Keep in mind, 15 plus years ago, 3D action adventure titles were all the rage. This was caused by a little plumber who launched a memorable console in 1996. A decade prior, Mario did the same thing for 2D side scrolling action games. Mario has a tendency to do that. This article, though, is not about Mario or one of his games. No this article is celebrating another attempt at dethroning the king. Kao the Kangaroo is a 3D action adventure title that tries really hard but only saw moderate success worldwide. This game did see exceptional performance in Poland though.

Kao is doing what any family loving kangaroo would do when their family is captured by ruthless hunters. Kao must save his family from the clutches of the hunters while clearing the jungle of baddies. Kangaroos live in the jungle, right?

Kao the Kangaroo hops a familiar path

This game has the charm to carry it, more so than Bubsy 3D showed (anyone remember that one?). He is cute, has more than enough animation and a slight attitude while appearing completely innocent (taking notes, Sega?). Had Kao been released using a more mature 3D engine he may have fared a lot better outside of Poland. It ranked for quite a while in the top 10 there.

Battle of the ports

Kao the Kangaroo saw release on PC Game Boy Advance and Sega Dreamcast but has not been re-released. That leaves hitting eBay for a copy or buy from Amazon. Kao the Kangaroo 2, a direct sequel was released by Tate Interactive for the Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube and PC. Kao Challengers (eBay/Amazon) was a PlayStation Portable exclusive that added multiplayer. Finally, we saw the release of Kao the Kangaroo: Mystery of the Volcano for PC, which has yet to receive an English translation. Nearly a decade later. Don’t hold your breath for it.

This article is archived in the Hive Gaming section of the Hive.blog Blockchain.

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams