Kid Chameleon was amongst one of the first games I owned for the Mega Drive.

Released in 1992, Kid Chameleon’s story is based on the arrival of a virtual reality arcade game called “Wildside” which shows up at a video arcade. All the kids who play the game disappeared, because they could not defeat the game. Enter Casey, a little lad who wears jeans and a leather jacket, who calls himeself “Kid Chameleon”. If I called myself Kid Chameleon when I was a youngster, I think I would have got my ass kicked on a daily basis, by bullies and my parents.

Anyway, Casey is such a great gamer (he pwns so many n00bs) that he reckons he can beat “Wildside” and save the kids who got sucked into the game.

The game lets you play as Kid Chameleon as you work your way through a standard platforming affair. Kid can get new powers by collecting helmets found by smashing bricks through the game (sound familiar?). This is the real draw of the game, as there is 9 different helmets to find in the game. These include a Samurai helmet which gives you a sword to slice bad guys with and A fly mask that makes you smaller and allows you to stick to walls. My personal favourite is the “Juggernaut” helmet which turns Kid Chameleon into a tank that shoots skulls! There is also a mask based on the Jason Voorhees character called “Maniaxe”.

Kid Chameleon was fun to play because of the gimmick of changing powers throughout the game. Going back to the game today on the Mega Drive is fun, but it also struggles to hold your attention. Once you have played around using all the different helmets, the game becomes a little repetitive. The music is a little drab too. You could complete Kid Chameleon in one sitting, but do you have the patience to do so when you could be playing other games?

Kid Chameleon found some popularity amongst Sega fans during his tenure on the Mega Drive. He was featured in a “Sonic The Comic” mini-series which ended up unfinished. Kid Chameleon also has a nostalgic quality with early owners of the Mega Drive.

Not a bad game at all, plenty of power-ups and secrets to discover with said power-ups. It’s just a little too repetitive.