Mutant Mudds

Overview

Mutant Mudds is a platformer developed and published by Renegade Kid for the 3DSWare platform. An expanded "Grannie Edition" with new levels was released for PC on August 30, 2012. The 20 Grannie Edition bonus levels were later made available as free DLC for the 3DS eShop version. On September 13 2012, Renegade Kid announced that Mutant Mudds Deluxe Edition would be coming to the Wii U eShop.

Mutant Mudds emphasizes 2D platforming that often involves near-pixel-perfect precision and timing. The player can jump further "into the screen" or "out of the screen" with the use of specifically-placed jump pads within the levels. This mechanic allows the level design to play with players' perception of what platforms, enemies, and items can or cannot be reached.

Mutant Mudds was originally shown off at E3 2009 as "Maximillian and the Rise of the Mutant Mudds". A video of gameplay footage viewable on YouTube shows the game taking place in an entirely polygonal world with 3D gameplay utilizing an over-the-shoulder third-person view. The player could zoom in to a near-first person view and utilize real-time aiming (presumably with the touch screen). The weapon of choice was a water cannon.

Gameplay

Mutant Mudds' protagonist, Max, starts off with a hover pack and a gun, the former being activated with a second press of the jump button while in mid-air (this can only be done once per jump). Max's objective is very simple: traverse to the end of the level and collect the giant medal at the end. While traversing levels, Max can collect up to 100 diamonds in each. The collection persists; if you re-visit a level, the diamonds that you have already collected the first time around will no longer be present. Thus it is possible to re-visit a stage as many times as you need in order to get whatever remaining diamonds there are that you haven't collected yet.

Max can use the diamonds to unlock upgrades for both armaments during the course of the game at his Grandma's shop, but can only carry one upgrade into a given level with him at a time. The unlocks are based on Max's cumulative diamond total; the diamonds are never actually "spent".

• Power Shot (800 diamonds)- The Power Shot increases Max's rate of fire as well as his range. The Power Shot is required to shoot down orange barriers that block entrance to some of the game's hidden levels.
• Extended Hover (1200 diamonds)- The Extended Hover doubles the length of time during which Max can use his hover pack. Some of the game's hidden levels are hidden across long pits of spikes or chasms, necessitating the use of the Extended Hover in order to access them.
• Vertical Boost (1600 diamonds) - The Vertical Boost propels Max high up into the air, allowing him to reach previously inaccessible heights. Max can still use his default hover pack with this upgrade equipped, allowing the player to combine a jump, hover, and boost to gain a significant amount of ground both vertically and horizontally given precise timing and enough room to operate. Some of the game's hidden levels are only accessible by reaching heights that require this boost.

Mutant Mudds consists of 20 core levels, broken up into 5 different worlds of 4 levels each (including ice and lava worlds). You are given a limited choice of which level to pursue; these choices open up as you complete more and more levels.

Each level also has an entrance to a parallel hidden level. As noted above, each entrance requires the use of one of the three upgrades available to Max. Part of the challenge is observing and remembering the location of the entrance to a hidden level on your first play-through of a given stage so that you can revisit the stage with the appropriate upgrade equipped. The hidden levels fall into three themes: "G-Land", "V-Land" and "CGA-Land" which correspond to a Gameboy-themed aesthetic (levels take on a grey hue), Virtual-Boy-themed aesthetic (levels take on a red hue) and CGA-themed levels (levels use a magenta and cyan palette). Generally, the hidden levels are noticeably more difficult than their core counterparts. However, there are no diamonds to collect in these hidden levels - the objective is simply to traverse the terrain and collect the medal at the end.

Upon completing the game, you can replay it dressed as Max's grandma.

Difficulty

Mutant Mudds seems to follow a philosophy of emphasizing challenging platforming above all. The level of challenge in Mutant Mudds is primarily boosted by the following factors:

• Lack of checkpoints within each level.
• Limited firing range.
• Platform spacing requiring almost perfectly-timed usage of jumping and hovering.
• Instant death from bottomless pits and spike pits.
• Moving platforms and disappearing platforms.
• Tight enemy and obstacle placement.
• A time limit (total time varies per level).
• Enemies attacking Max from alternate planes (layers of depth).

Soundtrack

Mutant Mudds' soundtrack is entirely comprised of chiptune music, recalling the 8-bit era as do other titles like Mega Man 9. The music was composed entirely by Renegade Kid's Troupe Gammage. Renegade Kid made the soundtrack available for download via Band Camp. The track names are simple, referring only to where in the game they are played.

1. Title
2. Intro
3. World 1-1
4. World 1-2
5. World 2-1
6. World 2-2
7. World 3-1
8. World 3-2
9. World 4-1
10. World 4-2
11. World 5-1
12. World 5-2
13. Level Select
14. Grannie's Attic
15. V-Land
16. G-Land
17. Death
18. Game Over
19. Ending #1
20. Ending #2
21. Credits

PC System Requirements

Minimum

• OS: Windows XP / Windows Vista / Windows 7
• Processor: 1.8 Ghz
• Memory: 512 MB RAM
• Graphics: 3D Graphics Card
• DirectX: Version 9.0
• Hard Drive: 200 MB available space

Recommended

• Memory: 1 GB RAM