Putt-Putt Joins the Circus

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Putt-Putt Joins the Circus
Putt-Putt Joins the Circus Cover art.png
2002 cover art
Developer(s) Humongous Entertainment
Publisher(s) Humongous Entertainment [a]
Programmer(s) Brian Pulliam
Artist(s) Edward Pun
Composer(s) Scott Lloyd Shelly
Engine SCUMM
Platform(s) Macintosh, Windows, iOS, Linux
Release
  • July 11, 2000 [1] (Mac, Win)
  • October 4, 2013 (iOS)
  • May 29, 2014 (Linux) [2]
Genre(s) Adventure
Mode(s) Single-player

Putt-Putt Joins the Circus is a video game and the sixth of adventure game of the Putt-Putt series of games. It was developed and published by Humongous Entertainment in 2000.

Contents

Plot

Putt-Putt and Pep are traveling to Apple Valley to see B.J. Sweeney's Big Top Circus. On the way, they find a hungry goat blocking the road to Apple Valley, as well as the train tracks where a train named Roll-Along Cassidy is trying to deliver sawdust to the circus. Putt-Putt coaxes the goat off of the tracks with a flower bush, but the goat eats his circus ticket afterwards. Realizing their predicament, Cassidy decides to give Putt-Putt and Pep a ride to the circus, saying that B.J. Sweeney might be able to help them.

Upon arriving at the circus, Putt-Putt learns from B.J. that all of the circus' acts are having problems. He shows Putt-Putt a piece of paper, showing the performers of the five main performers: Honko the Clown, The Flying Porkowskis, Phillipe the Flea, Reginald the Lion and Katie Cannonball. Putt-Putt volunteers to help around the circus, which Sweeny agrees to.

After Putt-Putt helps all the acts, B.J. Sweeney rewards Putt-Putt by letting him perform in the circus. At the end, Putt-Putt presses a button that opens a curtain, and all the five main circus stars perform their tricks, ending the game.

Gameplay

The game uses the same mechanics as its predecessors including Putt-Putt's dashboard interface and some minigames included. Throughout the game the player must solve characters' problems and unite all five circus actors.

Development

All backgrounds, characters and animations were hand drawn. [3]

Reception

Critical reception

The game was well received and earned a number of awards around its year of release.

Commercial performance

Between May 11 and 13, the game had debuted at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2000 in Los Angeles. [3]

During the year 2001 alone, Putt-Putt Joins the Circus sold 82,400 retail units in North America, according to PC Data. [6]

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References

  1. ↑ "Putt-Putt® Joins the Circus™ from Humongous Entertainment® Offers Big Top Fun for Children of All Ages" (Press release). Humongous Entertainment. July 11, 2000. Archived from the original on November 20, 2000.
  2. ↑ "Putt-Putt Joins the Circus on Steam". Steam . Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  3. 1 2 "Latest Adventure Starring Everyone's Favorite Purple Car Available in June". Humongous Entertainment - News. 2000. Archived from the original on November 20, 2000. Retrieved November 8, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. ↑ Angela Graven (October 3, 2000). "Angela Graven reviews Putt-Putt Joins the Circus". PC Magazine. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Putt-Putt Joins the Circus - Awards". Humongous Entertainment. Archived from the original on April 18, 2001. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  6. ↑ 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.
  1. ↑ The iOS release was published by Tommo. The Steam release was co-published by Tommo and Night Dive Studios.
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