai the Giraffe - A giraffe calf who gets stuck at a drawbridge
- Kenya the Lion Cub - A little lion cub resemebling Nala from The Lion King, voiced by Kathleen Young
- Samantha "Sammy" Seal - A seal pup who does tricks and stunts
- Little Skeeter the Snake - A young snake who is frozen in Articland
- Zanizbar the Hippo - A hippo calf who lives in Jungleland
Recurring characters
- Mr. Baldini - The Italian proprietor lorry of the Cartown Grocery Store. Putt-Putt frequently makes grocery deliveries for him in exchange for coins.
- Ms. Bundlebugget - The Cartown librarian trolley, who keeps interesting keeps, which Putt-Putt reads when he gets a chance.
- Mr. Firebird
- Mrs. Goodbake - Cartown's jolly and gold-hearted cake baker van, who makes delicious confectioneries.
- Outback Al - The zookeeper and owner of the Cartown Zoo. He speaks with an Australian accent, like Steve Irwin and Crocodile Dundee.
- Rover - A friendly moon buggy who was deserted on the moon, until Putt-Putt gave him a ride back to Earth.
- Smokey - The Cartown Fire Engine Chief, who is a red fire truck that gives safety tips to those he meets.
- Mrs. Widget - The cheerful toy shop bumper car, who often has a product on the house.
Pep's Birthday Surprise-only characters
- Caristas - Two caravans that make and serve hot cocoa.
- Hank - A police car, who makes a record of the world's biggest twine as a hobby. He returns in "Putt-Putt Joins the Circus" as the circus' security guard.
- Mr. Kibble - The Cartown Pet Store Truck, who sells pet food and supplies.
- Marvin - An auto-mobile Magician who entertains people at parties.
- Mildred - A three-wheeled mail truck, who has a knack at keeping secrets.
- Reginald Windbag, III - A mobile inflator also called 'Reggie', who comes from a long line of inflators.
- Sunshine - A happy, carefree van who sells odd sorts of items.
- Torvil - A farm tractor, who tends to the barnyard.
Putt-Putt Joins the Circus
- Roll-Along Cassidy - The circus train's locomotive who gives Putt-Putt a ride to the circus grounds after a goat eats his circus ticket.
- B.J. Sweeney - The owner and ringmaster of his circus. His name is a play on P.T. Barnum.
- Honko the Clown - A clown car who performs in B.J. Sweeney's circus. His name is a play on Harpo Marx because they communicate by honking.
- The Flying Porkowskis - A family of pigs who perform as the acrobats in B.J. Sweeney's circus.
- Phillipe the Flea - A French flea whose flea circus is a red-and-white-striped umbrella for a tent. He and the other fleas traveled from Belobrodnik Bear to Pep until Putt-Putt got a new umbrella for a new tent for his flea circus.
- Reginald Cornelious Andronocles III - Also called "Reginald the Lion" for short. He speaks with a British accent and is assisted by two tigers named Terri and Marie in his wild cat act for the circus.
- Katie Cannonball - The circus' human cannonball. She speaks with a Southern accent.
- Bette Bandwagon - A calliope who is the circus accompaniment, conductor, and orchestra rolled into one. After Putt-Putt fixes her pipes and she blows out a Honk-ish translation book which Putt-Putt uses to talk to Honko the Clown, she'll sing a song for him.
- Belobrodnik Bear - A Russian dancing bear.
- Marvin the Marvelous - A green car who is the circus magician who talks like Peter Lorre.
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.
References
External links
- Putt-Putt at Humongous Entertainment
- Putt-Putt series at MobyGames
Source of article : Wikipedia
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