Chameleon Twist

The chameleon's elongated tongue can be used as a weapon, a means to traverse gaps, or as a way to leap onto platforms. Once the tongue is unrolled, it can be guided in any direction using the analog stick. A five-room training area lets players practice the controls. The single-player game involves progressing through predominately indoor environments, each culminating in a boss battle, while collecting hearts to replenish health.

• Title — Chameleon Twist • Developer — Japan System Supply • Publisher — Japan System SupplySunsoft • Director — Masaki Kimura • Producer — Taeko Nagata • Designer — Hideyuki Nakanishi • Programmer — Hideyuki Nakanishi Masataka Imura Takashi Isugioka Masaki Kimura Masaomi Ishimoto • Composer — Takashi Sugioka Takashi Makino Yuuji Nakao Nobutoshi Ichimiya Koki Tochio Tsutomu Washijima Hiroshi Takami Fumihiko Yamada • Genre — Platform • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer • Platforms — Nintendo 64

The protagonist of the game is a blue chameleon named Davy who, upon following a rabbit (closely resembling the White Rabbit from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland) into a magical hole in the ground, finds he has taken on a humanoid form. The plot involves Davy or one of his friends, Jack, Fred, or Linda, traveling throughout the six lands of the magic portal he enters, in an attempt to find a way back through the portal and back home, following the same rabbit he met before he entered the world.

A primary facet of the game is controlling the movement and direction of the chameleon character's tongue. This enables players to obtain power-ups from a distance or to swallow enemies. The tongue will extend until it reaches its full length and retracts back into the chameleon's mouth, or until it bumps a wall, which yields the same result. As a basic attack, Davy and his friends, who have the same powers, can stick out their tongue and swallow enemies that stick to it. Once inside their mouth, the Chameleons have the option of spitting the enemies back out of their mouths at other enemies. In order to jump up to levels of ground that are usually impossible to reach, the characters are able to launch themselves into the air by using their tongues. If used while the chameleon is moving in a particular direction, the jump is given even more altitude, in what is comparable to pole vaulting. Similarly, the chameleons' tongues can be wrapped around poles, allowing them to cross gaps by either pulling themselves towards the pole or rotate around it while maintaining their distance. A multiplayer "battle mode" is also playable separate from the main game, allowing two to four players the chance to take part in either a Battle Royal or Time Trial event. Battle Royal has players vying to be the last chameleon left standing on a suspended platform, while Time Trial rewards the chameleon that stays on the platform the longest. In the latter event, the chameleon that has fallen off the fewest times is considered the winner. Options include four difficulty settings for multiplayer games, adjustable battle lengths, and a choice of four stages for both the Battle Royal and Time Trial modes.

The game was originally only planned for release in Japan, but Sunsoft and Nintendo thought children in the U.S. would enjoy the title.