Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
Introduction '''''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. 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.This is also the first game produced by Humongous Entertainment.
Plot On a sunny morning in Cartown, Putt-Putt turns on his radio and hears an announcement about a pet parade event. 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 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. Putt-Putt places collected items in his glove box, which serves as a simple heads-up display. Putt-Putt's gas gauge shows how much fuel Putt-Putt has; if he runs low on fuel, the player must take him to Cartown's gas station to give him more. 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. The game has three tasks that must be completed in order to complete the game, involving getting a carwash, a balloon, and a pet. An optional substitute for the carwash task is getting a paint job at the Cartown Color building, where Putt-Putt can change his color. Puzzles include having to remove obstacles from street paths. The player can visit Smokey's Fire Station at any time for advice. A variety of minigames are also playable.Putt-Putt can also collect coins to pay for going in the Cartown Carwash and, or the Cartown Color (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.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.
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.
References
External links * *  ''Putt-Putt Joins the Parade'' at Humongous Entertainment