Get ready for a intense, challenging but fun game to play developed by... wait for it... SEGA... (Oh no!) technical, institute. (Huh?) That's right, it's a good game and mostly developed by Americans. Yes, back when Sega had a division of their company dedicated to making games for American players, we got games like The Ooze, Comix Zone, Sonic Spinball and Kid Chameleon. This was in fact their second game following Dick Tracy on the Genesis in 1992. Kid Chameleon, just the name alone makes it interesting, sound like some hybrid animal person. But It's nothing like that I assure you, why don't i just show you in this review of the classic game. But be warned, only tough and cool people can be ready for what is about to come after viewing this! (Put on your shades if you dare)


For a game released in 1992, this game actually looks good. It has some bright colors, fluid animations and nice scenes to look at from the back ground to the actual stage itself. It's almost comes as a shock that there is plenty to look at. Of course with a game having "100 levels 1850 screens" you are gonna see some repeating areas often. There is various areas like woods, forest, beach, caves, ice caps, marshes, cities, desert, ruins, fortress... there is a lot. By this point, I am convinced the game has how many levels it claims to have. The characters in the game have equally presentable good looks, unique even. Aliens, for one thing, space ships, rock monsters, dragons, and lions all make the mix. Serious this arcade game has some impressive graphics that put the console it's playing on to shame, and yes it's a joke based on the plot of the game.


Continuing where I left off, the game has a story and it's pretty basic, but I least acknowledge the effort. The plot involves a arcade store that happens to get a new game called "Wild Side" It uses some advance technology that makes holograms reality that the player can interact with. So basically is like Star Trek's Holodeck or X-men's Danger Room. Anyway, the people who play it find it too challenging. The boss of the game "Heady Metal" breaks free of it's AI scripting and begins capturing kids when they lose trapping them inside. This is when you come in Casey, the one who will defeat the boss and free the kids. Are you tough enough to do it? Become the Kid Chameleon and find out!
The story is told as soon as the system is turned on, using text detailed scenes showing off the arcade game and your character. Nothing better to get you pumped up before actually playing than knowing what your job is and making yourself look cool even before playing. Again, not much but it's something. The other thing is every stage has a title card, meaning they all have names, even though one is repeatedly used often. Also there is a small picture that let you know what type of stage it is, like forest, beach, cave, and every time you beat a level, the stage transitions into a wire frame. I guess it keeps the pacing a bit optimal, presentation isn't something that shines in this game but it's there.


This game has some pretty catchy tunes. One for each type of stage theme. Mark Miller the composer and founder of the people credited for this game's soundtrack as it's said in the credits "Nu Romantic Productions" has done a good job on it. The team was most known for composing music for Sega's American based games at the time meaning game made by an American development would most likely have this team to program the music. Some games include Blaster Master 2 and Toejam & earl In Panic On Funkotron... oh wait, Jon Baker composed music for the previous game and this one too. That's right, even he is on the team. No wonder it's so good!


The game features some wide range of tunes, despite feeling a bit out of place for some themes in the game. The cave music is alright, having some dark gloomy intense music, but so does the ice cap and marshes stages, the grassland ruins have some upbeat music similar to the beach stages, and the forest stages have mellow music similar to the sky fortress music. Even with some of the music feeling more out of place than the Streets of Rage 3 soundtrack, it's still good, to listen to, just remember to turn the volume down, it may be a bit loud.


This is when all the fun comes in. The game is similar in play to Super Mario Bros 3. Yeah I said that, let me explain why. It's a two player game where you take turns. Both players play as... "The kid" You know the one from the story? Anyway the goal of the game is to reach each end goal which is represented by a flag. Along the way you can jump on enemies to defeat them, as you make your way there. The other thing to know is you can open prize blocks by hitting them with your head, and each one has various items. Each player's progress is tracked separately so no one can interfere with each other nor is it co-op, you also have the option of sharing one controller if you don't have two separate ones. Way to think ahead!


Items you can get are coins which grants extra continues if you game over, a Ankh which grants you a extra life, a clock that extends play time for the level and 10,000 point bonus that gives you... points, Collect enough and you can get a extra life. The most common items are diamonds, they basically allow you to use special powers by collecting enough of them. Each of the special power depends on your form at the time of using it and has two different effects depending on the more crystals you have. You can hear a jingle if you collect enough to use it. The ones you will need the most is the helmets, each one of the nine magical helmets will give you unique abilities you are gonna need to progress through the game... or least help make it easier, in this case I call it fun. (See I told you it's like Super Mario Bros 3)


The different forms are the Iron Knight who can break blocks by jumping on them and climb walls. Next is the Red Stealth who looks like a Samurai, he can swing his sword to attack enemies in front or do a aerial downward thrust to destroy blocks below. Third is the Maniaxe who looks kinda like Rick Taylor from Splatter house games or Jason Vorhees from Friday the 13th, he can throw axes. Fourth up is the Juggernaut who is a skeleton general from the underworld who rides in a tank and shoot skulls at enemies. Fifth is the Micromax a humanoid fly who is smaller in size and can jump off walls. Next up is the Beserker which looks like a rhino who can charge at blocks to destroy them as well as enemies. Then is the Eye clops who uses his beam to make invisible blocks visible. The penultimate one is the Cyclone who can fly by rapidly spinning around. Last is the Sky cutter who rides on a rocket powered board and can reverse his gravity to touch the ceiling. Each forum has three hit points except for the Iron Knight who has five the most, all are more than the standard form has.


This is where most of the problem is. This game is hard, but doesn't mean it isn't fun. Seriously I never beaten this game in my life. The average casual player (like me) will find the game frustrating and confusing. In addition to flag goals, there is these teleporters that can take you anywhere in the game, most take you to some bonus area that is usually a shortcut stage called "ELSEWHERE" what a appropriate name for it cause in short, you may get lost often. Some of them even take you back to levels you beaten, and some can't even be completed unless you got the proper form which you won't know first time. Not to mention the type of enemies and traps in the game make it very challenging to play through. This is one of those games for "Hard core gamers" that is usually all about trial and error and to memorize all of them takes a lot of brain capacity.


The main problem for this game I personally have is that there is no checkpoints and no save system. That's it, if you game over, you start from stage one, and there is a lot of levels in this game, so many that I don't think the game box is lying about, I couldn't even prove it myself. It's a long game to go through and losing to start from stage one is very brutal. I would appreciate it more if you had unlimited continues at least or some way to continue after a break, maybe more noticeable shortcuts like the warp zone in Mario games. This is one of those games in the past with no save system, we had done things like leave the system on, go to bed at night and hope it's still there when you return. Yes I done that before. Not to mention if you play with a second player, the game can get even longer taking turns, you would only do that when you had nothing else planned for the rest of the day.


Kid Chameleon is a outstanding game. It's good but is it too much for some people? Sure it is, but still they deserve to try it if they like games like Super Mario Bros 3. There is no way it will replace that game in people's nostalgic eyes, but this one should least be noticed. I'm sure many people would like another game in the series but it just doesn't seem likely. Still Sega isn't shy about pulling the game out of the past and sticking it into compilation games of the present for more players old and new to experience. It's widely available on modern systems in this decade and even free on the android and IOS app store though you should use a controller if you gonna play it on that. Try it, and if you dislike it, it's okay, you just need to experience it.