Creature Crunch
| Creature Crunch | |
|---|---|
 Cover art featuring Martin Short and Eugene Levy | |
| Developer | TechToons Ltd. |
| Publisher | Class6 Interactive |
| Director | Ted Mathot |
| Producer | John Mathot |
| Designers | John Mathot, Drew Jacobsen, John Bevilacqua |
| Artists | Kris Stiff, Hamilton Camp Jr., Barbara Newby |
| Composer | Bill Ungerman |
| Platform | Windows 95 |
| Release | 1996 |
| Genre | point-and-click adventure |
| Mode | single-player |
Creature Crunch is a 1996 animated point-and-click adventure game released for Windows 95, developed by TechToons and Class6 Interactive.[1][2] The player controls Wesley, a boy transformed into a human-monster hybrid by a mad scientist. To escape the scientist's mansion, Wesley must collect and eat objects that allow him to transform into various forms and defeat monsters blocking his path.[3]
Creature Crunch features the voices of comedians Martin Short and Eugene Levy.[4][3]
Ted Mathot won an animation directing award for the game at the 1997 World Animation Celebration.[5]
Gameplay
[edit]The player explores Dr. Drod's mansion by controlling Wesley. Many objects can be clicked to trigger animated jokes, some of which change on the second or third click.[3] Certain objects can also be collected and stored in Wesley's pants. Right-clicking on him opens the inventory.[6]
Some rooms contain Guardian monsters. While alive, they prevent the player from interacting with objects within these rooms.[6] In addition, a creature called Mr. Punishment can appear and force Wesley and Brian to leave a room if they remain there too long.[3]
Other creatures in the mansion include a fridge and a pile of laundry. Their defeat is necessary to obtain certain items and make progress.[7]
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In order to defeat an enemy, Wesley must consume the appropriate inventory item in the correct room. That action transforms him into a different form capable of defeating the creature.[6] Occasionally, his companion Brian will offer advice on what to do. In the opening tutorial, for example, Brian tells Wesley to eat a Bunsen burner, which turns him into a giant blowtorch that incinerates a Guardian. After that, Wesley returns to his previous monster-human hybrid form.[4]
The final encounter involves a cat monster with nine lives guarding the mansion's exit. Wesley uses eight different inventory items against it, reducing the creature to one remaining life, after which it shrinks and flees.[7]
Plot
[edit]A young boy named Wesley (voiced by Short) gets lost while riding his bike.[3] A storm starts and he gets a flat tire, forcing him to look for shelter. He finds a Gothic mansion and tries to get help there, but gets captured by a pair of monstrous hands.[8][9]
Doctor Drod, the mansion's owner, is an evil scientist with a fascination for turning things into monsters, including household objects. As part of his plan to create an army of monsters to devastate the world, he uses Wesley as a test subject.[8] The experiment goes wrong, and Drod apparently dies. Wesley becomes a half-monster, and is able to free himself from the trap.[9] He meets Brian (voiced by Levy), a former King Great Pizza delivery boy who fell victim to Dr. Drod and is now a sentient, floating brain in a jar. Together, they must find a way to escape the monster-filled mansion and revert Wesley's transformation.[3][10]
During their search, Wesley and Brian find Dr. Drod's notes and hear messages detailing his plans. In the trophy room, they discover Brian's head mounted on a wall plaque. Not all of the mansion's creatures are hostile; some offer advice on escaping.[11]
After defeating the monster cat, Wesley and Brian prepare to leave the mansion when Mr. Punishment appears. He removes Brian from his jar and places him inside his own head. Brian takes control of Mr. Punishment's body and unzips Wesley's monster form like a suit, restoring him to human form. The two then leave the mansion, with Wesley riding on Brian's back.[7][12]
Development
[edit]Creature Crunch was originally planned as the first of six CD-ROM titles from Class6 Interactive, a newly formed division of the animation and production company Class6 Entertainment. The titles were supposed to use PixCel, an animation authoring system that Class6 Entertainment president Stephen Poehlein said could reduce animation production time and cost.[2]
Ted and John Mathot, former animators on The Ren & Stimpy Show, worked on the game for Class6 Interactive.[13] The production also involved Allied SuperProductions, credited on the game's packaging with animation and direction.[14] According to the Associated Press, the game's animation used more than 16,000 drawings.[3]
In his online professional biography, the programmer Charles Scalfani describes working on a new animation production system and game runtime engine used to produce the CD-ROM game.[15]
Martin Short and Eugene Levy recorded voices for nearly 40 characters together in a single session. Short said that they worked from a script but had considerable room for improvisation.[3]
Release
[edit]In April 1996, Billboard reported that Creature Crunch was scheduled for release in late May.[2]
The game was shown at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), held at the Los Angeles Convention Center from May 16 to 18, 1996.[16][17]
In July 1996, Animation World Magazine reported that Creature Crunch was nearing completion and was due for release the following month.[13] By October 1996, the game was available on CD-ROM for Windows 95.[3]
The game was also released with a Brazilian Portuguese dubbing under the title Criatura Crunch.[18] By June 1997, this edition was being advertised by MPO Multimídia.[19] This edition was also distributed with issue 4 of SuperGames Folha magazine as part of a promotion by Folha de S.Paulo.[20]
Reception
[edit]Entertainment Weekly's Bob Strauss described Creature Crunch as "passably enjoyable" and said its artwork reminded him of John Kricfalusi's style.[21]
Cindy Yans of Computer Games Strategy Plus gave the game 2.5 out of 5 stars. She praised its cartoon animation and character designs, but criticized its simple puzzles and small game world. Yans considered the game potentially entertaining for beginners and younger players, while advising experienced adventure players to avoid it.[10]
At the 1997 World Animation Celebration, Ted Mathot won the award for Best Director of Animation for a CD-ROM for his work on "Creature Crunch".[5]
In 2017, writing for Overloadr, Heitor de Paola noted that the game had been dubbed in Brazilian Portuguese at a time when this was uncommon, but criticized the localization for mistranslations and lost jokes.[18]
References
[edit]- ↑ "Creature Crunch Review by metzomagic.com". www.metzomagic.com. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
- 1 2 3 Billboard. Nielsen Business Media, Inc. 1996-04-06. p. 87.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Leyva, Ric (October 9, 1996). "The Name's Part Of The Game Computer Game 'Creature Crunch' Lands Martin Short". Spokesman.com. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
- 1 2 fixr. "Creature Crunch". www.justadventure.com. Archived from the original on 2017-02-14. Retrieved 2017-02-13.
- 1 2 Jackson, Wendy (May 1997). "News". Animation World Magazine. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- 1 2 3 Creature Crunch (Windows 95). Class6 Interactive. 1996. Game help (
STARTUP.HLP): “How To Do It” and “Creatures, Creatures, Everywhere”, including “Defeat or Retreat”. - 1 2 3 Denning, Gary. "Creature Crunch Walkthrough". Just Adventure. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
- 1 2 "Class6: Creature Crunch Cast". Class6. Archived from the original on 1996-10-31. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
- 1 2 Creature Crunch (Windows 95). Class6 Interactive. 1996. Opening cinematic.
- 1 2 Yans, Cindy (December 1996). “Creature Crunch”. Computer Games Strategy Plus. No. 73. p. 145.
- ↑ Creature Crunch (Windows 95). Class6 Interactive. 1996. Laboratory closet: Drod’s note; hall closet: notes and manuscript; furnace room: telephone messages; game room: television; trophy room: Brian’s mounted head; hallway: elderly creature’s escape advice.
- ↑ Creature Crunch (Windows 95). Class6 Interactive. 1996. Closing cinematic: Brian’s transfer into Mr. Punishment, Wesley’s restoration, and their departure.
- 1 2 "August Issue News Section". Animation World Magazine. August 1996. Retrieved 2026-10-10.
- ↑ Creature Crunch (Windows 95). Class6 Interactive. 1996. Game packaging, back cover.
- ↑ "Charles Scalfani — books and courses on Leanpub". Leanpub. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
- ↑ “Nyeste nytt til PC’en”. Hjemme-PC (in Norwegian). No. 3. 1996. p. 6.
- ↑ Deneroff, Harvey (June 1, 1996). "Some Thoughts on E3". www.awn.com. Retrieved 2026-10-11.
- 1 2 de Paola, Heitor (2017-12-01). "Driblando Dublagens - Criatura Crunch Episódio 1". Overloadr (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2026-10-11.
- ↑ MPO Multimídia (June 1997). “Faça parte do universo” (advertisement). BigMax (in Portuguese). No. 8. Alfa Editora. Inside front cover.
- ↑ Criatura Crunch — O Monstro (Windows 95). SuperGames Folha, no. 4. CD-ROM packaging, back cover (in Portuguese).
- ↑ "Creature Crunch". EW.com. 1996-10-25. Retrieved 2017-02-13.