Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival
System: NES
Release Date: November 1990
Developer: Mind’s Eye
Publisher: Hi Tech Expressions
Genre: Action
Miss Piggy has been kidnapped in Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival! As her longtime beau, Kermit the Frog must team up with his friends to find a way to save her. Dr. Grump has taken the piggiest starlet in the world to his secret carnival hideout. You, alongside Kermit, Gonzo, Animal, and Fozzie, will have to seek out keys in four different attractions to unlock the Cave of the Grumpasaurus.
You begin by choosing one of the four different levels. Kermit goes down the Raging River Ride on an inner tube with a paddle. The goal is to avoid obstacles while floating down the river. Be careful, as hitting anything will take away one heart of power. You can move left and right and speed up and down, but damage is unavoidable. You’ll get forced into dead ends and caught in whirlpools that you can’t escape. Keep an eye out for periscopes to replenish your health and buoys to add to your rides.
Animal hops in a go cart in Crash Car Course. Press the A Button to go and maneuver around obstacles. Collecting orange flags add to points and snagging five green flags will refill your power. The car seems to drift, so success isn’t guaranteed. Bombs are what will kill you, but avoiding them is easier said than done. Fozzie Bear must walk through 30 mazes to find his key. Each maze has at least one evil carnival barker looking to grab you and you must collect a bowtie, present, and bowtie in that order to move to the next maze. There are hearts, bones, and bananas that you can use to distract your enemies, but it takes precision to pull that off.
Gonzo takes off in the Lost in Space Ride. This is easily the most difficult of the four levels. The A Button thrusts from the engine of the ship. You press left or right on the d-pad to change your heading. You want to be precise, but tapping the button will often do absolutely nothing, so then you press too long and overshoot your goal. Navigation is really frustrating. The B Button shoots your gun, which you’ll need to master the angles of in order to hit enemies while avoiding their projectiles. And don’t shoot your powerups or they’ll be destroyed and you’ll end up dying. The UFO boss at the end is luckily pretty easy.
Once you collect all four keys, you head to a platforming level with Kermit. Miss Piggy’s personal effects are scattered around the level and I couldn’t figure out how to reach them, until I accidentally discovered you can bounce of enemy heads to get more height. At the end of this stage, if you don’t lose your lives falling to your doom, you fight the Grumpasaurus. This decidedly not lizard looking creature will punch you off the ledge and eat all your lives. It took me ten minutes of attempts before I bum rushed him as he came on screen and lucked out by knocking him off. I can see this being the spot where children quit this game and never came back. But that’s not all, because you then have to defeat Dr. Grump by launching hearts into the air and landing them on his head. Good luck.
Graphics: 1.0
Everything looks pretty lousy and there is a ton of flickering.
Sound: 1.5
The music is probably the best thing in the game, and that’s not saying much.
Gameplay: 1.0
Each level is too simple and not well thought out.
Difficulty: 0.5
Each level is set up with gotcha difficulty and then the impossible Grumpasaurus and not having any hint on how to beat Dr. Grump is bad design.
Fun Factor: 0.0
This is not a fun game in the slightest. Each level is boring and/or broken.
Overall Rating: 0.8
Muppet Adventure: Chaos at the Carnival earns a D. A cavalcade of brokenness awaits for you if you want to give it a shot. I recommend against it, myself.