Review #583: Nintendo 64 Memories: Chameleon Twist

 Slimy tongue action.

Part 1: The Flashback
 Ah, Chameleon Twist, one of the first N64 games I purchased. I hadn't even rented it first, but I liked the cover and that was enough for young lil me. I LOVED this game, with capital letters. I used to play as Fred, every day, every time.

 I had completely forgotten about the VS Battle Mode, but as soon as I entered the stage select and then all the memories came flooding in: I actually played the VS mode, and I actually enjoyed it. I don't remember against who I played it, however.

Part 2: Today
 It's bad. I can applaud the game for its creativity with the mechanics, using the tongue is great fun, it's just so enjoyable twirling and twisting it around in order to eat every you can. And those that avoided your tongue can simply be done with by shooting the aforementioned eaten enemies.

 You also get to use your tongue in order to vault or make your way to a pole over a pit, as a matter of fact, once your tongue snaps to a pole, your character will fly directly towards the pole, following whatever twisted form you shot your tongue in, but at any time you can press the A button to spin around it... something you can only do once and your chameleon will instantly let go after you let go of the A button or you complete a 360 spin. This could've lent itself to some fun platforming, and it was fun when I was a kid, but stage 5, Kid's Land, is a perfect example of how wonky it can be. Being limited to a single spin sucks, and you have get the right length of distance between yourself and the pole in order to perform the necessary spins onto moving platforms. Great on paper, annoying in practice. I think more freedom, like being able to continue your way towards the pole after spinning or being allowed multiple spins, could've helped alleviate it.

 There's a bunch of collectible crowns peppered throughout all six stages, but they do pretty much nothing, albeit if you collect 50 of them you can enter a bonus billiards game on stage 6. There're only six stages, you only need to play 3 of them and you can finish all six stages in little more than an hour.

 Still, the game's biggest issue is the camera. There are two modes: Static and Dynamic, both suck. Static has horrible angles, and pressing the C buttons moves the camera but on the same fixed angle, which won't help you any, while Dynamic moves all over the place and can be a chore to get it to move how you want it to when you need it most. The camera kills most of the enjoyment you can get out of the game. Thank god for infinite lives.

 Despite how much I lambasted the game... I think it's still worth a look, if only because of how original it is. Your mileage may vary on how fun the mechanics are, but I think anyone would get a kick out of fooling around with your Chameleon's tongue. At least for a couple of minutes.
 4.5 out of 10