8 best Humongous Entertainment games from our childhood

If you grew up in the 90s or 2000s as a child with a computer, you likely had the pleasure of playing a game from Humongous Entertainment. While the developer was prolific during its prime, it is best known for its series of "Junior Adventures" titles, which brought forth a variety of endlessly imaginative point-and-click adventure games for a younger audience.

An entire generation of players swears by the names Putt-Putt, Freddi Fish, Pajama Sam, and Spy Fox, and for good reason. These games were among the first to prove that catering to a younger audience can still result in a high-quality experience, and many games from Humongous Entertainment have endured as childhood favorites over the years.

8 Fatty Bear’s Birthday Surprise

Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise was one of the earliest point-and-click adventure games from Humongous Entertainment and one of the few games in the series that doesn't belong to the 'Big Four' franchises. However, that doesn't mean Fatty Bear isn't worth playing - it embodies the old-fashioned charm of the developer's earlier MS-DOS games.

The puzzles, visual design, and story are all quite simple but still entertaining. If you have any aspiring players under the age of five in your life, Fatty Bear's Birthday Surprise is a joyful introduction to the world of Humongous Entertainment.

7 Putt Putt Saves The Zoo

Every child loves to visit the zoo and experience all the incredible sights and sounds of animals from all corners of the world. Putt Putt Saves the Zoo captures this fantasy with a wonderfully colorful adventure that revolves around bringing adorable wild animals back to their families.

The puzzles are still simple, but the presentation is simply flawless. The animations and character designs still look sharp even after all these years, which means that this world will still bring a smile to your face regardless of your age.

6 Freddi Fish And The Case Of The Missing Kelp Seeds

Freddi Fish and the Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds has much higher stakes than your typical junior adventure game. Instead of planning a birthday surprise or rescuing baby zoo animals, the first Freddi Fish game is about figuring out what happened to the missing kelp seeds to save the entire marine life of the ocean from starving. Things have just gotten serious.

But fortunately, not too serious. The Case of the Missing Kelp Seeds still has plenty of humorous moments, lovable characters, and simple yet captivating point-and-click gameplay to delight every playing child.

5 Putt Putt Travels Through Time

Putt-Putt Travels Through Time is arguably the most elaborate game featuring the purple car as the main character. As the title suggests, Putt-Putt and Pep jump between different eras - from the Stone Age to the distant future.

The gameplay is refreshingly open for a Putt-Putt game, allowing you to enter any time zone you like whenever you want. However, what's best is that many of the puzzle solutions require you to jump back and forth between eras, truly challenging your thinking abilities throughout the adventure.

4 Pajama Sam 2: Thunder And Lightning Aren’t So Frightening

The strength of the Pajama Sam series has always been how it personifies very real childhood fears and presents them as fully realized imaginary worlds. In the case of Pajama Sam 2, the backdrop of the World Wide Weather Factory brilliantly captures the frenetic energy of severe weather events and introduces some of the most electrifying (in more than one sense) characters in the entire series.

And then there are the puzzles. Pajama Sam 2 mixes up the positions of the four key parts of the weather machine with each playthrough, keeping every experience feeling fresh, even if you've played the game multiple times. The writing is as sharp as ever, and the visual and musical elements do an amazing job of immersing you in this sky-high world.

3 Spy Fox In “Dry Cereal”

Spy Fox in "Dry Cereal" presents Humongous Entertainment's leading charming fox in an irresistibly enchanting homage to spy movies. Every aspect of this game - from its cartoonish 1960s art style to its array of deus-ex-machina gadgets - nods to what makes this style so lovable, all while showcasing the developer's trademark humor.

The humor in "Dry Cereal" is one of the sharpest in any junior adventure game, showcasing a clear intention from the writers to appeal to a wide age range. If all that isn't convincing enough that this game is as slick as can be, you can even play a game of Go Fish against a gangster pig. An iconic feature indeed.

2 Freddi Fish 3: The Case Of The Stolen Conch Shell

The Freddi Fish series truly reached its peak with its third installment, The Case of the Stolen Conch Shell. From the tropical carnival setting and the cast of instantly memorable characters to the intriguing puzzle that uncovers a different culprit each time you play the game, what's not to love?

Freddi Fish 3 comes very close to being the perfect children's game. It has just enough excitement to captivate younger players, never makes its puzzles too abstract, and is set in a world that feels rich and vibrant.

1 Pajama Sam: No Need To Hide When It’s Dark Outside

Which child hasn't been afraid of the dark at some point? This is the core question that underlies the first Pajama Sam game and leads to the most consistently imaginative and enchanting junior adventure title of them all.

Simply put, Pajama Sam: No Need to Hide When It's Dark Outside is Humongous Entertainment at its best. The Land of Darkness is a joy to explore, its characters are a delight to interact with, and its puzzles are consistently inventive and engaging, whether it's your first time playing or the 20th.