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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.[7] Developed by Nimbus Games Inc., the iOS version of this game released by Atari was discontinued. A Nintendo Switch version was released in February 2022,[4] followed by the PlayStation 4 version on the PlayStation Store in November the same year.[8]
| Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo | |
|---|---|
 Windows / Macintosh cover art | |
| Developer(s) | Humongous Entertainment[a] |
| Publisher(s) | Humongous Entertainment[b] |
| Producer(s) | Ron Gilbert |
| Designer(s) |
|
| Artist(s) | Todd Lubsen[6] |
| Writer(s) |
|
| Composer(s) | George Alistair Sanger |
| Engine | SCUMM |
| Platform(s) | Android, Macintosh, Windows, DVD player, Linux, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 |
| Release | Released: |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Plot
editPutt-Putt is excited for the grand opening of the Cartown Zoo. He visits Mr. Baldini's grocery store, who tasks him with delivering zoo chow to zookeeper Outback Al. Upon arriving at the zoo, Putt-Putt learns that six baby animals have gone missing: Baby Jambo the african bush elephant calf; Masai the reticulated giraffe calf; Kenya the lion cub; Zanzibar the Hippopotamus calf; 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
editThe 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. A few mini games are also playable. 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.[9]
Reception
editThe 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
edit- ^ "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.
- ^ "Macintosh CD-ROMs". web.archive.org. Retrieved 2024-02-19.
- ^ "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo on Steam". Steam. Archived from the original on November 9, 2022. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ^ a b 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" (Tweet). Retrieved March 16, 2022 – via Twitter.
- ^ "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo". store.playstation.com.
- ^ Lubsen, Todd. "Todd Lubsen" (PDF). p. 3. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
- ^ "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo (Games)". App Shopper. 2012-01-28. Archived from the original on 2014-02-22. Retrieved 2013-12-05.
- ^ "Playstation4". HE. Archived from the original on 2023-01-17. Retrieved 2023-01-13.
- ^ "Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo". web.archive.org. Retrieved 2024-04-10.
- ^ People Staff (June 2, 1997). "The Little Car that Could". People. Archived from the original on May 19, 2018.
- ^ Sluganski, Randy (March 2002). "State of Adventure Gaming - March 2002 - 2001 Sales Table". Just Adventure. Archived from the original on June 19, 2002. Retrieved May 13, 2020.
- ^ Ported to iOS and Android by Nimbus Games.
- ^ 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.