Welcome to our blast from the past (and Future)! It’s Putt-Putt Travels Through Time (which I will refer to as just Putt-Putt in the review). I was super hyped when they announced both Putt-Putt and Freddie FIsh for the Nintendo Switch since I grew up on both titles on my parent’s Packard Bell Home Computer System. Let’s honk in!
Humongous Entertainment
Humongous Entertainment, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Bothell, Washington. Founded in 1992, the company is best known for developing multiple edutainment franchises, most prominently Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam and Spy Fox, which, combined, sold over 15 million copies and earned more than 400 awards of excellence.
GT Interactive acquired humongous Entertainment (later renamed Infogrames, Inc., then Atari, Inc.) in July 1996. By October 2000, sales of Humongous games had surpassed 16 million copies. GT sold Humongous to its parent company, Infogrames (later renamed Atari SA), in August 2005, as a result of which the company was shut down a few months after. Infogrames transitioned the label to a new company, Humongous, Inc., which continued publishing games under the Humongous label until 2013, when it faced bankruptcy. As part of the bankruptcy agreement of the Atari SA subsidiary Atari, Inc., Humongous, Inc. and Atari Interactive, Tommo acquired the Humongous brand and all of its assets, and went on to re-release some of its games into digital distribution channels in conjunction with Night Dive Studios.
Putt-Putt Travels Through Time!
Mr. Firebird’s time machine has gone haywire and Putt-Putt’s® best pal Pep, is lost somewhere in time. Grab your compass! Putt-Putt® needs your child’s help to find him. Together, they’ll leap through time, explore new dimensions and discover surprising new friends. Meet Ms. Brachiosaurus – she holds the key to unlocking the secrets of the dinosaurs. See what pans out when you visit Silverado Sam, the prospector from the Old West. Be sure to check out Darien the librarian from the Future – he just may have the book you need. These are just a few of the delightful friends who will help your child reunite our pals. It’s an adventure-of-the-centuries that will keep kids coming back time and time again!
Enter the Time Continuum!
Putt-Putt features a total of four worlds, which can be reached after entering the Time Portal. After you’ve entered the Time Portal, you’ll find yourself inside the Time Continuum. Each of the four Time Periods has a different era in history. You start at the Mesozoic Era (220 Million BC to 64 Million BC), which features a lot of other dinosaurs and educational games about volcanoes and building stone bridges. The Middle Ages (410 AD to 1499) are the next era, featuring a king, princess, jester, and wizard! The Middle Ages feature a bunch of themed mini-games that are perfect for the younger audience. The third era is the American Frontier (1800 to 1929), while you enter the small town of Tire Flats. This run-of-the-mill western town in the middle of the desert features a bunch of dustbowls, a general store, and a train track. The train track can take you around the area and offers a bit more freedom than the other areas. The Distant Future, the last area, shows off a futuristic setting where Putt-Putt can go to a museum, make weird pet food, and paint over Putt-Putt.
Search and find
The whole point of Putt-Putt games is to search and find specific items, to combine them in a point-and-click adventure. These games are educationally based and aimed at children – but even adults who grow up with them can enjoy them to the fullest since it offers inside jokes that only adults understand (just like kids shows nowadays). Luckily no run is ever the same since the game is randomized each time you boot it up. Unfortunately, Putt-Putt is only available in English, which is a bit of a bummer since I looked forward to playing this with my two-year-old. I did finish a run with her but had to explain everything that happened instead of trying certain things or doing a puzzle independently. I hope they add a language option to the game since that would help market these games in the Benelux.
Conclusion
So, to conclude! If you’re an adult that wants to relive their childhood, a speedrunner that intends to complete old games as fast as possible, or a kid that never heard of Putt-Putt, this might be just the release for you. And it works surprisingly well on the Nintendo Switch. Even in docked mode, the game reacts great – so triple-A titles, look at how it’s done! Its price point is decent, currently sitting at 12 euros, instead of the 15 it will be in a few weeks. I hope that they add other languages to help market the game in the Netherlands and Belgium.
