Muppets Inside

The Muppet CD-ROM: Muppets Inside is a 1996 video game based on The Muppets franchise produced by Starwave for Windows. The title is a play on Intel's advertising slogan, "Intel Inside". The game's plot consists of several Muppets characters getting trapped inside a computer, and Bunsen sending Kermit and Fozzie Bear into the computer to rescue them.

The Muppet CD-ROM: Muppets Inside
Developer(s)	Starwave
Publisher(s)	Starwave
Director(s)	David Gumpel
Producer(s)	John Cutter Ritamarie Peruggi
Designer(s)	John Cutter
Artist(s)	Joan Delehanty Derek Brown
Writer(s)	Craig Shemin
Platform(s)	Windows
Release	NA: March 1996
Genre(s)	Adventure
Mode(s)	Single-player

Muppets Inside's gameplay contains over an hour of new audio and video footage, as well as five new songs and classics from The Muppet Show. The game also contains a bonus "Muppetizer'" feature that provides custom cursors, sounds and wallpapers. The game's CD-ROM also came packaged with a 6x6 inch, 30-page booklet with Henson history, character profiles, game instructions, and credits.^{[citation needed]}

Gameplay

As players rescue the Muppets, they encounter seven "Muppetized" minigames:^[1]

• Kitchens of Doom: A parody of Doom, with the Swedish Chef fighting giant vegetables in a crypt-like kitchen.
• Beaker's Brain: The player helps Bunsen unscramble Beaker's memories of Muppet Show clips.
• Two Thumbs Down: The player rotates boxes to unscramble Statler and Waldorf's video clip.
• A Wocka on the Wild Side: In a parody of Missile Command, the player shoots down flying tomatoes that the audience throws at Fozzie Bear as he crosses the Muppet Theater stage.
• Death Defying Acts of Culture: The player positions Gonzo's cannon so he flies through a target.
• Scope That Song: Clifford hosts a version of Name That Tune, with the songs played by Lew Zealand's fish or Marvin Suggs and the Muppaphone.
• Trivial but True: A Hollywood Squares game hosted by Kermit, with Fozzie Bear as the center square.

Development and release

Starwave was the lead developer of Muppets Inside, while other developers produced most of its minigames: Trivial but True and Death Defying Acts of Culture by Socha Computing; Kitchens of Doom by Gravity;^[2] A Wocka on the Wild Side and Two Thumbs Down by Randy Pratt; and Beaker's Brain and Scope That Song by Riedel Software Productions.^[3] The game was developed in a year, with a headcount of over 150 people between all involved studios.^[4]

The full-motion video sequences for the game were shot in London, concurrently with the Muppet Treasure Island film and its video game adaptation.^[5]

Muppets Inside was originally set to release in January 1996.^[1] However, the game would not be released until March.^[6][7][8]

Cast

• Steve Whitmire as Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat, Beaker
• Dave Goelz as Gonzo the Great, Waldorf, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew
• Jerry Nelson as Statler, Lew Zealand, Floyd Pepper, The Muppet Newsman, Announcer, Crazy Harry
• Frank Oz as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle, Animal, Marvin Suggs
• Kevin Clash as Clifford
• Bill Barretta as The Swedish Chef

Reception

Review score

Publication	Score
PC Gamer (US)	88%[9]

Reception

Muppets Inside was received positively by critics upon release. CNET praised the game's graphics and design, describing it as a "day-brightener".^[10]

In a retrospective review, PC Gamer praised the humor of the videos and game concepts, while criticizing the tedium of the small number of games.^[11]

Awards

Muppets Inside received a CODiE award in 1997 for Best Overall Multimedia Production.^[12] The editors of Computer Games Strategy Plus nominated the game as their pick for 1996's best "traditional" game, but the award ultimately went to Power Chess.^[13]

References

1. "Muppets Take a Byte Out of Your Computer". MuppetZine. No. 15. 1996. pp. 7–8. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
2. "Games". Gravity. Archived from the original on January 28, 1998. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
3. Auerbach, Jon G.; Stecklow, Steve (October 16, 1997). "RSP Provokes Controversy Over Its Gory Software Game". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved September 11, 2024. In the Muppets CD-ROM game, released last year, RSP created a segment in which Miss Piggy plays a game-show host and child contestants must name such tunes as, "I've Been Working on the Railroad". In another, called "Beaker's Brain", players must reconstruct animated images to put the flask-headed character's brain back together.
4. Manes, Stephen (March 12, 1996). "There's a Muppet in the Machine!". New York Times. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
5. Roe, Ryan (April 9, 2014). "An Interview with Craig Shemin, Part 1: Through the Eyes of a Fan". ToughPigs. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
6. "Many More Muppets". Newsweek. March 17, 1996. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
7. Sage, Rose (March 17, 1996). "Muppet Web Contests". Muppet News Flash. Archived from the original on April 5, 2005. Retrieved September 27, 2024.
8. Harmon, Amy (March 18, 1996). "Pulse Has a Finger on New Ideas". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved October 20, 2024.
9. Wolf, Scott (September 1996). "Muppets Inside". PC Gamer US. Archived from the original on March 2, 2000. Retrieved April 10, 2020.
10. Atelsek, Jean. "The Muppet CD-ROM: Muppets Inside". CNET. Archived from the original on April 20, 1997. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
11. Cobbett, Richard (January 21, 2023). "Muppets Inside was a classic of the 'CD-ROM full of stuff' era". PC Gamer. Retrieved September 11, 2024.
12. "1997 Winners". SIIA CODiE Awards. Software and Information Industry Association. Retrieved October 18, 2024.
13. "Computer Games Strategy Plus announces 1996 Awards". Computer Games Strategy Plus. March 25, 1997. Archived from the original on June 14, 1997.

External links

• Official website at the Wayback Machine (archived October 5, 1999)
• Muppets Inside at IMDb