Chester Cheetah: Too Cool to Fool was developed by Kaneko and released for the SNES and Sega Genesis in 1992 to promote the Cheetos brand of cheese puffs.
The game stars said snack food's mascot Chester Cheetah, who is held against his will in Four Corners Zoo by a person named Mean Eugene. To complete a level, the player must collect a piece of Chester's motorcycle located somewhere in the level and then go to the level's exit with said piece.
Had a sequel released in 1993 called Chester Cheetah: Wild Wild Quest.
Provides examples of:
- Big Bad: Mean Eugene is the antagonist of the game.
- Bubblegloop Swamp: Stage 3, "Gator Alley" takes place in a swamp.
- Cool Shades: Appear as a power-up that allows Chester Cheetah to see hidden collectibles.
- Dismantled MacGuffin: Chester's motorcycle, whose pieces you collect throughout the game.
- Excuse Plot: Oh no, Chester Cheetah's been captured by Mean Eugene and thrown into a zoo against his will! Now go escape that zoo by finding the pieces of Chester's motorcycle, and show Mean Eugene what for!
- Gratuitous Iambic Pentameter: The "As is Chester Cheetah way, is one person play" line in the instruction manual seems to be an attempt to make a rhyme using the iambic pentameter. Needless to say, it didn't work that well.
- Intentional Engrish for Funny: The game's manual contains an example of this resulting from an attempt to rhyme some text Chester Cheetah-style: "As is Chester Cheetah way, is one-person play."
- Jungle Japes: Stage 2, "Monkey Pits" takes place in a jungle.
- Levels Take Flight: "Bird Houses", the fifth and final level has Chester riding a butterfly through the sky. At the end of the stage, he battles Mean Eugene in his helicopter.
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Licensed Game: Made to be a Cheetos licensed game. - Life Meter: Chester's health is represented by paw-shaped Cheetos cheese puffs.
- Mascot with Attitude: A Funny Animal as the game's main character? Check. Said funny animal is Totally Radical? Check. The game itself is a platformer? Check. The game was released in 1992, during the time when video game companies were making similar games to cash in on the success of Sonic the Hedgehog? Check and double check. Yup, this mascot's got plenty of attitude, alright.
- Minecart Madness: The level "Hidden Caves" has a section where Chester Cheetah has to ride a minecart. Unlike most examples of this, the minecart can apparently ride on walls, to the point that it borders on zero-gravity driving.
- Power Up Letdown: The air guitar makes Chester invincible. However, you have no control over Chester when he plays it, so you have to wait until he finishes playing it to control him again. This is particularly frustrating in Gator Alley, wherein the guitar power-up shows up as you ride the hippo across the water. Collecting the guitar causes Chester to fall into the water and die, so you have to duck under the guitar to avoid getting it.
- Product Placement: For Cheetos cheese puffs, of course. Surprisingly enough, Cheetos themselves are never actually mentioned anywhere in the game.
- Rhymes on a Dime: All of Chester Cheetah's speech is rendered like this, just like in the commercials he appears in.
- Underground Level: Stage 4, "Hidden Caves" takes place in a cave.
- Unexpected Shmup Level: The final level, "Bird Houses", has Chester riding on a giant butterfly in a Gradius-like level taking place in the sky, where he has to deal with flying enemies (most of which are, as one would expect, birds). The butterfly doesn't have any attacks, though, so you're stuck having to dodge the enemies; the player attacks the final boss by getting it hit by its own missiles.
