Portal Runner
Portal Runner is a 2001 action-adventure platform game published by The 3DO Company for PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Color. It is a spin-off of the Army Men video game series, focusing on a conflict between characters Vikki Grimm and Brigitte Bleu.
Portal Runner
- Date
- 2001
- Publisher
- The 3DO Company
- Genre
- platformer
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Documentary summary
Portal Runner is a 2001 action-adventure platform game published by The 3DO Company for PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Color. It is a spin-off of the Army Men video game series, focusing on a conflict between characters Vikki Grimm and Brigitte Bleu.
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Documentary evidence
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wikidata · Q7231479 · wikipedia · Portal Runner
In this article
Key facts
Key facts
• Title — Portal Runner • Developer — The 3DO Company (PlayStation 2) Handheld Games (Game Boy Color) • Publisher — The 3DO Company • Series — Army Men • Platforms — PlayStation 2, Game Boy Color • Genre — Action-adventure, platform • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer
Gameplay
Gameplay
Portal Runner is an action-adventure and platform game played from a third-person view. The game also includes an optional first-person view for precision shooting with a bow and arrow, Vikki's primary weapon.
Plot
Plot
In this game, Vikki Grimm embarks on an adventure after receiving a mysterious package. Her quest takes her through various toy worlds, including a prehistoric jungle and a medieval castle. Along the way, she befriends a lion named Leo and rescues a wizard, Merlin. The villain, Brigitte Bleu, manipulates Vikki's boyfriend, Sarge, and plans to marry him using a love gun acquired from Martians in a Space World. Vikki and Leo thwart the wedding, stop an inter-dimensional attack, and return home. Brigitte ends up imprisoned, sharing a cell with General Plastro.
Release
Release
3DO revealed the existence of Portal Runner alongside a number of other announced Playstation 2 titles, at a special held event at the FAO Schwarz in San Francisco, with former Playboy Playmate Heather Kozar dressed up as the lead character. The game was released in the North America on September 11, 2001, for the PlayStation 2 console and the Game Boy Color handheld. It was published in Europe a month later on October 19, 2001.
History of the object
Dated record
History of the object
The full dated record · 2 entries
2001
Portal Runner published.
2001
Portal Runner is recorded as published in 2001.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
- United States
Named but not plotted · 1
Portal Runner is associated with United States.
Country
Reception and controversy
The PlayStation 2 version received "mixed" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. The Game Boy Color version gave an earliest review from Nintendo Power, which gave it a score of two-and-a-half stars out of five, just nearly five months before the game was released. The PS2 version gained notoriety when it was panned by GamePro, which was the first to review the game, saying that it "looks like a late-generation PlayStation title rather than a second-generation PS2 effort." Trip Hawkins, then-president of 3DO and publisher of Portal Runner, sent an angry email to John Rousseau, who was president of GamePro. The email was published on the internet in its entirety. In the email, Hawkins told Rousseau that his customers were the advertisers, not the readers, and implied that the reviews should be written to keep the advertisers happy. Hawkins wrote: "...there is something wrong with (the reviewer), not with Portal Runner. If you disagree with me, you do so at your own peril.... I should mention in passing that 3DO has been one of your largest advertisers. Effective immediately, we are going to have to cut that back."
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Sunrise Publications. Portal Runner - Escaping the toy box. Game Informer. 9. 93. 81. January 2001.
- 2.Ziff Davis Media. 3DO'S New Babe. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. 40. 64. January 2001.
- 3.3DO Ships Portal Runner™. The 3DO Company. September 11, 2001.
- 4.Eurogamer Network. UK Release Dates. EuroGamer.
- 5.CBS Interactive. Portal Runner for PlayStation 2. GameRankings.
- 6.CBS Interactive. Portal Runner for Game Boy Color. GameRankings.
- 7.Fandom. Portal Runner (PS2). Metacritic.
- 8.Thompson, Jon. Portal Runner (PS2) - Review. AllGame. All Media Network.
- 9.Boyer, Crispin. Portal Runner (PS2). Electronic Gaming Monthly. Ziff Davis. 148. 210. November 2001.
- 10.Helgeson, Matt. Portal Runner (PS2). Game Informer. FuncoLand. 102. October 2001.
- 11.Dodson, Joe. Portal Runner Review (PS2). GameRevolution. CraveOnline. October 2001.
- 12.Lopez, Miguel. Portal Runner Review (PS2). GameSpot. Fandom. September 12, 2001.
- 13.Alupului, Andrei. Portal Runner (PS2). GameSpy. GameSpy Industries. October 19, 2001.
- 14.Parrotta, Dylan. Portal Runner Review - PlayStation 2. GameZone. October 19, 2001.
- 15.Zdyrko, David. Portal Runner (PS2). IGN. Ziff Davis. September 24, 2001.
- 16.Nintendo of America. Portal Runner. Nintendo Power. 144. May 2001.
- 17.Rybicki, Joe. Portal Runner. Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine. 160. November 2001.
- 18.D'Aprile, Jason. 'Portal Runner' (PS2) Review. Extended Play. TechTV. October 19, 2001.
- 19.Iron Monkey. Portal Runner (PS2). GamePro. IDG. 158. 124. November 2001.
- 20.Harris, Bill. The Shame of Trip Hawkins. Dubious Quality. Blogspot. January 13, 2005.
References
Citations
References
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Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 18 August 2026.
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