Software:Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo

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Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo
Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo Win-Mac Boxart.jpg
Windows / Macintosh Cover art
Developer(s)Humongous Entertainment[lower-alpha 1]
Publisher(s)Humongous Entertainment[lower-alpha 2]
Producer(s)Ron Gilbert
Designer(s)
  • Ron Gilbert
  • Bret Barrett
  • Brad Carlton
Artist(s)Todd Lubsen[1]
Writer(s)
  • Laurie Bauman Arnold
  • Annie Fox
Composer(s)George Alistair Sanger
EngineSCUMM
Platform(s)Android, Macintosh, Windows, DVD player, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4
ReleaseReleased:
  • August 10, 1995 (Win)[2]
  • 1996 (Mac)
  • 2005 (DVD player)
  • November 15, 2011, August 13, 2015 (iOS)
  • 2012 (Android)
  • July 3, 2014 (Linux)[3]
  • February 10, 2022 (Switch)[4]
  • November 3, 2022 (Playstation 4)[5]
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo is a 1995 video game and the third of seven adventure games in the Putt-Putt series of games developed and published by Humongous Entertainment. The animation style also changed with this game to hand-drawn animation, in contrast to the pixel art graphics of the previous two games, following the studio's jump from DOS to Windows with Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds the previous year. The game was reissued on April 19, 1999. In November 2011, the game became the first Humongous Entertainment game to be rereleased for iOS and Google Play.[6] Developed by Nimbus Games Inc., the iOS version of this game released by Atari was discontinued. A Nintendo Switch version was released on February 10, 2022,[4] followed by the PlayStation 4 version on the PlayStation Store in November the same year.[7]

Plot

Putt-Putt is excited for the grand opening of the Cartown Zoo. While stopping at Mr. Baldini's grocery store, Mr. Baldini asks Putt-Putt to deliver a bag of zoo chow to Outback Al, the zookeeper, to which Putt-Putt agrees. Upon arriving at the zoo and bringing Al the zoo chow, Putt-Putt learns that six baby animals have gone missing: Baby Jambo the elephant; Masai the giraffe; Kenya the lion cub; Zanzibar the hippopotamus; Sammy the seal; and Little Skeeter the boa constrictor. Putt-Putt volunteers to search for the animals, which Outback Al agrees to as he starts repairs on the zoo.

After finding and rescuing all six baby animals, Putt-Putt notifies Outback Al of his success, and Al excitedly thanks him. At the zoo's opening ceremony, Outback Al gives Putt-Putt a Junior Zookeeper award for his help and allows him the honor of cutting the ribbon. The zoo is then opened to everyone as they all enter to explore, ending the game.

Gameplay

The game mechanics are almost the same as its predecessors including the glove box inventory, horn, radio and accelerator, though one addition is an ignition key shown on the bottom left side of Putt-Putt's dashboard, which allows the player to quit the game. Unlike other games, Putt-Putt can acquire a camera so the player can take pictures of the animals and other characters and print them out.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate score
AggregatorScore
GameRankings80% (PC - 1 review)[8]
Review score
PublicationScore
IGN8.5/10 (PC)[9]

The combined sales of Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, Putt-Putt Joins the Parade and Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon surpassed one million units by June 1997.[10] During the year 2001 alone, Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo sold 100,972 retail units in North America, according to PC Data.[11]

References

  1. Lubsen, Todd. "Todd Lubsen". p. 3. http://toddlubsen.com/Todd_Lubsen2012webcv.pdf. 
  2. "Putt-Putt® Saves the Zoo Shatters Interactive Animation Standard for CD-ROM; Humongous Entertainment Redefines Interactive Story Telling" (Press release). Humongous Entertainment. August 9, 1995. Archived from the original on December 17, 1999.
  3. "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo on Steam". Steam. https://store.steampowered.com/app/294660/PuttPutt_Saves_The_Zoo/. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Humongous [@HumongousEnt] (February 3, 2022). "Get your adventure on with four of the best games you've ever played, arriving for #NintendoSwitch on February 10th.". https://twitter.com/HumongousEnt/status/1489282536366690306. 
  5. "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo". https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/10005746. 
  6. "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo (Games)". App Shopper. 2012-01-28. http://appshopper.com/games/putt-putt-saves-the-zoo. 
  7. "Playstation4" (in en). https://www.humongous.com/playstation-4. 
  8. "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo for PC - GameRankings". GameRankings. http://www.gamerankings.com/pc/582391-putt-putt-saves-the-zoo/index.html. 
  9. "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo Review". http://www.ign.com/games/putt-putt-saves-the-zoo/pc-722180. 
  10. People Staff (June 2, 1997). "The Little Car that Could". People. http://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-main-bytes-vol-47-no-21/. 
  11. Sluganski, Randy (March 2002). "State of Adventure Gaming - March 2002 - 2001 Sales Table". Just Adventure. http://www.justadventure.com:80/articles/State_of_Adventure_Gaming/Mar-02/sales2001.shtm. 
  1. Ported to IOS and Android by Nimbus Games.
  2. The 2005 Europe-exclusive DVD player release was published by Take-Two Interactive.
    The 2011/2012 IOS/Android release was published by Atari, while the 2015 IOS release was published by Tommo.
    The Steam release was co-published by Tommo and Night Dive Studios.
    The Nintendo Switch version was published by UFO Interactive Games.

External links