As virtually any other game in the platform genre, Kid Chameleon keeps the Score for any game. (Nevertheless, notice that KC does not record highscores.) Aiming for the highest score is a good way to keep the game challenging once you have mastered its many levels.
The Point of Points[]
Every 50,000 points you get a free extra life, which you will probably need. Other than this, taking the 100,000 points trip, and possibly for honor and respect, aiming for high scores is just a matter of challenge.
Adding Up Points[]
There is no way to increase your score during the levels except for the highly rare 10000 points prize. The main way to get score is instead through bonuses, awarded for how well you handled the level. Perhaps for these two reasons, your score is not shown through most of the gameplay, except for the level finish animation after you touch a flag. (If you exit the level via a teleporter, you lose all the bonuses you would otherwise have been rewarded.)
In the order they are shown, the bonuses are:
Speed Bonus[]
If you get under the stage's predefined time limit, you get 10,000 points. The bonus is accompanied by a message reading Under XX seconds! The only way to find out what it is for each level is to beat it, or you could just check the Level Pars page.
The shortest time allowed to complete a level is 15 seconds in The Caged Beasts (Unless you want to include The Forbidden Tombs, or flagless levels, which are actually 0 seconds).
Path Bonus[]
The instruction booklet accompanying the original Sega cartridge mistakenly described Path Bonus as the extra score awarded for solving a level through the fastest way. Actually, the Path Bonus is rewarded in specific levels that are off the main path (with the exception of Stage 4).
What does it mean if a level is off the main path? For instance, The Pinnacle is the first level in the game to give an extra bonus of 10,000 points, because it is a secret level (accessible only through a teleporter in Dragonspike) and represents a long detour (you could have taken the flag in Dragonspike for Stormwalk Mountain, and instead you're taking the route through Pinnacle -> Hidden Canyon -> Stormwalk Mountain.)
In Stage 4, all levels offer a 25,000 points path bonus. The difficulty to collect it relies on the fact that the flag is either very well hidden or difficult to get to. The only Path Bonuses guaranteed in a complete playthrough are awarded in The Final Marathon and Plethora.
The highest Path Bonus in the game is that of Frosty Doom in Stage 3: 50,000 points for the brave man who will go on to struggle his way through Bloody Swamp.
"No Prize" Bonus[]
Not picking up any prizes such as helmets, diamonds or clocks will net you 5,000 points. However, opening the prize block to see what's inside without picking up the prize is allowed. Prizes which are collected passively (10000 points and 10 diamonds) will also not cancel the bonus. An ankh or coin is a very good reason not to get this bonus.
"No Hit" Bonus[]
Not taking any hits during the level will also earn you 5,000 points.
Time Bonus[]
Every minute remaining on the clock gives you 1,000 points and every second gives 10 points. In the picture above, the remaining time on the clock was therefore 2:41. Clocks are essentially worth 3,000 points. Due to the nature of this system, note that there is a 410-point difference between 2:00 and 1:59.
Tips on Highscoring[]
- Go for the flag, whenever there is one.
- Don't bother killing any enemies, unless safety dictates, to avoid losing the "No Hit" Bonus. You're working for free. And they're part of the ecosystem.
- Try to collect prizes only in levels that don't have a flag, or have at least two clocks (see bullets 6 & 7).
- When you do collect prizes, Cyclone and Skycutter are the best helmets for dashing through a level before your enemies even know what buzzed past them.
- Go for the Speed Bonus in the fastest time possible in as many levels as you can.
- If you know there is more than one clock in the level and you know for sure where they are, go get them. The No Prize bonus is only 5,000 points. Two clocks equal 6,000 points.
- Be careful to avoid the strange speed bonus glitch. If you collect more than three clocks to give you 9,000+ points, the game will add 120 seconds to the total time you spent in that level, making the speed bonus impossible to get on most levels.
- Take the path less traveled and play the levels that have 10,000-point blocks or really high Path Bonuses. The Path Bonus on one flag could be larger than the total bonuses of two flags!
- Get lots of extra lives, as you may need them if you want to redo a level until you get a desired score.
- Finally, for the most important tip of all, do the 100,000-point trip! It will start you off on the Woods of Despair 1 with 1,000,001 points!
- The current optimal route for score includes taking detours to The Pinnacle, The Valley of Life, Frosty Doom, and Tunnels Beneath the Woods. This route gets twenty-five 10000 points blocks, and skips the remaining four in Shimmering Caves.
High Score Leaderboard[]
This is a list of the top 25 current real-time highscores for Kid Chameleon. If you wish to submit a score here, it must adhere to the rules.
- Cheating includes ANY save feature, TAS, game genie, code modification, etc.
- Cheating does not include abusing glitches[1] [2] [3] or pausing.
Here's a list of acceptable types of proof:
- The best run with or without glitches must show full uninterrupted video footage of the run, from the title screen to showing the final score. The run may be performed on any available platform or emulator.
- If the run is not a world record, you have the following additional options:
- For Sega Genesis only: one image or video that shows both the score and the console powered on, with the cartridge plugged in and no game genie attached.
- A screenshot clearly showing it was done on a platform that does not have a save feature (ex. Sega Smash Pack 2, Blaze Handheld, etc.)
- A screenshot from gameplay done on Retro Uprising
Indicates the best score achieved with glitches |
Indicates the best score achieved without glitches |
High Score | No 100K Trip High Score | |
---|---|---|
1 | 1,817,061 by PsychoMantis610 | 1,537,240 by PsychoMantis610 |
2 | 1,817,001 by Winslinator | 1,503,130 by superduck10 |
3 | 1,814,151 by Kitchengun | 1,438,550 by Miles The Man |
4 | 1,747,041 by Vinicius Florencio | 1,354,260 by MuriloSchiavo |
5 | 1,745,431 by Miles The Man | 1,264,310 by Vinicius Florencio |
6 | 1,728,111 by Skar800 | 908,730 by Eep386 |
7 | 1,686,501 by Lord Molyb | 884,210 by William Link |
8 | 1,614,221 by MuriloSchiavo | 817,740 by seanmegrey01 |
9 | 1,580,081 by Tyadran | 748,200 by Hazenkain |
10 | 1,503,671 by jirka waggon | 743,820 by Socknic |
11 | 1,391,321 by Bluslider | 743,060 by Winslinator |
12 | 1,383,521 by TRB_MetroidTeam | 742,500 by Tyadran |
13 | 1,375,501 by shimegabriel | 741,530 by gcarrillo |
14 | 1,370,501 by wax_house | 738,360 by peaches |
15 | 1,363,111 by peaches | 736,890 by wax_house |
16 | 1,360,951 by BagelBros | 736,790 by BagelBros |
17 | 1,360,211 by Porco-DioZ | 735,350 by bigsage85 |
18 | 1,360,161 by Spellzapp | 734,650 by mittens2 |
19 | 1,357,491 by Chubbus | 731,890 by Spellzapp |
20 | 1,334,691 by Shazers | 731,420 by Mindbot |
21 | 1,324,301 by mostmol | 727,480 by Midboss |
22 | 1,306,621 by TheNumberScott | 723,910 by SpiderPepper |
23 | 1,291,131 by Cogumelando | 721,150 by neskamikaze |
24 | 1,264,661 by FinalCheetah | 721,040 by rhode2nowere |
25 | 1,242,021 by QuanticBlob | 720,420 by Chubbus |