Putt-Putt (series)


Putt-Putt is a series 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.

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 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.

Games

Adventure games

Humongous Entertainment classified these games as Junior Adventures
  1. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade
  2. Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon
  3. Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo
  4. Putt Putt Travels Through Time
  5. Putt-Putt Enters the Race
  6. Putt-Putt Joins the Circus
  7. Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise

    Other games

Customization

Players can change Putt-Putt's color to original purple, red, orange, yellow, green, blue, black, brown, pink, gray, 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

The series takes place in a fictional Earth that is civilized by anthropomorphic vehicles, devoid of humanity, although Rover claims to have witnessed humans in the events of Putt-Putt Goes To The Moon when he recounted to Putt-Putt about how some human astronauts previously used him for a mission. However, unlike the world of Disney/Pixar's Cars animated film series, the vehicles also co-exist with flesh-and-blood creatures, some who are also anthropomorphic. Most car characters can use their whip antenna as a makeshift arm to grab objects.

Main characters

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".
TitleDateWriterPublisherIllustrator
Putt-Putt's Night Before ChristmasJanuary 1, 1995Laurie Bauman ArnoldHumongous Entertainment, Inc.Derek McCaughan, Edward Pun
Putt-Putt and PepMay 7, 1996Del ThompsonRandom House Books For Young Readers
Putt-Putt: The Great Pet ChaseJuly, 2000Laurie Bauman Arnold, Tricia LegaultLyrick Publishing
Go, Go, Putt-Putt Go!2000Laurie Bauman Arnold, N.S. GreenfieldLyrick PublishingDarren McKee
Putt-Putt: Lost In TimeJanuary, 2001Nancy ParentLyrick PublishingJosie Yee
Putt-Putt: Race Against the ClockJuly, 2001Gayla AmaralLyrick PublishingSue DiCiccio
On the Road With Putt-PuttJuly, 2001Lyrick Publishing

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.