Line #25 VideoGame/BuzzyTheKnowledgeBug


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/buzzy_the_knowledge_bug.png]]
2	''Buzzy the Knowledge Bug'' is a series of children's games made by Creator/HumongousEntertainment for the early [[Platform/MicrosoftWindows Windows]] [[Platform/IBMPersonalComputer computers]] (with ports to Platform/MacOS and Platform/{{Linux}}. Each game played out like a visual encyclopedia, where you would be going through the farm, the airport, or the jungle (depending on the game). You would be able to trigger the many [[PopUpVideoGames click points]] to see all the random inanimate objects come to life, as well as use the "What is this?" command to click on anything in the scenery and be taken to its definition in the index. Each game also included five mini-games, three of which were always a coloring book, an "I Spy" styled Find It game, and Trivia. Two of them, on the other hand, changed from game to game. One of them was a puzzle game (Hangman in ''The Farm'', "What is It?" in ''The Airport'', and an unscramble-the-word game in ''The Jungle''), but the other was an arcade-styled game.
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4	The games consisted of:
5	* ''Let's Explore the Farm with Buzzy the Knowledge Bug'' (1994)
6	* ''Let's Explore the Airport with Buzzy the Knowledge Bug'' (1995)
7	* ''Let's Explore the Jungle with Buzzy the Knowledge Bug'' (1995)
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9	The series didn't last very long before falling to the wayside, mostly because they didn't quite live up to the popularity of Humongous' other games. Indeed, they are not as well remembered as the point-and-click AdventureGames or the ''VideoGame/BackyardSports'' series. That said, they still have their own following in the Humongous fanbase.
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11	!!Tropes in the ''Buzzy the Knowledge Bug'' games:
12	* ArtEvolution: With Buzzy. In ''The Farm'', he looked very stylized, much skinnier than normal, and rather stiff. ''The Airport'' fleshed him out a bit but he still moved rather stiffly. It was ''The Jungle'' where he was the most animated and most resembled the box art.
13	* ArtisticLicenseBiology:
14	** The beavers in ''The Farm'' have white teeth, when real beavers have orange teeth.
15	** In ''The Farm'', the in-game encyclopedia mistakenly states rabbits and hares are the same animal.
16	** In ''The Jungle'', the in-game encyclopedia states coconuts have fuzzy outer coverings. In real life, coconut husks are smooth on the outside (which the main game got right). And unless if they are ripe, the husks should be green or yellow rather than brown.
17	** The tent bats featured in the ''The Jungle'' are clearly Honduran white bats, but they are portrayed with pink ears and noses while the real animals had yellow ears and noses. Also, Honduran white bats don't live in the Amazon. Amazonian tent-making bats are brown.
18	** Macaws in the encyclopedia of ''The Jungle'' are drawn with three toes in front and one in back. Like all parrots, they actually have two toes in front and two in back.
19	** ''The Jungle'' also makes the common mistake of referring to venom as poison.
20	** Scorpions in ''The Jungle'' are depicted with six legs rather than eight.
21	** The squirrel monkey in ''The Jungle'' is missing its dark-colored muzzle, despite the encyclopedia picture getting it right.
22	** Despite snakes lacking eyelids, the vine snake in ''The Jungle'' is shown blinking while idle (other snakes will sometimes blink as well when clicked on, but this is chalked up by RuleOfFunny).
23	* ArtisticLicenseGeography: In ''The Jungle'', the Amazon, African and Asian jungles are all within an area a couple of miles wide, when in real life they are on opposite sides of the planet. {{Lampshaded}} by Buzzy:
24	--> '''Buzzy:''' In real life, these jungles are all in different parts of the world, but I'd be too tired to talk if I had to fly back and forth, so this is ''much'' better!
25	* CompilationRerelease: The games were repackaged into the "Junior Field Trips Collection" in 1997, two years after their initial releases.
26	* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: The original "Junior Encyclopedias" release of ''Farm'' is rife with this, with a completely different navigation bar, no minigames, and a much simpler opening sequence without The Fat Man's jingle to accompany it. Even with the UpdatedRerelease though, some weirdness remains, such as Buzzy's completely different design, a less fleshed-out index, and a lot fewer click points per screen. Using the Buzzy button also usually leads to him making some excited remark instead of telling the player a fact about the screen they are currently on.
27	* HolidayMode: All three of the games have special things set for if you have a birthday entered in the INI file (explained in the help file), but ''Let's Explore the Farm'' takes it a step further and has special things set for Halloween and Independence day. On Halloween, you will see a Jack-o-Lantern in front of the farmer's home, and on the Fourth of July, the farmer's chimney shoots fireworks.
28	* InSeriesNickname: Two of them. They often just referred to them as ''The [Location]'' and the Junior Field Trips.
29	* LuckBasedMission: Lost Luggage in ''The Airport'' takes this to an extreme in the 99th and final level, which is an intentional KillScreen. It has one huge chute network with several points of entry, and it is the only way to bring a luggage into a bin. A luggage that enters the network will randomly exit out of any of the other points of entry. It gets even worse when you see how not only is the chute they come out of random, but the direction they come out is random too. [[KickTheDog There is no way to stop a suitcase from going into the wrong colored basket if it doesn't go your way.]] [[FakeDifficulty The odds are stacked against you in every conceivable way]], making it nigh-impossible to beat it. Since [[NoEnding there's nothing programmed at the end of the level]] [[AWinnerIsYou to congratulate the player]], anyone who actually beats this level will get sent back to Level 1 while retaining the ability to play any level since beating the penultimate one. Former developer Richard Moe later admitted he did this because he was tired of working on the game when he made Level 99 and [[ChristmasRushed just wanted to get it shipped]], so he decided to be a sadist and make it UnwinnableByDesign. He did say he regretted not giving a proper payoff in retrospect, though.
30	* MisplacedWildlife: It's bizarre that an educational game series would exhibit this trope, but nonetheless in ''The Jungle'', some wildlife is not found in the proper location. For instance, a tarsier is seen in the Amazon when in real life they are only found in Southeast Asia. Likewise an antbird is seen in the African jungle when in actuality they only live in the Amazon. Not to mention Honduran white bats are seen in the Amazon when they are only found in Central America. This wouldn't be as bad if the in-game encyclopedia didn't state the same thing. ("The... Tarsier... is found... in the Amazon jungle.")
31	* MusicalNod: ''The Airport'' has music from ''VideoGame/PuttPutt Goes to the Moon'' and the first ''VideoGame/FreddiFish'' game playing in the waiting room.
32	* PopUpVideoGames: One of the main gimmicks.
33	* ShoutOut: '''So many.'''
34	** ''The Airport'' seemed to be the most fond of this, especially in the waiting room:
35	--->Paging Mr. [[Literature/WheresWally Waldo]], Mr. Waldo, where are you?
36	--->Would the owner of a [[VideoGame/PuttPutt small purple convertible]] please come to the parking garage?
37	--->Would the owner of a [[VideoGame/FattyBear teddy bear with red overalls]] please come to the Lost and Found?
38	--->Calling Creator/StevenSpielberg, would you please [[Film/ETTheExtraTerrestrial phone home?]]
39	** The [=HUD=] in ''Anteater Feeder'', courtesy of ''The Jungle'', is pretty much a lot like the one in [[VideoGame/{{Doom}} a pretty popular first-person shooter]]. Right down to the mugshot, animated for about every in-game situation. Every.
40	* UpdatedRerelease: ''Let's Explore the Farm'' actually counts as this. A year prior to its release, there was a different version simply called ''The Farm'' and listed as part of the "Junior Encyclopedias" series rather than "Junior Field Trips." It featured a different user interface and no minigames, and predates the more familiar version by about a year.

Context VideoGame / BuzzyTheKnowledgeBug