Format: Cartridge
Genre: 2d platformer
Developer: Sega
Publisher: Sega

One would have thought that the setting of a Star Trek-style holodeck would have let the game's artists go nuts, but that didn't really become the case, at least with the stage designs, which repeatedly recycle a small number of tile sets. Character art on the other hand is fantastically detailed and animated, featuring disturbing imagery and concepts. On the whole, the game looks somewhat like a twisted Easter Island come to life.

Mark Miller's soundtrack is moody, memorable, and gritty, with a sort of grinding, foreboding presence to it. Some of the songs, such as the "under mountain" and "tropical island" selections, are particularly ambient. Such tunes are coupled with some distinctive programmed effects and even interesting digital samples, the foremost being the "die!" sound that various enemies make when attacking. It doesn't rock like a Yuzo Koshiro title, but Kid Chameleon's aural qualities fit the game's theme well.

On a spectrum with one-off programming tricks and scripted events-- think Castle of Illusion-- occupying one end, and totally reusable elements occupying the other, Kid Chameleon leans almost entirely towards the latter. The stages consist of the same fifteen or twenty types of blocks, with a spattering of enemies thrown in. The wide variety of character abilities and clever map design work well together, even if the many stages do tend to run together in the mind after awhile.

Kid Chameleon's biggest problem is that the experience feels too prolonged, and a little flat; everything about the game is polished, but not enough risks were taken. The game's lack of save support is crippling seeing as how the title is so lengthy and difficult; the vast majority of players will probably never see anything past the first twenty or thirty stages. Still, this is probably the closest Sega ever came to a Super Mario Bros. style adventure, complete with power blocks the player hits with their character's head; and like Super Mario Bros., Kid Chameleon is a meaty and nuanced experience.