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.[1] 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 dog, Pep, travel to various locations.

For the game known as putt-putt, see Miniature golf.
Putt-Putt
Putt-Putt and Pep
Genre(s)Adventure, Edutainment
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment
Atari
Infogrames
Night Dive Studios
Creator(s)Shelley Day
Platform(s)DOS, Microsoft Windows, 3DO, Macintosh, iOS
First releasePutt-Putt Joins the Parade
October 30, 1992
Latest releasePutt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise
2003

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.[2][3] 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[4] and Android.

In 1997, Humongous made an agreement with Lancit Media Entertainment to create an animated TV series of Putt-Putt,[5] along with movies and home video releases.[6] 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,[7] alongside games from the Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, and Spy Fox series.[8][9][10]

Games

Adventure games

Humongous Entertainment classified these games as Junior Adventures (for kids 3-8)

  1. Putt-Putt Joins the Parade (1992-1993)
  2. Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon (1993)
  3. Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo (1995)
  4. Putt Putt Travels Through Time (1997)
  5. Putt-Putt Enters the Race (1998)
  6. Putt-Putt Joins the Circus (2000)
  7. Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise (2003)

Other games
"Junior Arcades"
Game Releases Developer/Publisher
Putt-Putt and Pep's Dog on a Stick October 15, 1996 (Win/Mac)
January 6, 2014 (iOS)		 Humongous Entertainment
Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-o-Rama October 15, 1996 (Win/Mac)
1999 (LCD)[11]
April 17, 2014 (Steam)		 Humongous Entertainment, Toymax (LCD)
"Activity Packs"
Game Releases Developer/Publisher
Putt-Putt's Fun Pack March 26, 1993 (DOS/Mac/3DO) Humongous Entertainment
Putt-Putt & Fatty Bear's Activity Pack March 25, 1994 (Win) Humongous Entertainment
Putt-Putt's One-Stop Fun Shop April 5, 2000 (Win/Mac) Humongous Entertainment
Putt-Putt's Fun House May 22, 2013 (iOS) Humongous Entertainment, Nimbus 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 Travels Through Time, and Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo. However, in Putt-Putt Joins the Parade and Putt-Putt Enters the Race, each color change costs three coins that can be collected in the game world. In Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise, Putt-Putt's color can only be changed temporarily before reverting back to purple after some traveling. His color can also be changed in certain levels of Putt-Putt and Pep's Balloon-o-Rama by using Pep to pop certain balloons tied to paint buckets, then catching the bucket containing the desired color as it falls to change Putt-Putt to.

Availability

Characters

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 consume food typically eaten by humans and 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
  • Putt-Putt - A purple convertible car, full of fun and excitement, and happy to help those he meets.
  • Pep - An abandoned puppy, whom Putt-Putt adopted in the first game of the series, and has been his pet and best friend ever since.

Baby Animals (Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo)
  • Baby Jambo the Elephant - An baby elephant with a 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 while Mama Mombassa sleeps in The Flying Porkowskis' trapeze net as a hammock until Putt-Putt wakes her up with a bag of peanuts.
  • Masai the Giraffe - A giraffe calf who gets stuck at a drawbridge with a rock blocking the way until Putt-Putt helps push it and lowers the drawbridge.
  • Kenya the Lion Cub - A little lion cub resembling Nala from The Lion King (and its 2019 remake), voiced by Kathleen Young. She was stuck on a rock in the waterfall in Jungleland until Putt-Putt uses a rope to rescue her.
  • Samantha "Sammy" Seal - A seal pup who does tricks and stunts who gets lost at the Grasslands when the dam closed until Putt-Putt uses a toolbox to open it.
  • Little Skeeter the Snake - A young snake who is frozen in Arcticland until Putt-Putt gives him hot cocoa.
  • Zanizbar the Hippo - A hippo calf who lives in Jungleland who gets lost in Arcticland until the player directs the penguins to arrange the iceberg path.

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 books, which Putt-Putt reads when he gets a chance.
  • Mr. Firebird - The Cartown scientist whose inventions often backfire and become dangerous to others.
  • 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.
  • 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. In "Putt-Putt: Pep's Birthday Surprise", he has a dalmatian puppy.
  • 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. Chuck Wagon first appeared in "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo," offering Putt-Putt cotton candy, hot cocoa (For Little Skeeter) and Cheese Squigglies (To lure the mouse away from frightening Baby Jambo).
  • 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 who lets go Putt-Putt backstage to meet the performers after getting his backstage pass signed by B.J. Sweeney.
  • Mr. Kibble - The Cartown Pet Store Truck, who sells pet food and supplies.
  • Marvin - An auto-mobile Magician who entertains people at parties who talks like Peter Lorre. He returns in "Putt-Putt Joins the Circus" as the magician in B.J. Sweeney's circus.
  • 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.[23]

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 DB Sweeney and 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 acrobatic pigs in B.J. Sweeney's circus. Mama Mombassa used their net as a hammock until Putt-Putt wakes her up with a bag of peanuts and gave it to them.
  • 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 the Bear to Pep until Putt-Putt got a new umbrella for a new tent for his flea circus.
  • Reginald Cornelius 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' cannonball. She speaks with a Southern accent.
  • Eunice - A unicycle who practices on the tightrope.
  • 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 whom Phillipe and the other fleas traveled until Putt-Putt got them a new tent.
  • Francine - A high-diving hippopotamus who accidentally gets her bathing suit switched with Reginald the Lion's cape.
  • Sebastian the Juggling Seal - A seal Putt-Putt meets in the menagerie of B.J. Sweeney's circus who is having trouble with his juggling act at first because one of his juggling clubs gets mixed up with Honko the Clown's nose, but gets the act right when Putt-Putt brings him the fourth club after Marvin's card trick has no match.
  • Circus animals - The other circus animals in the menagerie tent of B.J. Sweeney's circus, consisting of two monkeys, a horse, a rhinoceros, a cockatoo, and a camel who sing "We're the Animals in the Circus."
  • Ivan the Semi-Strong Van - The replacement for Pectoro the Strong Van in B.J. Sweeney's circus who becomes strong after Putt-Putt finds the recipe for Pectoro's power shake.
  • Bart - A peanut cart who gives Putt-Putt a bag of peanuts (For Mama Mombassa) if he wins the Peanut Challenge.

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".

TitleDateWriterPublisherIllustrator
Putt-Putt's Night Before Christmas[24] January 1, 1995 Laurie Bauman Arnold Humongous Entertainment, Inc. Derek McCaughan, Edward Pun
Putt-Putt and Pep[25] May 7, 1996 Del Thompson Random House Books For Young Readers
Putt-Putt: The Great Pet Chase[26] July, 2000 Laurie Bauman Arnold, Tricia Legault Lyrick Publishing
Go, Go, Putt-Putt Go![27] 2000 Laurie Bauman Arnold, N.S. Greenfield Lyrick Publishing Darren McKee
Putt-Putt: Lost In Time[28] January, 2001 Nancy Parent Lyrick Publishing Josie Yee
Putt-Putt: Race Against the Clock[29] July, 2001 Gayla Amaral Lyrick Publishing Sue DiCiccio
On the Road With Putt-Putt[30] July, 2001 Lyrick 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.[31]

References
  1. Jacquie Kubin (October 1, 2000). "There's Humongous Rewards in Entertaining Little Kids". Retrieved July 22, 2016. Putt-Putt is the flagship title of the company
  2. "Shelley Day profile in TIME magazine archive". 2009-05-12. Archived from the original on May 12, 2009. Retrieved 2013-12-05.CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  3. "H.E. Corp. Profile". Archived from the original on 1998-02-10. Retrieved 2017-01-18.
  4. Larry McMahon (2011-11-16). "Atari Resurrects Putt-Putt on the iPad". GamerPops. Archived from the original on 2015-11-05. Retrieved 2016-04-15.
  5. "PC Magazine, Volume 16". PC Magazine. No. 10. May 27, 1997. p. 10. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
  6. Jennifer Oldham (March 26, 1997). "Putt-Putt to Shift Gears Into Television, Movies". Los Angeles Times.
  7. Vincent, Brittany (17 April 2014). "Childhood edutainment favorites Putt-Putt and Fatty Bear on Steam is Humongous". Destructoid. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  8. "Humongous Entertainment gets the Steam Treatment!". Humongous Entertainment. Archived from the original on 19 April 2014. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  9. Good, Owen (19 April 2014). "Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam and Humongous Entertainment return to PC on Steam". Polygon. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  10. Maiberg, Emanuel (19 April 2014). "Putt-Putt and Pajama Sam just as hardcore as Dark Souls according to Steam.com tags". GameSpot. Retrieved 20 April 2014.
  11. http://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/putt-putt-balloon-rama-1999-humongous-421220593
  12. "Putt-Putt on Steam". Steam. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  13. "Putt-Putt Complete Pack on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  14. "Humongous Entertainment Complete Pack on Steam". store.steampowered.com. Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  15. http://www.cdaccess.com/html/quick/tripletrdr.htm
  16. Humongous Entertainment triple treat 2. OCLC 42255135.
  17. "UPC 742725165212 - World of Fun & Learning: Kindergarten Edition -". www.upccodesearch.com. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
  18. "Putt-Putt Fun & Learning Kindergarten Edition". Retrieved 20 December 2016.
  19. "UPC 742725178342 - True Enterprise X8 PCI Express to 4Gbps Quad Port". www.upccodesearch.com. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
  20. "Super Duper Arcade 1". Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  21. "UPC 742725178373 - SuperDuper Arcade 2 (4 Humongous Titles)". www.upccodesearch.com. Retrieved 2017-04-22.
  22. "Super Duper Arcade 2". Retrieved December 19, 2016.
  23. "Putt=Putt 7 - Meet the Characters" (PDF). August 21, 2003: 8–12. Retrieved March 17, 2016. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  24. "ISBN 1570649448". Barcode Lookup. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  25. "ISBN 0679879587". Barcode Lookup. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  26. "ISBN 1570649448". Barcode Lookup. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  27. "ISBN 1570649456". Barcode Lookup. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  28. "ISBN 1586680609". Barcode Lookup. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  29. "ISBN 1586680676". Barcode Lookup. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  30. "ISBN 1586681494". Barcode Lookup. Retrieved August 27, 2016.
  31. Ito, Mizuko (January 27, 2007). "Education V. Entertainment" (PDF): 12. Retrieved 21 April 2015. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
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