Muppets Party Cruise

Muppets Party Cruise is a video game released for the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube in November 2003, developed by Mass Media and published by TDK Mediactive.

Plot

The plot is minimal -- the Muppets are on a cruise ship, and Pepe has accidentally booked their cabins in the engine room at the bottom of the ship (having misunderstood "first class" as the first deck). The player can assume the identity of six Muppets (Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, Pepe the King Prawn and Animal) as they make their way to the upper decks of the ship.

There are five decks on the ship, and the object of each deck is to win a required number of matching-colored party favors by playing a collection of mini-games, hosted by a host of other Muppet characters (in voiceover only). Mini-games include shuffleboard, speed bingo, and a clone of the video game "Asteroids."

title screen

Background used for the options or memory card menus.

Gameplay

The game features two "modes" that can be played: The Short Cruise & the Long Cruise.

The Short Cruise mode is a non-linear collection of multiplayer mini-games. This mode does not immediately offer play for all the mini-games that are available in the game.

The Long Cruise mode is a linear collection of mini-games. By completing various stages in this mode, the player can "unlock" additional mini-games to play. In addition to unlocking 15 mini-games and 4 additional boards, you can unlock all 20 Muppetisms for each new board/mini-game.

As is customary with games released solely for a gaming console, there are "locked" features which the player can unlock by achieving a certain goal (e.g. setting a high score or winning a section of the game). The locked features for this game are additional mini-games.

Muppets Party Cruise features original music by Chris Tilton, including "Muppets Party Cruise Rag", a song sung by Kermit over the credits.

Mini-Games

Unlocked from the start
Picture	Description
	Beach Speeders Host: Scooter Description: “Seven laps of fun! You have a remote control car in your beautiful color, and we dug a nice race track in the sand. Grab a fresh battery for a little power boost and watch out for the waves!”
	Bunsen's Burners Host: Dr. Bunsen Honeydew Description: “My shrinking box works quite well, luckily you have been given small flame throwers to battle the active atomic structures. Watch out for the sub-zero molecule: big freeze!”
	Cannon Fodder Host: Gonzo Description: “If you thought being blown out of a cannon was fun, try landing in another one for a delightful shot of joy and a dazzling spray of pain!”
	Crustacean Crush Host: Pepe Description: “This is a game about crabs, okay. Pick them up and take them to the big fish in your corner and he will eat them all gone. Then he does not like them and spits them out, okay! Genius!”
	Dune Buggies Host: Clifford Description: “My old man taught me this game last time we were in Egypt. Drive your dune buggy into the bouncy balls until they go over the edge. Be careful you don't follow 'em down.”
	Looney Unicycles Host: Fozzie Description: “My first unicycle was a gift from my great uncle. It was really a bike with the front wheel gone. Though on hills. Maybe my uncle wasn't that great. Oh yeah, pick up the green things!”
	Outta Gas Host: Sweetums Description: “Pushing cars is great fun. Steering cars is almost as fun. Pushing cars on a detour in the desert gets a little hot, but we gotta have gas! Drinks get you a big speed boost.”
	Pigsty Party Hosts: Randy & Andy Pig Description: “We're having a little party in our cabin. See if you can keep track of just how many of us stay in the room. Enjoy the snacks, have some soda. Our heads hurt!”
	Rhythm Mayhem Host: Animal Description: “Beat drums! Bright drums! Water water water water! Hit button! Hit arrow! Beat beat beat beat! ON BEAT! Hit again. Hit again. Hit drums.”
	Shuffle Chalk Host: Statler & Waldorf Description: “Play the game that's been around for centuries! Just like us! Just take your broom and shove it hard! But not too hard! Uh, oh. Look out, incoming pucks!”
	Slippery When Wet Host: Kermit Description: “Now this one is a real blast! Water, check. Emeralds, check. Dynamite? Slide down the water, pick up the emeralds, avoid the dynamite. Hmmm... sounds easy?”
	Speed Bingo Host: Bean Bunny Description: “I've never seen anything this cute in my whole life! It's got pretty eggs and pretty flowers, and pretty little bunnies too. Oh boy! Hop along very quickly if you don't want to lose!”
	Stage Fright Host: The Swedish Chef Description: “(Translated from Swedish) Soften your tomatoes by tossing lightly against your opponents heads. Do not throw them at the stage or props, as they may spoil. Everybody duck.”
	Stinky Cheese Host: Rizzo Description: “There is nothing more fun than picking up big hunks of stinky, green cheese. Especially in the sewer while balancing on beach balls as the world spins around you!”
	Tug O' War Host: Miss Piggy Description: “Don't mess around with this one. Press the buttons, pull the rope. How hard can that be? It helps if your teammate isn't a total loser, because no one wants to come out all wet.”
Locked mini-games
Picture	Description
	Aeroplane Island Host: Janice Description: “An Aeroplane Island haiku: Tropical Island Hot volcanoes, cold rapids Dangerous, fer sure Like, happy flying, friends.”
	Asteroid Belt Host: Stragepork & Hogthrob Description: “There is a lot of space out there in the world and this is but a tiny quadrant. Use the power you have to blow up the asteroids. Pick up the rockets to fire at the others.”
	Chemical Imbalance Host: Beaker Description: “Each beaker needs to be filled with a precise mixture of chemicals. If the wrong chemicals are added: Boom! If your mixture is mixed right, check it and you'll get another. --Bunsen”
	Fish Flingers Host: Lew Zealand Description: “This is the best game there could ever be. Throwing fish is the greatest sport ever known to mankind. There are old tires, toilets, and pails. Just point and toss--the fish will fly!”
	Food Fight Host: Dr. Teeth Description: “Setting: A market in the Orient, Day. Our heroes discover local fare and stains. It is a truly humbling situation to have catapulted cuisine cover your coiffure! But that is exactly what lies in store...enjoy!”
	Gumball Drops Host: Johnny Fiama & Sal Description: “Hey cha-cha, that's a lot of groovy gumballs! Move them around so the colors match the columns and they'll slip out of the bottom.”
	Lights Out Host: Crazy Harry Description: “Want to see all the pretty lights go boom? All the pretty flashing lights add up to some big numbers, but the biggest of all is the yellow bomb! Don't let it happen to you!”
	Natural Disaster Host: The Newscaster Description: “This just in! There are dangerous wave fronts approaching from the north, vicious whirlpools coming out of mid-town, and flotillas of olive-buoys everywhere you look! Tag your color!”
	Power Boatin' Host: Bobo the Bear Description: “I like balloons. I like power boats, too. Hey! I like popping balloons WITH power boats. Take the ramps real straight now and you'll be poppin' 'em left and right and down the middle.”
	Scuba Driving Host: Camilla the Chicken Description: “My girlfriend Camilla doesn't really talk that much but she told me to say that even she doesn't know what a chicken has to do with swimming through the tentacles of an octopus -- underwater!”
	Short Circuit Host: Digit Description: “A circuit is made out of a string of electrical charges that form a closed shape of points that will explode in a shower of sparks. Make them or break them.”
	Sling Ball (aka Precision Painter) Host: Sam the Eagle Description: “This Patriotic Paint party has been put together precisely for the enlightenment of the proletariat. Please stay in the lines and... What do you mean, slingshots?”
	Spinball Host: Floyd Pepper Description: “Have a ball with this marvelous machine! Roll yourself up and take off, bumpin' and grindin' until the lights are flashin' and you're bouncing around like crazy. Sounds like a groovy time!”
	Ticklin' the Ivories Host: Rowlf Description: “So, while I'm ticklin' my ivories, you can tickle yours. Play by the numbers, get the ball in the pocket with the biggest number before it moves away. Now chalk up and enjoy a little ragtime.”
	Too Cool Host: Zoot Description: “Look at all that ice, man! This is just too cool! Get all the flavors in their corners and they'll chill out just right. I know a cat who can do it twice!”

Notes

• Listed among the pre-programed names on the high score boards are "Kevin C," "Steve W" and "Brian H."
• In addition to the unlockable Muppetisms, the game also features a trailer for the home video release of It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie.
• The game mechanics, aesthetics and engine of this game were recycled from Shrek Super Party and Pac-Man Fever. All three titles were developed by Mass Media, which explains Party Cruise's similarities to the other two games.

Voice Cast

• Steve Whitmire as Kermit the Frog, Rizzo the Rat, Bean Bunny, Andy Pig, Beaker, Link Hogthrob
• Eric Jacobson as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear
• Dave Goelz as Gonzo, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Digit, Zoot, Randy Pig, Waldorf
• Bill Barretta as Pepe the King Prawn, Rowlf, Bobo the Bear, Johnny Fiama, the Swedish Chef
• Jerry Nelson as Floyd Pepper, Statler, Dr. Julius Strangepork, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, Camilla the Chicken
• John Kennedy as Animal, Dr. Teeth
• Brian Henson as Sal Minella, Scooter, Janice, the Newsman
• Kevin Clash as Clifford, Sam the Eagle
• John Henson as Sweetums

Additional Credits

• Muppet Writers: Jim Lewis and Bret Nelson

External links

• Score for Download at Chris Tilton's Official Site
• Official site for Mass Media