Chameleon Twist

Chameleon Twist is perhaps one of the most polarising games on the N64, either panned as complete garbage or enjoyed as a decent if flawed platformer. Jumping into the game and preparing for the worst after reading the N64 Anthology's description of it as "worse than a failure" and "a waste", I was surprised to find myself in the latter camp.

The game's greatest assets are its tongue-based mechanics, its weird Alice in Wonderland-esque story and its great boss fights. As a chameleon turned chameleon/human hybrid, you have a number of moves at your disposal, all of which involve your character's exceedingly long tongue and must be mastered to complete the game--it's difficult at times, yet compelling. Some of these moves borrow from other games, such as the ability to suck up and spit out enemies Kirby-style, whilst others are quite ingenious: your tongue can be extended to different lengths; its angle can be adjusted with precision using the control stick and even curved around objects; and it can latch onto scenery such as posts, allowing you to pull yourself across chasms or even rotate around the scenery to reach adjacent areas. All of this is achieved using only the control stick and the A and B buttons.

It's a shame, then, that a swathe of flaws dampen some of Chameleon Twist's charm. The level design is odd, all except the side-scrolling Desert Land made up of small, interconnected rooms filled with a random activity. Some surprise with a decent puzzle to complete or area to traverse, yet others are almost empty or feel unfinished. The camera is terrible and does an injustice to the game's mechanics, making some areas that require judgment of distance needlessly difficult, such as the ironically nightmarish Kids Land.

Still, I enjoyed Chameleon Twist enough to see it through to the credits. It's a decent platformer, one of few on the console when it was released, and is worth a try if only to experience its intuitive and still-unique mechanics.