Putt-Putt Joins the Parade

Putt-Putt Joins the Parade is a 1992 video game and the first of seven adventure games in the Putt-Putt series of games developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. Upon release, the game sold over 300,000 copies.[2] The combined sales of Putt-Putt Joins the Parade, Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon and Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo surpassed one million units by June 1997.[3] This is also first game by Humongous Entertainment.

Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
Windows / Macintosh cover art
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment[lower-alpha 1]
Director(s)Ron Gilbert
Designer(s)
Writer(s)Laurie Rose Bauman
Annie Fox
Composer(s)Tom McMail
EngineSCUMM
Platform(s)MS-DOS, 3DO, Macintosh, Windows, Linux, Steam
Release
  • November 6, 1992 (MS-DOS)
  • 1993 (3DO)
  • 1995 (Mac, Windows)
  • April 17, 2014 (Linux)
  • April 17, 2014 (Steam)[1]
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Plot

Putt-Putt (voiced by Jason Ellefson) wakes up one morning and turns on his radio, which announces that today is the day of the Cartown pet parade. Putt-Putt becomes interested in participating but acknowledges that he doesn't have a pet. He decides to visit Smokey the Fire Engine, who is in charge of the parade, to talk to him about it. Smokey tells Putt-Putt that he will need to bring a pet and a balloon, as well as get a car wash. He suggests to Putt-Putt that he try mowing lawns for money to pay for the car wash (even letting Putt-Putt borrow his lawn mower), as well as helping Mr. Baldini, the owner of the local grocery store, deliver groceries to friends.

While completing his goals, Putt-Putt has to clear obstacles on street paths (which includes nails, birds and a marching band of mice). Putt-Putt soon makes enough money to get a car wash, helps Mrs. Airbag by finding her lost son, Baby Beep, in the movie theater, getting a balloon as a reward, and meets a stray puppy in a cave, whom he befriends by giving him a bone (which he found while mowing a lawn) and names him "Pep". After Putt-Putt does all the tasks he needed to do, Smokey signs him up for the parade and even lets him lead in it. The cars in the parade all drive off as the sun sets and the credits roll.

Gameplay

The game plays like a typical point-and-click adventure game with the player moving Putt-Putt from one location to the next, picking up items and using them with mouse clicks. In the 3DO version, the on-screen pointing cursor is moved with the D-pad and a button is used to click on what the cursor is pointing at. Fully voiced characters can be talked to, and every scene is filled with colorful and animated interactions. Putt-Putt places collected items in his glove box, which serves as a simple heads-up display. Putt-Putt can also collect coins to pay for going in the Cartown Carwash and, or the Cartown Color for a paint job (entering the former costs two coins, while the latter costs three). One coin can be found in Putt-Putt's garage, while more can be earned by mowing the lawns of other cars or delivering groceries for Mr. Baldini.

Release

After the game's creation, Humongous Entertainment had intended to get Electronic Arts to distribute the product, invoking a lawsuit from Lucasarts over the ownership of the SCUMM game engine and disruption from press release.[4]

When a demo of the game was completed, it was uploaded to CompuServe. It took time before a single user downloaded the game, then gave a lengthy review which gave a steady increase in audience.[5]

Reception

In 1997, a study conducted by the University of Texas at Austin compared children's reception of educational games with their professionally assigned developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) ratings. Of the thirteen programs selected, Putt-Putt Joins the Parade ranked as the most frequently played game.[11]

References
  1. "Putt-Putt Joins the Parade on Steam". Steam. Archived from the original on May 19, 2015. Retrieved May 13, 2015.
  2. Robert Sorbo. "Cyber Elite - Shelley Day". Archived from the original on April 9, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2016.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  3. People Staff (June 2, 1997). "The Little Car that Could". People. Archived from the original on May 19, 2018.
  4. "Lucasarts vs Humongous Entertainment". Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  5. "An Interview with Ron Gilbert". Game Bytes. No. 9. March 13, 1993.
  6. "Putt-Putt Joins the Parade for PC - GameRankings". GameRankings. Archived from the original on September 9, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  7. "Putt-Putt Joins the Parade Information, Screenshots & Media". Adventure Gamers. Archived from the original on April 8, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  8. "Putt-Putt Joins the Parade Review". IGN. Archived from the original on January 17, 2023. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  9. LeVitus, Bob (December 1995). "The Game Room". MacUser. Archived from the original on January 22, 2000. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
  10. "Humongous Entertainment® Hall of Fame 1993-2000": 9–10. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. Escobedo, Theresa H.; Evans, Sharon (1997-03-28). "A Comparison of Child-Tested Early Childhood Education Software with Professional Ratings". Archived from the original on 2023-01-17. Retrieved 2019-02-14. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  1. The 3DO version was published by Marubeni. The Steam release was co-published by Tommo and Night Dive Studios.
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