Highlights
- Muppets video games have offered a diverse selection of experiences, from challenging puzzles to goofy adventures and even high-speed racing.
- Muppets Inside is a witty 1996 PC game that captures the humor and charm of the classic characters through mini-games and authentic voice acting.
- Muppet RaceMania is a colorful kart racing game that features a roster of playable Muppets characters and offers a fun multiplayer mode for competitive play.
Jim Henson’s legendary puppet ensemble has enjoyed a litany of video game treatments over the years. Many of these gaming adaptations have managed to capture the humor and charm of the classic characters.
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Muppets video games have encompassed a wide range of genres and gameplay styles. In turn, they’ve managed to provide a diverse selection of colorful experiences for players, often brimming with funny dialogue and character moments for fans to enjoy. From challenging puzzles to goofy adventures and even high-speed racing, Muppets games have managed to provide a little something for everyone since the early ‘80s.
6 Muppets Inside Is A Witty, Faithful Video Game Adaptation
Muppets Inside saw the classic puppet crew make their way over to PC gaming for a fun, comedic experience. With seven humorously gimmicked mini-games to sift through, this 1996 release provides plenty of laughs for longtime fans.
With plenty of puzzles for players to solve, the game remains relatively intellectually stimulating, particularly for younger players. The mini-games also provide space for plenty of Muppets jokes and references to make their way to the surface. With on-point voice acting and plenty of witty dialogue exchanges between iconic characters, the game impressed with its attention to detail and in providing an authentic Muppets experience. While often criticized for being a bit short, Muppets Inside’s effective capturing of the spirit of its source material makes it a charming, underrated discovery for fans of the long-running franchise to enjoy.
5 Muppet Adventure: Chaos At The Carnival Provides Retro Fun
First arriving on the stands back in 1989, Chaos at the Carnival enjoyed an update to the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. This stroll down gaming memory lane focuses on Kermit the Frog’s attempts to rescue Missy Piggy.
With Miss Piggy kidnapped by the dreaded Dr. Grump, players must acquire a selection of keys via carnival-themed missions to save the day. Missions are all set at classic carnival fixtures such as a dodgem cars track and a tunnel of love. The lightly comedic game gives players the chance to play as several primary Muppets characters beyond Kermit, including Gonzo and Fozzy Bear. While it lacks the modern polish of the numerous generations of gaming that followed, Chaos at the Carnival can still serve as a retro gem for Muppets fans.
4 Muppets Party Cruise Provides An Amusing Selection Of Mini-Games
As the title suggests, Mass Media's 2003 foray into The Muppets is a party-focused video game. With much of the gameplay revolving around party games and favors, the lighthearted sixth-generation Muppets adaptation functions largely as a selection of colorful mini-games.
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As fans should expect, the game comes chock-full of classic Muppets characters and references for fans to enjoy. The litany of mini-games frequently serves as a nice, comedic fit for the iconic puppet ensemble. Players have two game modes to select from, with the long cruise mode providing a bit more of an open-world, free-roaming style of gameplay as players get to explore the cruise ship setting more freely. The short cruise mode, meanwhile, keeps things similar and more mini-game focused for players looking for a quicker, easier gaming experience. Released to fairly middling critical reviews at the time, the game boasts obvious appeal to fans of the franchise.
3 Muppet RaceMania Takes The Classic Characters To The Racing Track
Sporting both 25 Muppets characters for gamers to play as and 25 vehicles, 2000’s RaceMania is the perfect racing game for fans of the franchise. The game offers a selection of fun racetracks, challenges, and power-ups for players to discover.
The impressive roster of playable characters, including longtime fan favorites such as Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, and Fozzie Bear, all possess unique abilities and dialogue, adding depth to the overall kart-racing gameplay experience. With neat controls by the standards of the time and a fun multiplayer mode, RaceMania was a perfect, all-age-friendly Playstation game for competitive families and friends to enjoy. Overall, while it didn’t exactly revolutionize the kart race style of game, it did provide a colorful twist on it that made it a must-play for Muppets fans.
2 Muppet Monster Adventure Takes The Characters Into Horror Parody Territory
Lighting up the Playstation back in 2000, Muppet Monster Adventure took the colorful cast to a creepy, deserted castle for their vacation. Players take control of Robin, Kermit the Frog's similarly goofy nephew.
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The old-school platformer sees Robin set out to save his friends from themselves, as the magic within the castle transforms them into monsters. Along the way, the gutsy frog encounters a variety of sinister threats, including pirates, villainous monks, and monster boss fight renditions of the classic Muppets, including a familial showdown with Kermit. Sporting colorful graphics, a well-fit soundtrack, and the light humor fans have come to expect from the Muppets over the years, Monster Adventure sports obvious appeal for fans of the series.
1 The Muppets Movie Adventures Is An Off-Beat Handheld Experience
This 2014 platform game was met with mixed reviews when it arrived on the Playstation Vita handheld console. The narrative zeroes in on the filming of a Muppets movie, making room for plenty of meta and referential humor.
The side-scroller was met with a relatively disappointing critical reaction, with many taking issue with the game's overly simplistic controls. While the gameplay is often clunky, the game's cutscenes and comedy are a must for longtime Muppets fans. With some colorful level designs, the game parodies a variety of film genres over the course of its playtime, with each level being gimmicked to fit a specific movie category. With the chance to play as several of the classic characters of the long-running franchise, this polarizing gaming entry is a good laugh for fans despite its flaws.