The Extensively Complex History of Humongous Entertainment: A Retrospective
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- čas přidán 9. 07. 2024
- Well, here it is: my complete historical breakdown of Humongous Entertainment's existence as a company ever since its founding in 1992. I never expected a nearly 2-hour-long video would've come from something like this, but here we are lol.
This was, undoubtedly, the biggest video project I've ever taken on in my life, and man oh man does this reaffirm why I don't make long-form content very often. This project was a nightmare to put together to say the least; as I mentioned at the start of the video this was originally supposed to be a one-and-done deal for a video idea I had several years ago. Then during April of 2020 when real world consequences were going down, I had come up with this idea while brainstorming for future video projects because I noticed nobody had really made an in-depth video covering this company's history before. I decided that once I finished the more pressing video series I was making at the time, I would take it upon myself to create the most comprehensive video on the internet discussing the company's existence. Lo and behold, here we are over 1 year later and that project has finally been completed! I hope you all enjoy it!
And yes, as teased at the end of the video, this is only part 1 of an 8 video project I intend to continue working on within the next year or so. Let it be known that I WILL be talking about every single Humongous Game ever released in all of the upcoming videos I have planned. Seeing as the Putt-Putt franchise was the first franchise released by Humongous, those are the games I'm going to be tackling first in the next video. Freddi Fish will be after that, and so on and so forth. Please let me know what you thought of this video or what you'd like to see in those future videos down in the comments below!
I can tell this series is going to be a massive undertaking but I know what I was getting myself into going into it. This retrospective series is a personal challenge of mine to test myself and prove that I can do it. I don't make long-form content very often but I figured out of all things this would be the prime opportunity to make it happen. Once again I want to thank you all for your continued support, I know for a fact I wouldn't have the motivation to complete something like this if I didn't have you guys backing me up!
Video Chapters:
00:00 - Introduction
04:30 - Ron Gilbert & The Founding of Humongous
16:44 - Humongous' First Adventure Title: Putt-Putt
24:48 - The Paradigm Shift: Freddi Fish
36:13 - Humongous in 1995
48:43 - The All-Time Classic: Pajama Sam
56:50 - The GT Interactive Purchase of 1996
1:00:55 - The Break Out Year of 1997 (Spy Fox & Backyard Sports)
1:16:33 - Corporate Meddling: Infogrames Arrives on the Scene
1:31:38 - The Destruction of Humongous Entertainment
1:46:13 - Present Day Purgatory
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SOCIAL MEDIA
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Be sure to follow me on Twitter for all the latest updates on videos and other various posts: / ashadowstreak
Want your name in my videos? Access to a special name badge, exclusive livestream emojis, and secret community posts? Then you should consider becoming a member of the channel: / @shadowstreak
Wanna hang with me and other fans? Join my Public Discord Server: / discord
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VIDEO CREDITS
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Introduction by SwearingTaylor & Yours Truly:
/ swearingtaylor
Special Thanks to the following people for narrating segments of this video!
SwearingTaylor
Twitter: / swearingtaylor
NoahGWX
Twitter: / noahgwx
Pieguyrulz
CZcams: / pieguyrulz
Twitter: / pieguyrulz
NICKtendo
CZcams: / nicktendoreviews
Twitter: / itsnicktendo
============= - Hry
I'm a diehard fan of Humongous, been a devoted fan since I was 2 years old and largely credit them with discovering my love for computers, and I have to say I adored this video! You put so much work into it and you pretty much got every fact right on the money. You even got some of the lesser known details right like Let's Explore The Farm being released in 1994. You dug into all the other side-stories too like Cavedog Entertainment too. I also think the amount of executive meddling they did to Humongous is something criminally overlooked; a lot of people like to point fingers at Atari but everything they did pales in comparison to Infogrames (and props too for making a genuine attempt at comprehending that web of companies, haha). This is incredible work and I have tons of respect for you for putting forth all the work into this. I enjoyed this a ton! Your hard work definitely paid off!
And yeah, all around Humongous is an inspiring yet tragic story. It's amazing how they just sort of dipped overnight and then they just kinda slowly faded away little by little. I still adore the legacy of the company so much though and hearing all the stories of their old days is really some inspiring stuff. Very happy to see that legacy documented in this form!
i watch your videos! hi :D
I grew up with their games.
Hello there, Mr. Eight-Three-One! I remember watching a lot of your Humongous Entertainment videos back in the early 2010s since I enjoyed playing Humongous Entertainment games throughout the 2000s decade. It was a lot of fun! How are you doing nowadays? Keep up the nice work!
#sohegas it stands for #sos
Save
Our
Humongus
Entertainment
Games
And
Show!!!!!!!!!!!
I ugh
My copy of the Humongous Classic Collection for Switch arrived in the mail today, these games will never die. Ever.
Given how most of the people who played this games are in their mid 20s to early 30s, it'd be cool if we got more games, but more akin to the difficulty of monkey island.
Should add. Could also be cool for things to be a little more adult orinted. Imagine a noir styled game where Freddie Fish solves a legit murder mystery.
I know they just recently ported Spy Fox and Pajama Sam to PS4 and 5, but I know that's not what you meant, BUT if Telltale can get a comeback, why not HE?
@@whuuuut2035 I wish I could love this comment.
Yeah I’m excluded from this group because I’ve never played these games in my life 😅
@@risingofthethorn1197 I would buy it. I can already imagine it. It will never happen, but we can certainly dream!
I damn near shed a tear listening when the opening seconds of the video played, that sound effect and logo just brings me back to my 5 year old self playing putt putt and pajama sam for hours
I was a Humongous "insider" for a couple of years and was there for the demise of Cavedog. You missed a bit of dirt on that whole situation, which I'm happy to fill you in on. Also, if you can humor me a couple of petty corrections: Infogrames, being a French company, is actually pronounced "InfogrAHm." Hulabee is pronounced "HOOLAbee" (think 'hula skirt').
Here's how I remember it:
The reason you've never heard many details about Cavedog's downfall is that it was largely a setup with ulterior motives. The sale of Humongous to GT Interactive a few years earlier had clearly been a mistake. GTI's stock was overwhelmingly held by a single family which barely ever traded it, thus limiting its circulation and stagnating its business strategies and momentum. Ron Gilbert and Shelley Day were rightly skeptical about GTI's pending purchase by Infogrames. They plotted to buy back Humongous as its own autonomous company; but a significant "problem" was that subsidiary Cavedog's assets (Total Annihilation and 3 widely anticipated works-in-progress) added a lot of value to the company. Citing "budget issues" (that had somehow not come up before), Cavedog was abruptly shut down. In truth, it was done to deliberately devalue Humongous, so that Ron and Shelley could offer less money for their proposed buyback! Sadly, they had no qualms about laying off several artists and developers in the process. The whole situation was shady AF. As lame a company as it was, GTI saw through this and rightly didn't agree to their scheme. They invited Ron and Shelley to leave if they were unsatisfied with the way things were being run. Ron and Shelley ultimately took them up on that offer.
This all happened during a particularly robust time in the Seattle-area game industry, which further backfired on Humongous. The company began to bleed talent in a mass exodus of employees who no longer trusted the company. It got so bad that an email eventually went out, essentially begging the remaining employees to stick around. They were invited to fill out a questionnaire to identify problem areas of management, with the promise that the feedback would be considered and acted upon. One particular person in upper-middle management was extensively complained about. She was let go, resulting in a celebratory day across multiple local game companies where former Humongous staff had come to land.
One last note: Hulabee closed owing thousands of dollars to several employees. AFAIK, they've never seen any of that money. Shelley has not been heard from in years. She's largely forgotten, but remains a figure of shame and disgust to those who were privy to these events.
Oh wow, those are definitely some details I would likely never have known just by researching around on the internet. I had no idea Cavedog played a bigger role in the company's downfall than I initially believed, wish I could go back and add these tidbits of information to my video. Regardless, thank you so much for sharing! I like learning even more about the situation that had occurred so I really appreciate it!
@@ShadowStreak @Captain Comedian do you have links to media coverage? I'd like to read more about the insidious nature of Infogrames purchase and Humongous' implosion during the acquisition.
Thank you for your insight into this unfortunate and messy process. 😅
@@Kingfish95 Unfortunately I don't. I don't recall the Humongous implosion ever getting extensive coverage. There ARE still a few articles out there about Shelley Day's self-made and completely avoidable problems that might touch on some of the Humongous details, however.
So do you have anything to back this up? Because if not this seems kinda sketchy as this is literally just a CZcams comment so if not im gonna call bullshit
It's surprising to find out how much one company positively effected my childhood so much. I have only fond memories of these games, they never felt pandering or dumbed down, just genuinely fun.
Thanks for this video! With all the nostalgia on the internet I'm really surprised how little they're talked about
Genuine fun games hardly exist today. Many are Very artificial money making machines claoked under a souless disguise.
We have good games nowadays too, don't get me wrong. Just missing the soul.
You know how Hulabee Entertainment was torn to shreds because Shelley Day wanted to get rich quick for a beach house? I wonder if that's the same reason Humongous sold themselves to GT after being so stubborn about NOT selling themselves? Perhaps all they needed was the guarantee of "beach house" money. Why else would they be so willing to launch into ALL the projects and hire ALL the people in 1997? Kinda reminds me of Big Idea Productions, another children’s entertainment company that got way too big way too fast and collapsed in on itself due to the selfish desires of one of its founders.
"You know, for all the talk of corporate success, we Infogrames folks are an unimaginative lot when it comes to naming things" -an Infogrames employee, probably.
Missed opportunity to call this a "Humongous Retrospective"
Dude can you just give him credit? He made a TWO HOUR video documentary of high quality content for you to watch for free. Tired of ppl always trying to be 1st to the punchline that they forget common decency. What ever happened "good job"?
Holy cow this video was 2 hours long, and it's only part 1 of a series!
Fun fact pajama Sam is actually voiced by Pamela adlon who also voices Bobby hill on king of the hill and as a fan of both I choked at the idea of Bobby having pajama Sam’s voice
While except for pajama Sam 4 which has a new voice actor for Sam but that game is 100%, not cannon and can go die in a hole
Also as someone who grew up playing and loving moop and dreadly. To know it was made by the same people who made humongous entertainment which holds a special place in my heart is nice.
I can actually recommend that game. It has less charm than humongous games in terms of environment as it’s much more realistic and takes place on a small island but actually has the same levels of plot and dialogue
Putt putt was also voiced by Nancy Cartwright (Bart Simpson) in most of his games too!
1:14:32 OMG, I actually played one of those Blue's Clues video games from Humongous Entertainment when I was a child. Specifically, Blue's ABC Time Activities. In fact, I still have that video game in my basement, along with several other educational PC games.
I didn’t grow up with these games, so it’s interesting to see what I missed out on. Thanks for making this video. You deserve a break after this though man. Two hour videos are worthy of breaks.
Man, i remember as a kid, my mom would get via mail a 4pack of kids pc games for me. I remember the first having a Furby game, a crayola game, Putt Putt Saves the Zoo, and Pajama Sam 2. For a while, i didnt touch them much and played Playstation instead. Then, on my first day bein trusted home alone, i wanted to play the computer and plopped in Putt Putt. By this point more of those 4 packs arrived and had more humongous games. After Zoo, i wanted to play more and more, to the point i looked up all methods to fix my disk of PJ Sam 2, and lit up when it worked. Those games were my summer vacations. Playing Freddi, Putt and Sam on repeat were so enjoyable.
For anyone that watched this vid, and thought the games looked fun and creative, I full heartedly recommend getting them ala steam. Dont be afraid to engage childhood, even as an adult, theyre so charming to return to (til the last ones atleast), and if you have kids, theyll have a blast playing them, so promises this internet weirdo!
That last bit was scary, so many employees were gathered in two rooms and in one of them, 40% were fired. How crazy is that!?
Nice job on the video Shadow Streak. :)
Haha software companies in a nutshell. You are in the best ship that ever sailed until suddenly half the company is fired and management is bought out by another company in a single afternoon.
Brutal for sure but more common than this would lead you to believe
Haven't watched the video yet, but first I'd like to thank you for making this. Every few months I look for this exact video so it's nice to finally see someone do it.
I’m glad to have stumbled upon this hidden gem recently after randomly searching “Humongous Entertainment” and I was enthralled during entire video. This is a very well-researched and well-made video in my opinion with a lot of effort put in. The company deserves much better.
It’s great to see how you share your love of the games. I look forward to the rest of the series.
That's a cute profile pic :0 did you draw it yourself?
@@Willllow Thank you! Yup, I finished it yesterday because it was Putt-Putt’s birthday. According to his secret driver’s license, anyway.
EDIT: My profile picture changed because it’s no longer September (Putt-Putt’s birth month)
@@ShardiSeal Awesome :D it looks really good (and belated wishes to the little car himself)!
1:51:48 Me: "Dang, that was a nearly 2 hour long, super thorough video."
"Which is why I'm proud to announce that this video is part 1 out of a 8-part series I'm working on."
OH SNAP
I can't believe how much animation went into these games for kids. They were definitely not lazy. Just from a programming perspective, I would feel a bit overwhelmed implementing them all as well.
Really good video, Humongous Entertainment and LucasArts games are really special to me, and I appreciate you taking the time to make a video about Humongous!
My only criticism is that you seem to have mixed up Scumm and ScummVM. Scumm is the game engine -- ScummVM is the virtual machine that runs the Scumm engine, comparable to an emulator. (Though I wouldn't call it an emulator exactly; the Sega CD version of The Secret of Monkey Island runs the exact same as the MS-DOS version of the same game when running them through ScummVM. I assume this is because it's simply emulating the game engine, and doesn't actually emulate the systems that the games were released on.) The Wii ports of Humongous Entertainment games failed to credit the ScummVM developers, who made their virtual machine open source, they didn't need to credit that the games ran on Scumm.
Other than that, very very good video. Even though Humongous Entertainment lies in purgatory, their games will forever live on in our hearts.
Thank you very much for making this. I was one of THE biggest fans of Humongous Entertainment when I was a wee one, I owned and loved pretty much every game they produced back in the day (the demo of Putt-Putt Goes to the Moon was my very first computer game experience) and for the longest time I've never really known much about the company's origins. This video retrospective was pretty much everything I had hoped for, and your research brings to light what many of us were curious about. It truly is a tragic story. I hate Infogrames even more now.
After your series on the Powerpuff Girls reboot came to an end I was a bit afraid that your channel would lose direction or would accidentally rely too much on Powerpuff Girls and lose steam after its content had run dry, but I am extremely happy to see a project like this come from you and even happier to see it’s coming from a place of passion.
I have a somewhat niche interest in documentary/video essay type CZcams; things I can play in the background and get enraptured in the information and narrative. This video introducing your series on Humongous Entertainment does an amazing job presenting information in a way that held my interest the whole way through. I also love the length of the video, some youtubers are afraid to have longer videos because the viewer may lose interest or be intimidated by the length, but I love longer videos and am glad to see one that is 2 hours long. Also really great to see all these collaborators, even if they’re just narrating some text.
Anyways to stop from repeating myself too much, I love the video, and since I don’t have a way to financially support you, I hope this comment gives you encouragement or something of the like. Excited to see the upcoming game reviews as well as what comes after!
I only had a few of these, but the Humongous titles were formative game experiences from my childhood that I can never forget. Even though I've grown and my tastes have changed, I can still play and enjoy these solely for nostalgia.
I had Putt-Putt Parade, Moon, and Zoo, Freddi Fish 1 & 2, and Pajama Sam 1.
Two hours? Hehe im gonna grab my popcorn
I got teared up when I watched this. I loved these games so much when I was a kid and just as a fan of art I know how hard it is to make something as amazing, authentic and nostalgic as this electric childhood-in-a-bottle. Seeing how it was rotted from the inside by corporate meddling was so tragic. We almost had another series of amazing games.
So far, I've watched the first half of this video, and it has been very interesting, nostalgic and educational! I've been a fan of Humongous Entertainment since 2001. I began playing the PC versions of all the Junior Field Trips installments in that year. I also had the full version of Freddi Fish 1, although I most often played the demo version of it via one of the Junior Field Trips discs, alongside the demo version of Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo on an HP Pavilion PC with Windows XP on it a year later in 2002. There was a lot of interesting stuff to learn about. For instance, I didn't know there was originally an MS-DOS version of Freddi Fish 1 as I always thought it exclusively had hand-drawn graphics all along. But I will say that the remade version without sprite graphics was the best one!
I also had a lot of the Blue's Clues PC games developed by Humongous Entertainment back in the early 2000s because I grew up with the original Blue's Clues TV series back then as well. The games were Blue's Birthday Adventure, Blue's ABC Time Activities, Blue's Treasure Hunt, and Blue's Reading Time Activities. Plus, I remember playing demo versions of Putt-Putt Travels Through Time, Pajama Sam 2, and Big Thinkers! Kindergarten via the disc of Blue's ABC Time Activities back in 2002, and in the same year, I saw a preview of Backyard Baseball from the same disc. My copy of Freddi Fish 4 came from a pack of four kids' PC games released by Encore in 2003 named "All Aboard! Kindergarten Adventures." I didn't collect even more full versions of Junior Adventure titles until 2012, which was incredible! This video brings back a lot of amazing memories, and it looks like something that could have been released on DVD or Blu-ray, or aired on TV, so fantastic job, thanks for the nostalgia, and keep it up!
To have access to all these games on Steam fills me with so much joy. I can play them any time I want.
Humongous Entertainment's properties arguably defined me from age 4 to 10. Many thanks for this nostalgia trip.
The sheer amount of research and time that went into making this video is absolutely commendable and I was surprised with how little views there were given how long it's been out. As frustrating as the end of this story is, it's a bit heartwarming to know that nothing happened internally to cause Humongous Entertainment to shut down. It was truly a company of very talented people that cared about what they made as well as each other, that were unfortunately screwed over by poor management.
Edit: I'm hoping you'll be able to cover the merchandise that was made of the HE properties. I have a few toys featuring Pajama Sam and Putt-Putt that look like they came from kids meals but I can't for the life of me remember where I got em.
I haven’t played any of the games so far besides the Steam rerelease of Pajama Sam 1, but I appreciate the Humongous games as a whole. I’m a 2010’s kid, so I don’t have any nostalgia for them, but I still find them incredibly charming.
I hope the team behind Humongous Entertainment are doing well!
they went defunct in 2005.
It's sorta funny I stumble across this just two weeks before my physical copy of the Humongous Classic Collection on the Switch is expected to arrive. While the Switch is still missing like half of the Junior Adventure series, at least the ones that are on there and part of the collection are some of the best Humongous games ever (Putt-Putt 3 & 4, Pajama Sam 1 & 2, Freddi Fish 3, and Spy Fox 1)
This entire Humongous retrospective you've done is some amazing work, I can't even begin to imagine how long and tiring it must have been to make it
Holy crap! I haven’t watched the video yet but man I can tell this is gonna be a very special video. This company was a huge part of my childhood and I know this video will give me a lot of insight into the company and how it rose and fell.
Thanks so much for celebrating this beautiful era. I'm currently going through the HE catalog with my daughter. She's loving it. Such a trip to revisit these titles as an adult. Works of art, I reckon. Excellent video!
For anyone curious, Infogrames (now known under the Atari brand name) just recently reacquired the rights to over 100 games originally published by Accolade, MicroProse, GT Interactive, and Infogrames along with the aforementioned brand names of Accolade and GT Interactive (with GT itself originally being the video game publishing arm of GoodTimes Home Video).
What this means is: While they don't have the rights to games that Humongous Entertainment developed like the Backyard Sports series and Moonbase Commander, Infogrames / Atari (likely) does now have Putt-Putt, Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Spy Fox and Fatty Bear again (as well as Bubsy along with games originally published by Mattel's M Network brand like Armor Ambush, Astroblast, and Star Strike).
Also, Total Annihilation and Master of Orion are now owned by Cyprus-based Wargaming Group Limited (aka the World of Tanks guys).
Just saw a post on a Facebook group about Fatty Bear, and after watching an entire walk through I can't believe I just watched this entire video - but it was so informative and captivating. I guess the nostalgia really got me invested. Amazing really
I have no idea what possessed me to search up pajama Sam at 5 in the morning, while suffering from the flu. But here I am, and boy am I glad I got to remember my childhood again.
I will never forget christmas of 2000. I got my first Humongous game: pajama sam 1. the best introduction to this company I ever could think of
2 hours holy cow we’re in for a wild ride!!! 💙💖
Hello! It feels like I see your comments on every Shadow Streak video, good to see you!
@@samlewis6487 I like to be one of the regulars 😅
I use to play Putt Putt travels through time all the time as a kid , so this retrospective will definitely be awesome to watch .
i’ve been waiting for this since you announced it these games were a big part of my childhood Lol
i’m only 14 but my aunt had the games on CD in like 2010 and i would play them on her computer, i’m glad she did cuz by the time i was born they weren’t really popular anymro
I remember these and jumpstart they were fun!!! I loved Freddie fish 5 and jumpstart 3rd grade. I played pajama Sam and Freddie fish many times even as a 5th grader in the wii they were fun
I was trying to find a long form style of video about these games, and this was the first result CZcams gave for 'Humongous Entertainment'. Very impressed by all the work that must have gone into these long boys
This is really fantastic, and I hate that this went under the radar. Hope you're able to do more like this with whatever subject you're interested in -- you've got a gift for documentary.
This is probably the best video i’ve ever seen on this app, objectively speaking. Kudos.
29:18 😦 Oh. My. Goodness. I can't believe that Freddi and Luther looked like that. So glad they changed their design. 😃
Saw this in my recommended, saw the 468 views, and felt insane. Personal mission to make that 468k.
Man, I came here for the Backyard baseball but stayed for the rest. Corporate incompetence suckssss. Also,
Pablo Sanchez the 🐐
I was expecting you to be sarcastic and say something like: "Nah, I'm messing with you. No-one remembers Backyard Sports, or whatever it was called."
Of course, I know more about the Adventure titles than I do the Sports titles, so that shows what I know.
@@QJ89 no, not at all. I was a huge baseball fan as a kid, so I played Triple Play Baseball and Backyard Baseball all the time. Backyard Hockey was also a favorite of mine.
Thank you so much for this video!!!! I played these games as a kid at my grandparents house all the time!!! And I still do now :)
That's awesome! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it :D
Shadow Streak, thank you so much for making this video. This is a video that I have been wanting for years. I even thought a while ago to maybe tackle the topic myself. But you did this way better than I ever could've imagined. The Humongous games were a huge part of my childhood that were the initial spark of many friendships I had in real life and online. You did an incredible job with this retrospective. Continuing to hope we haven't seen the last of these characters.
This was such an interesting story to hear about. I had no idea about the company.
I live in the Netherlands and as a kid I thought the company was Belgian. Because some of the voice actors they used were Belgian.
The adventure games with Putt Putt, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam and Spy fox were some of the first games my parents bought for me in the early 2000s. They gave me so much joy and fun. I still have my original cd roms and even bought a cd drive to be able to play them on my current laptop.
My younger siblings also played the games because of me. I ended up getting all the games on steam for ease.
It's really easy to see how much effort and work for this video. So thank you so much for all your hard work and time!!
As someone who grew up with many of the games discussed in this video, and has a fondness for the developer in general, this video is ridiculously impressive. Definitely the best one on the subject I have ever watched.
I am really looking forward to the rest of this project as it comes out, especially when you get to the Pajama Sam games (my beloved).
I played Spy Fox 1 with my cousin when we were little. I had no idea who made it cause I didn't pay attention then but I remember it being fun for us.
I stumbled here because I heard some of its games are getting a Nintendo Switch port.
This was really good, thank you.
I remember seeing the trailers for Ollo and Moop and Dreadly! I can’t believe it was the same team. This was a great video 😁👍
I enjoyed this video alot. As a kid who only played one of the pajama sam games, but a ton of Spy Fox at an afterschool daycamp, I never knew the generosity that it's team and founders had. As well as the missteps the company were involved in. I assumed, because of the rereleases I saw at game stores and markets, "Oh yeah, the Pajama Sam and Spy Fox guys probably made more games for kids well into the 2010s". I was super surprised that that wasn't the case. You sir, are awesome, and I hope you make more vids like this right here
I played several of the Pajama Sam games from Humongous, and still have the CD-ROMs to this day, seeing this video in my feed made me smile, and this was a great video! Much respect for your work put into this.
I too, enjoyed several Humongous Entertainment games back in their heyday. Some I missed playing this century, until I found Putt-Putt Saves the Zoo, Freddi Fish 2: The Case of the Haunted Schoolhouse and Freddi Fish 4: The Case of the Hogfish Rustlers of Briny Gulch.
I was waiting for you to get to the blues clues bit. That shit was my childhood and i legit still own those games today.
This video deserves more credit! Humungous entertainment was a huge part of my childhood, not only because of the memories it’s left me with, the educational benefits as well! Thank you for this ❤️
Some of the Humongous Entertainment music from the games will play in Time Shift and Putt-Putt will reappear in there as well. I would like for a lot of the games' different random scenarios to be placed together for a deluxe mission on the characters; they lose what they find and it is reclaimed in another area, some fixtures are repeated for strong repair, multiple items are bought, all the bottles are salvaged and new lines of words are recorded and used.
Their games were my childhood. I wish I could personally thank them for so many good memories and nostalgia!
That opening scene of freddi and the missing kelp got me feeling like im 4 years old again. That music is iconic.
I just finished watching your entire series on Humongous, it was an amazing nostalgic ride but there are a few things i'd like to add trivia wise which I thought you might find interesting.
First of all to clarify where some of my knowledge and experience comes from, I own phisycal copies of all Humongous junior adventure and arcade games from the big 4 in Dutch (all except Putt Putt joins the parade, Putt Putt goes to the moon, any of the activity packs and funstop workshops, Cheese chase, Hold the mustard and Operation ozone. Operation ozone is the only one of which i found written confirmation that it was never dubbed in Dutch and thus never sold here in Belgium and the Netherlands). All my copies were bought between 2005 and 2010 (when i was7 to 12 years old) with Pajama Sam 4 being the only one bought much later in 2012 or 2013, they also all have an Atari logo on them (I also own phisycal copies of both Moop and Ollo but cant get either to run on my laptop).
trivia:
- On an exclusive copy of the Dutch dub of Freddi fish and the case of the missing kelp seeds that came with a Freddi fish activity book there was a song with a videoclip included called Dam Dadi Dam which you can find here --> czcams.com/video/LJqmLat2K9I/video.html (DATED CGI WARNING!!!)
- Here in Belgium Pajama Sam 1 came in a duo pack cd-rom which also included Pajama Sam 2, Pajama Sam 2 was also available separately but the solo one lacked the scenario picker for some reason.
- There were 3 games ported to DVD of all things, those being Freddi fish 2, Pajama Sam 3 an Putt Putt saves the zoo. I own all 3 of them and do NOT recomend getting them because the controlls are hell, the quality has gone down significanty, you can only play one set scenario in each game and in some scenes the background music dissapears randomly which makes it feel very earie for some reason... Oh and even if you did buy it you probably wouldnt understand a thing because the only language options were Dutch and French since these were Belgium exclusive.
- Here in Europe Freddi fish is the most populair out of the big 4
- Here in Belgium and the Netherlands the first 2 Putt Putt games either never came out or were dubbed by a different company so the Atari ones are labeled 1 trough 5 instead of 3 trough 7
- The Dutch/Flemish dub for all Humongous games was provided by a Belgian game development company called Transposia, they also did dubbing for other developers such as Yoram Gross (Flipper and Blinky Bill), Hulabee (Moop and Ollo) and Kutoka (Mia mouse and Diddi & Ditto) but they also did the Doki language learning games and a lot more.
- In the Benelux a hand full of Dutch dub demos are missing (Freddi 1, Putt Putt joins the circus and operation ozone).
That being said I absolutely loved watching your videos, they re-egnighted a love and appreciation for these games that I lost back when I got Pajama Sam 4. I still fondly remember getting Freddi Fish 1 in a random collection of 6 games you could get by collecting stamps from a newspaper (which my dad did along with my godmother and her parents and they gave it to me).
I also have fond memories of playing some of these games partially for the first time in my primary school's computer room where they were pre-installed and sometimes I'd switch computers with a classmate as to not repeat a game since each pc had a different one.
Well, Im off to play some of those games now ;)
Thanos: "I am inevitable."
Infogrames: "And I just bought Marvel Studios."
*Marvel Studios Files for Bankruptcy*
I am very thankful to have found this video while searching for content to satisfy my nostalgic needs of childhood memories. However, what conclusion can I draw as a French speaker who discovered most of these games, fully localised and translated with love into my native language and allowing me, a small European, to experience these pieces of work full of passion and tenderness. This has most likely been done by Infogrames - after its takeover which fits quite well with the time I played it (between 2000 and 2004 from memory) - how can I begrudge them from my point of view? Of course I would have loved to have seen a posterity for these licenses, but in the end I'm only grateful that they are still around, kept alive and cherished by many all over the world as treasures of an iconic bygone era.
Spy fox 2 some assembly required was my favorite humongous game.
I loved many of the Humongous games growing up, especially the ones for Putt-Putt and Pajama Sam. The last one I played was "Spy Fox: Operation Ozone." Although, I never played Big Thinkers or the Backyard Sports series outside of a demo for each one.
It's a shame that the company went through so many struggles with Infogrames' control over it. Seriously, it's infuriating hearing how they handled the marketing for that Moonbase Commander game, as well as cancelling that "Aliens ate my Cookies" game just because the main character was a girl. Not to mention the way they fired all those employees, which was just awful.
With that said, you did a spectacular job discussing the history of the company and its games. Can't wait to hear your full thoughts on each game down the line.
Humongous Entertainment has left their mark and shaped me into who I am today. I am so happy that this is the most recent video talking about them.
THANK. YOU. for doing this video.
Just came here after having a nostalgia trip over Freddi fish and Pajama Sam with my brother. So thankful you've put in so much work here!
I'm so grateful to you for making this video. I didn't think I'd find a retrospective of Humongous Entertainment when I decided to search for it. Imagine my shock when I found your video. The 4 main HE game franchises were a huge part of my childhood and as such, hold a special place in my memories of me sitting at one of those old box computers, sliding one of the CDs in and playing it on the weekends and sometimes after school. Very grateful to my parents for introducing me to these games as well. I'm sure almost all of us have our parents to thank for getting us into these games back in the 90s.
Amazing video, Shadow. It really did such a huge childhood staple of mine justice, and upon hearing at the end that this is just the beginning of your Humongous retrospective... yeah, to say I'm excited is a vast understatement.
Humongous is my childhood for a lot of Early PC Gamers growing up.
Your editing and attention to detail is amazing, extremely underrated love ur content
I grew up with Blue's Art Time Activities.
That is where I learned my color mixing.
The image glossaries from all three Let's Explore games; all their facts and details can be remade into a deluxe beginner encyclopedia for every school worldwide; they'll be known as Humongous Encyclopedias.
1:19:39 so that’s what their logo is supposed to be? I thought they just drew some spirals to look fancy.
Wow, that was a great retrospective of Humongous Entertainment - outstanding job! I remember playing these games as a kid, especially the ones in the Putt-Putt and Backyard Sports series. Sometimes, I'd play them for hours and never stop! It's really depressing how it all ended, but HE will forever hold a special place in my heart. Keep up the fun history lessons - I think kids these days would learn a lot about how much they're missing out on!
I made a postcard for the late game developing company and I have yet to promote the creation of a movie with all the Humongous Entertainment characters together, entering the real world and preventing a crisis upon their popularity from enduring furthermore. The movie will be called Humongous Quest and also star Skai Jackson, Raphael Alejandro, Samuel Leroy Jackson and Nicolas Cage.
I spent so much time on spy fox trying to figure out that weird “bell, bell, whistle” thing that it took me a month to get past it.
Truly the first dark souls.
Fascinating timeline, and incredibly well written/edited! Pajama Sam brought me here, but you convinced me to watch an almost 2 hour documentary just to relive some long-lost moments of nostalgia! 🙂
Thank you, and I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Wow! I had no idea that Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When it's Dark Outside was the first game to have multiple randomized locations for the specific items you had to collect. And I didn't know that it cost more than most of the H.E. games did previously so this game was QUITE the package when it came to how much effort they put it into it. All the more reason it is my favorite H.E. game.
Great video, very very well done and fascinating to watch. Thank you so much for making it!
Such a well created documentary for such a small niche. Thank you bro.
Thank you for the compliment!
100% related to your intro,
pretty much same experience!
however my daycare provider is the one that had the games & i took full advantage. personally Freddie Fish was my #1 then Pajama Sam & Putt-Putt was tied at a close second lol
i miss these games so bad i want to play them again but even then i know it won’t be the exact same, so this is kind of a lovely way to feed the nostalgia. even if it’s cheesy to say, i hope those watching feel connected with themselves more & more as they connect with inner children. it seems small but things like this can be beneficial & heal us in little ways.
Thankful for Humungous Entertainment! Thank you to
the creators! & Thank you to this channel!
This was an amazing production. Thank you for making this, brought back a lot of warm memories and feelings.
This is epic. I see you dude...Your hard work does not go unnoticed. 2+ hours of high quality content. Bravo man. Just amazing stuff :)
Well-done job, Shadow! When I heard you were making this video, I was excited because I grew up with these games too and love the characters, gameplay and music. Also, it was wonderful when you mentioned Pajama Sam in your video of the Powerpuff Girls episode Secret Swapper of Doom. It was cool to see someone remember that game.
man this video is 2 hours. i’m gonna enjoy this
Incredible editing work for such a long video!! loved it.
Okay I'm all having all kinds of crazy thoughts now, and I feel like writting them off :
Seeing what the ytber Reubs is doing with his "Simpsons : Hit & Run" remake, I'm astonished by the insane work you can achieve with very few human and overall costly resources nowadays.
The idea of a fanmade new Humongous game, as crazy as it still may sound seems less and less crazy everyday, in practice.
It would face a few (absolutely major) problems though, such as the copyright that is owned by Tommo Inc as of now. I don't think Tommo Inc would go into such a project. First there is simply no market for it, if they'd make a game they will most likely use the star characters but they'd make totally different games, whatever is popular for young kids nowadays but most likely not old-school point & clickers like we knew them because they are a company and their first a goal is to make money.
But let's not think about Tommo right now, let's just daydream and think of the possibilities, especially the one with AI.
Ok so maybe this is about to get irrational (if it wasn't enough lol) because my technical knowledge of game development and AI is close to 0 and excuse me for my incorrect wordings but let's say we want to make a new Spy Fox game.
Firstly we would need a scenario, well, it's already possible to ask ChatGPT to write a Spy Fox scenario for you. Go and ask the bot, you'll be surprised. You can ask first "write me a plot for a new spy fox" see what it answers, then ask "what would be the first cutscene of that game?" etc, you can go really deep like that.
One step deeper, I guess we could "train" and feed some sort of AI with the maximum information we can scrap from previous Spy Fox entries, first in the visual and art department, we could of course simply remake and upscale but also generate whole new assets and sprites based on the original ones which would be indistinguishable from them in terms of art and style, the AI would basically learn (or very smartly mimic) the artstyle of the original artists. Everything could be AI generated, the secondary characters, the backgrounds. You name it, you generate it. Maybe I'm wrong but I think this is already readily available technology.
I'm conscious making such a game is way more complex than it seems and it of cover a looot of aspects and I'm not even capable to list half of them. But a lot of them if not the majority could be dramatically lowered in cost and resources today and even more so in the future compared to the mid 90s. So low that it could be done by a small group of altruistic amateurs. Anyways, this comment is probably going nowhere but here it is. Thank you if you read my ramblings all the way lol.
My favorite was Pajama Sam. The best part was the same voice actress played Bobby Hill, and I always loved it because of that❤
I will be here for every single one of these videos. I only had a couple pc point and click games as a kid, and none of these iconic ones, but i definitely have an appreciation for them and the work that went into this video.
Y’all remember Backyard soccer/baseball/basketball?? I loved those so much
1:11:58 Yes! Another thing I like is that the games don’t make a big deal about the diversity and rarely if ever call attention to it. Subtlety is key. If this were some alternate timeline where they were still making Backyard Sports games (and making them well), I would have liked them to add more Backyard Kids and have even more diversity, such as: an Indian kid, a Native American non-Hispanic kid, a Native Hawaiian kid, an Alaska Native kid, a canon biracial kid, an adoptee, stepsiblings, etc.
Incredible video! I owe my love for video games to Humungous 100% and always wondered what happened to them. Thank you for making this, was a great watch :)
Bugdom is a huge reason humongous declined in sales. I remember being in computer class and seeing everyone playing humongous games and then a couple years later everyone was playing bugdom and counterstrike.
Great vid, Shadow. I grew up with these games too, so this was a treat...even knowing how the company ended up, sadly.
Looking forward to the other parts.
Humongous entertainment was a huge part of my childhood. I would spend hours upon hours playing these games. I have recently gone and bought all of them to play again on my mobile devices. I am glad there is still some way to experience them today, but its incredibly sad what happened to this company. I don't think Ron failed with Humongous at all, in fact, I think its one of his greatest achievements. I don't care if I am a grown man, I will play these games over and over until I pass, as they are timeless classics. just goes to show what people can acheive when they are passionate about something, and not in it for the money. You did a fantastic job laying out the history for this company, Kudos to you.
Thanks shadow streak for putting in the time to make this