Chameleon Twist is a Platform Game created by Japan Supply System, published by Sunsoft, and released for the Nintendo 64 in 1997.
There, you play as one of four chameleons—Davy, Jack, Fred or Linda—who follow a white rabbit into a strange world and change form. Now the only way the chameleon can get home is to follow the rabbit and get out of any situation they get stuck in by using their tongue.
The first game was followed by a 1998 sequel, Chameleon Twist 2, which involved one of the four chameleons being launched into the sky by the same rabbit and just exploring. Not much has changed from their previous adventure, but the worlds are much larger, and the chameleons have a parasol in their backpack to float to safety.
Not to be confused with the 1992 Sega Genesis game Kid Chameleon.
This series contains examples of:
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General
- Cartoon Creature: What exactly Davy and his friends turn into when they enter the fantasy worlds for the first time is anyone's guess; they turn bipedal with body parts made mostly of various smooth, oval shapes and get white gloves. They're apparently still chameleons, though, which is probably why they got redesigned in the American version of the sequel, so they'd actually look like said animal.
- Circling Birdies: When Davy or any of his friends lose all of their health spin around, fall backwards and die, they have stars circling over their heads.
- Collection Sidequest: Collecting all the crowns in each level in the first game and the coins in the second game.
- Follow the White Rabbit: Both games start with Davy encountering a white rabbit who sends him into a cartoony world.
- Green Hill Zone: Jungle Land and Sky Land.
- No Plot? No Problem!: A chameleon and his friends follow a white rabbit into a weird series of fantasy worlds, where they inexplicably take on strange, humanoid forms and must trek through the worlds to get back home. That's it. Neither game gives any explanation for anything, not even the foes that happen to be terrorizing the worlds. In fact, they actually imply the adventures are purely for fun and the monsters are just playing along.
- Overly Long Tongue: Naturally, given that this is a game about a chameleon. Davy and his friends use their tongues to swallow enemies for spitting, polevault, latch onto and drag themselves to objects, and wrap around poles for travel.
- Shifting Sand Land: Sand Castle from the first game and Pyramid Land from the second game.
- Shout-Out: The idea of following a white rabbit wearing a coat and pocket watch into a strange land seems very familiar...
- Sprite/Polygon Mix: The standard enemies and various spherical objects are 2D sprites while everything else is in full 3D.
Chameleon Twist
- Autobots, Rock Out!: The final boss's second phase has a rock theme playing in contrast to the ominious music used during the first phase.
- Boss Battle:
- Jungle Land's boss is a giant gorilla that throws rocks.
- Ant Land's boss is a giant queen ant.
- Bomb Land's boss is a serpent-like creature made of bombs.
- Desert Castle's boss is an armadillo that can hide underground.
- Kid's Land's boss is a giant cake.
- Ghost Castle's final boss, which is a barrel monster with arms which then transforms into a tank. It also has an JP exclusive Optional Boss against Black, allowing you to unlock him in Battle Mode.
- Boss Rush: If you collect enough crowns in the main story, you can unlock this mode hidden in Ghost Castle. In the international versions, the boss fights are the same as the originals whereas in the Japanese version they are faster, deal more damage and are harder to defeat.
- Difficulty by Region: The Japanese version alters some of the levels to be more difficult, and the Boss Rush is far more challenging than the original boss fights.
- Eternal Engine: Bomb Land appears to be set in a factory.
- Insect Queen: The boss of Ant Land is a Queen Ant that dresses in Victorian-era fashion. She attacks by laying ants from her giant abdomen that the player has to eat and spit out at her. Makes As Much Sense In Context.
- Level Ate: Kids' Land.
- Missing Secret: The Perfect Code unlocked by completing a No-Damage Run as White, though to this day, it's purpose is currently unknown.
- No-Damage Run: If the player beats the game once and starts a new game as White, a star will appear on the corner of the screen. If the player gets hurt even once, the star goes away, but if they avoid taking damage for the entire game, a special randomized Perfect Code will show up on the title screen after the credits. Its purpose is currently unknown.
- Optional Boss: In order to unlock Black for Battle Mode, you have to defeat him first. He can be found hidden behind a barred off door in Bomb Land that requires you collect all 5 carrots in the game to unlock it.
- Regional Bonus: The Japanese version has an actual ending scene instead of fading out to the credits like the US and International versions. Additionally, the Japanese version had carrots that unlocked secret areas and mini-games, helpful powerups that aren't just exclusive to Battle Mode, the White Rabbit giving hints for defeating each boss and being able to fight CPU players in multiplayer instead of needing other players.
- Sapient Tank: The final boss's second form is one of these, complete with projectiles.
- Segmented Serpent: Bomb Caterpillar, the boss of Bomb Land.
- Sequential Boss: The final boss has 2 forms. The first is a machine made of barrels that has two arms, who must be defeated by eating the coloured parts of it's arms and spitting them back out. It's final form resembles a tank which rapidly fires projectiles which can be used against it.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The whole point of Bomb Land.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: Ghost Castle is the final level in the game, and also has a Pool mini-game and a hidden Boss Rush where you can refight every boss (except Black).
- Watch for Rolling Objects: In Desert Castle, there is a section where the player has to dodge rolling boulders that fall from the sky and then bounce along the slope.
Chameleon Twist 2
- American Kirby Is Hardcore: The second game downplays this trope. The Japanese version used the character designs from the first game with similar box art. The American version uses a head design that looks more like an actual chameleon and the PAL version box art also uses a real chameleon head, but it's more cartoony and cuter compared to the American one, and uses a darker level for its background.
- And Your Reward Is Clothes: Collecting all 20 coins in each level of Chameleon Twist 2 gives your character a new costume to wear.
- Dub-Induced Plot Hole: At least outside of the Japan version, no attempt is made to explain why the Chameleons don't look like they did in the first game or why Davy and Jack have swapped skin colors.
- Tagline: The sequel has the phrase "High Voltage Screaming Action". One can only imagine how exactly this accurately describes the game.
- Wingding Eyes:
- In the second game, if Davy or any of the other chameleons die, their eyes turn into X's.
- In the first game, if they collect a crown or during the ending sequences their eyes become upside down U's, indicating Davy and Friends' happiness