Developer: VIS Entertainment Publisher: Bam! Entertainment
Released: October 14, 2001 2/10 Rated: E
Sometimes I worry about my rating scale, particularly in finding the right assessment for those “average” games. The 4-6 out of 10s that often feel fine, but not very interesting. Certainly functional, but not engaging in the long term. The anxiety coming into something like Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction knowing what kind of game it is – a 3D arena brawler – and knowing what my only other reference point is on the system – Tom and Jerry in Fists of Furry – is that these games might be too similar without having anything to say about them. Throwing up another 5/10 and saying “yeah, nothing much but I get the idea” doesn’t feel good enough, but the vibes before popping the cartridge in simply reek of such an evaluation.
Imagine the bittersweet reassurance of how bad it can be, then. The first fight I entered, with myself as Buttercup going up against the Gangreen Gang’s Big Billy, immediately devolved into the big guy spamming his basic punch at me until I was pushed into the wall and gave up on a counterattack in favor of jumping away out of his reach. I tried to pick up an item from the environment to throw at him – a pickle jar, as we were fighting in the mayor’s office – only for Billy to grab the Powerpuff Hotline Phone off the desk and huck it at me first, taking another chunk off my health bar. I explored my own control options – a kick, a punch, a flying kick, pick up and throw items, jump and fly across the arena. No matter what I did, the only option that proved even remotely effective was to mash the basic attack button and spam Big Billy to death. The same would prove true for Sedusa, Princess Morbucks, Fuzzy Lumpkins, and the like.
With no combos, no functional difference between items, very few distinguishing features between stages, and only one special move per character, which are both tedious and underwhelming to the point of not being worth executing, it is painfully obvious almost immediately: this is a lazy, pathetic excuse for a game. It’s a slow-motion version of Rock’em Sock’em Robots every single match, every single time. There are no redeeming qualities here. No strategy, no fan service, no polish, no presentation, and nothing to play for. The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction is an awful excuse for a game, the worst kind of licensed trash. The kind of zero-effort cash grab made because an IP became just popular enough to warrant merchandising but it needs to be done fast in case the fad is over too quickly. So development is basically nothing. Absolutely barebones, basically looking like an alpha build that got a quick debugging instead of any time spent on making it fun.
There is no progress saving, only a password system. There are a total of 10 characters, each distinguishable only by one second voice clips as they grunt when they take a punch, and by their single special move, which can only be activated after gathering three vials of Chemical X, the game’s only power-up. Character models and environments look rigid, blocky, and overall awful. There’s certainly some credit to be given as 3D models based on 2D animation was never easy at this time, but it’s just gone about all wrong. Sedusa’s snake hair being a sprite on top of her polygonal head looks especially wrong.
There is a basic fighting game story set up by the girls using Chemical X as an ingredient in a pie, which falls into the hands of all of their foes. The simplicity and silliness of this idea isn’t an issue, but being portrayed in two almost empty walls of text is embarrassing. These panels look like the placeholder the developers would have put in while they sourced frames from the cartoon to at least make it look good on the N64 version, since they certainly wouldn’t have bothered trying to squeeze and FMV or make an in-engine opening. When the fight begins, the combatants hot dog towards the camera, but do so in complete silence, as if the game can’t locate the right sound file. And speaking of sound files, there is ONE song in the entire game. The Powerpuff Girls theme simply plays and plays and plays incessantly. If it wasn’t obvious from the gameplay that there is nothing to see after 15 minutes, the soundtrack will drive you to turn the system off and play anything else.
On a system with a surprising number of lackluster fighting games, The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction often manages to slip away from being lumped in with the worst by virtue of its late release, as well as not being a traditional head-to-head fighter. And yet, somehow, it might just be the absolute worst of them all. Do not fool yourself, no matter how big a fan you are, into thinking that The Powerpuff Girls: Chemical X-Traction has anything in it for you.
Continuing Legacy
The Powerpuff Girls, along with most Cartoon Network IPs in the 2000s, were featured in a few more mediocre-at-best console and handheld titles, but have found the most success in crossover titles. Cartoon Network Punch Time Explosion was a decently well-received Smash Bros. clone, while popular free to play title Multiversus keeps the trio playable in a modern release that’s probably the best quality game to feature the girls.
Additional Information
Saves: None (Password System)
Compatible With: None
Players: 1-2
Print Guides: None
Aggregate Critical Reception: 30.00% (GameRankings), based on 1 review
Other Releases: NA Exclusive on N64
