Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo
| Industry | Video games |
|---|---|
| Products | Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo |
Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo is an adventure title released in 1995, serving as the third installment in the Putt-Putt franchise developed by Humongous Entertainment. This entry represents the studio's evolution from pixel-based graphics to hand-drawn animation, coinciding with their platform shift from DOS to Windows, a transition first demonstrated in Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds. The game was re-released in April 1999 and marked Humongous Entertainment's inaugural launch on iOS and Google Play in November 2011, with the mobile version created by Nimbus Games and published by Atari, though it was eventually discontinued. To broaden its audience, the title was later made available on Nintendo Switch in February 2022 and on PlayStation 4 through the PlayStation Store in November 2022.
Plot
Putt-Putt eagerly anticipates the Cartown Zoo's grand opening. He stops by Mr. Baldini's grocery store, who requests that he deliver food for the animals to zookeeper Outback Al. Upon arriving at the zoo, Putt-Putt discovers that six baby animals have gone missing: Baby Jambo, an african bush elephant calf; Masai, a reticulated giraffe calf; Kenya, a lion cub; Zanzibar, a Hippopotamus calf; Sammy, a seal; and Little Skeeter, a boa constrictor. Determined to help, Putt-Putt offers to locate them while Outback Al begins restoring the zoo.
Once all six young animals are found and returned, Putt-Putt informs Outback Al, who expresses his gratitude by awarding him a Junior Zookeeper medal during the zoo’s opening ceremony. Putt-Putt then officially opens the zoo by cutting the ribbon.
Gameplay
Maintaining fundamental gameplay elements from earlier series entries, players interact using controls for glove box inventory, horn, radio, and accelerator. A new feature includes an ignition key on the dashboard that enables players to exit the game. The game also incorporates various mini-games and introduces a camera item allowing Putt-Putt to photograph animals and characters, with options to print these images.
Reception
By June 1997, sales of Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, along with Putt-Putt Joins the Parade and Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon, had surpassed one million copies collectively. In North America alone, Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo achieved retail sales of 100,972 units during 2001 according to PC Data.