Mega Munchers Deluxe is a trilogy of Edutainment Games for the PC and Mac published by MECC and later The Learning Company. The games consists of Math Munchers Deluxe, Word Munchers Deluxe and Trivia Munchers Deluxenote . They serve as a Retool to the classic Munchers games keeping the basic aspects of gameplay with a few touch ups (i.e. the board is now 3D as opposed to flat and the mouse can be used). The actual presentation couldn't be more different though.
For starters, the Muncher has been upgraded into a crazy frog like thing and he's up against a whole new cast of Troggles including Doggle, the Crumbly Sisters, Spidey, Mel the Alien, Eggy, Slimey, Zubb the Grubb, Alvanso the Flying Typewriter, and Ned the Platypus. There's also a friendly companion named Cookie who gives out cookies for the Muncher to become invincible. Each game finds our misfits getting into all sorts of trouble in a bizarre learning environment and Hilarity Ensues.
As all three games are nearly identical to each other, this page will cover them all. The name derives from a compilation rerelease TLC came out with in 1997.
Can you munch all the tropes?
- Affectionate Parody: All the cutscenes in Math and Word, the former with TV commercials and the later with various works of literature.
- Anachronism Stew: This happened a few times during the cutscenes for Trivia, though those were Played for Laughs:
- During the lecture about the original American flag, one of the flags Cookie sews up has a peace symbol on it, and Muncher briefly turns into a hippie in response. That trend wouldn’t catch on until two centuries later.
- In the Thomas Edison episode, Doggle uses the phonograph as a DJ controller, wearing a gangster guise no less!
- At the end of the Alexander Graham Bell segment, as Muncher Bell utters the famous line “Mr. Watson, come here! I want to see you!” into the first telephone, he gets a (baffling) response from a modern operating system…
for 1996 that is.
- Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: During the Aladdin spoof, genie Eggy grants Aladdin Muncher great wealth, great power, and pneumonoultramicroscopicsilicovolcanoconiosis; the longest word in English language.
- Artistic License – History: The cutscenes in Trivia consists of the Muncher and Troggles in a certain point of American history with a narrator giving brief facts about them. While not a lot of liberties have been taken, a lot of stuff had to be eliminated to fit the course of about 30 seconds. Rule of Funny also plays a part here, especially at the end.
- Bears Are Bad News: In the “Old Mother Hubbard” skit, Old Muncher Hubbard and pet Doggle find their cupboard completely BEAR!
- Big Eater: The games take Muncher's habits from his classic era and cranks it up to eleven. Muncher will eat everything… except brussels sprouts.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Dear God, the Muncher! In addition to having a huge appetite, he hops around, dances whenever he's in a safe zone, mocks the Troggles, and yells and laughs widely like a maniac!
- Cutscene: This time with spoofs of TV shows, books and random moments of history.
- Denser and Wackier: These games are much more zany and wild than the original Number Munchers with the Muncher and Troggles' character traits being highly exaggerated for comedic purposes. And the slapstick is taken up a notch as well.
- Egg Folk: Eggy is essentially an egg with hands and a face that hops around with the intent of crushing the Muncher (or possible answers) underneath him.
- Even Troggles Have Standards: In the “Little Miss Muffet” skit, Cookie offers Spidey her curds and whey. Spidey responds by zipping back up in a frighten matter.
- Fake Difficulty: Trivia has a wide variety of subjects and even on a low difficulty level requires a ridiculous amount of knowledge on certain areas; especially animals.
- Flanderization: Muncher is much more crazy and loud here in addition to playing up his Big Eater trait.
- Fractured Fairy Tale: The cutscenes in Word have the Muncher and Troggles in a wacky spin of various forms of fiction, including nursery rhymes, folk tales and some notable literature works.
- Go-Karting with Bowser: The Troggles zig-zag this trope. They could be out to get the Muncher at one moment and they could be hanging out with him in the next. This rings true to the cutscenes.
- Helpful Mook: Downplayed. Eggy, Alfonzo, Mel, Spidey, and Ned can all remove answers from the board, which is helpful if you're just trying to clear the level without dying, but can be a pain if you're going for a high score.
- I'm a Humanitarian: Just like in the classic games, only certain Troggles can eat the other one. Slimey is fond of Doggle and Mel and Spidey will pick up just about the other ones on the board.
- One-Hit-Point Wonder: Same as the predecessors.
- 1-Up
- Out-of-Character Moment: During the subject selection in Math, Muncher ate a Troggle! Don't ask.
- Punny Name: Most of the Troggles.
- The commentators in Trivia are a painful example with Owl E. Gory and El E. Phant.
- Nothing about the commentaters in Math?
- The commentators in Trivia are a painful example with Owl E. Gory and El E. Phant.
- Rhymes on a Dime: The announcer swiftly did this when reciting the Pony Express trail.
- Scoring Points: As Cookie explains, “Have fun, play hard, get in the Hall of Fame!”
- Shout-Out: The spoofs in Math:
- The sprouting Muncher Pet is one to the Chia Pet.
- Muncher Crunch cereal could be one to Cap'n Crunch.
- Don't be a slug. Drink Muncher Cola!
- The Muncher Home Shopping Network bumpers have credit cards for Sparkey (the main character in the spin-off Troggle Trouble Math) and Snap Dragon.
- Honey I Shrunk the Troggles
- It's everyone's favorite show, Muncher Bunch.
- The Muncher Trail is not only one for the short lived 1970's show, but to MECC's own The Oregon Trail. It even uses the Oregon Trail IIs theme music!
- Shown Their Work: The cutscenes in Trivia. This is an educational game after all.
- Suddenly Voiced: Well, kinda. While the narrators usually gave the Muncher and Troggles voices in the Word cutscenes, for the ones in Trivia they have actual, albeit changing, speaking roles.
- Trapped in TV Land: A common theme in each game. Math has the Muncher and Troggles play this trope straight via MuncherTV, Word has them stuck in a storybook, and Trivia has them in a time machine.
