Play Kid Chameleon Online

Kid Chameleon came out on the Sega Genesis in 1992, developed and published by Sega. It was part of that wave of platformers that really pushed the hardware, with big levels and a lot of visual variety, but it stood out because of its sheer size and a particular gimmick that defined the whole experience.

You control a kid named Casey, who gets pulled into a virtual reality arcade game to rescue players trapped by the villain, Heady Metal. The goal is to fight your way through over one hundred levels, which are grouped into branching paths. The core mechanic involves finding and using power-up helmets that transform you into different forms, like a knight with a sword, a rhino that can charge through walls, or a beret-wearing character who throws boomerangs. The game is screen-by-screen; you move from one fixed section to the next, and the challenge comes from navigating traps, enemies, and bottomless pits. It's notoriously difficult because there are no passwords or save features, so you have to rely on memorization and skill. Playing it feels like a constant, tense experiment where every new mask changes how you approach the obstacles ahead.