Believe it or not, this ended up on Master System and not on NES due to Parker Brothers publishing the game while under an agreement to publish games exclusively on the Master System. This version is also a little bit different, too.
If you grew up in the 1980s and 1990s - even if you did not necessarily have computer games - then it is more than likely you know who/what Carmen Sandiego is, and that the same could be said if you were alive during that time in general. For those of you who were born afterwards, consider this your primer for one of the most popular educational series of all time.
Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego? is an edutainment game that saw its origins on computers in the mid-1980s, and had you play a detective working for the Acme Detective Agency that had you globetrotting around the world catching criminals are returning stolen landmarks. Your job was to take the information left by the person you are tagging and use it to figure out where they went next. That information, being an edutainment game, consists of things such as a verbal description of the national flag of your destination or what currency they are converting their money to, and if you needed help, you had to consult the almanac that came with every copy of the game. You also have to collect information about your suspect, such as what gender they are, what color their hair and eyes are, as well as their hobby, and put it through the ACME computer in order to get a warrant. Not only must you have a warrant to arrest the suspect, but the information must be correct, and both of those criteria must be met or else the suspect will walk free. All this...and you had to get it all done before a certain deadline or else the case is a bust.
But was it any good?
You bet your sweet ass it was!
It ended up being so good that, thanks to its captivating gameplay that it launched several computer game, console game and board-game spin-offs, such as Where In The U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego?, Where In Time Is Carmen Sandiego?, Where In Space Is Carmen Sandiego? and others through the next couple of years until Broderbund, which owned the right to the series, was bought out by The Learning Company in the late 1990s. There was an animated series, Where On Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?, that aired on the Fox Kids Saturday morning block back in the 1990s that, if I remember correctly, won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Animated Program in 1995 (beating out Animaniacs and the animated series for Aladdin and The Little Mermaid in the process), which I admit I never really watched as a kid due to being big into video games at the time. Thankfully, I rectified that when the show appeared on Yahooligans! in the mid-2000s along with a bunch of other cartoons produced by DIC that I watched along with it, and I ended up enjoying it. There was also a game show based on the original game on PBS in America, as well as one that aired after it ran its course based on Where In Time, and I also watched both back in the day.
But we're going all over the place at this point. I think it's about time we played the game.
In the Sega Master System version of the game, you start by choosing your rank, since that version has no means of inputting your name or using a password system to start you exactly where you left off. Also, this is being done on a typewriter and not a printer, for some reason. Once you pick your rank, you can hold Button 2 to speed up the text, and you can press Button 1 when the text stops to advance. From here, this version of the game has different controls. This time around, you'll move a little detective around on the upper half of the screen while the bottom half acts as a message box that also shows the current time and day as well as your current location. Unlike the other versions of the game, the time is in a 24-hour format and not a 12-hour format; you'll need to complete cases by 17:00 on Sunday instead of 5:00 PM (which is the same thing).
Instead of just highlighting buttons and selecting things like in other versions of the game, you move this little detective around with the D-Pad. You can jump by moving all the way up and duck by moving all the way Pressing Button 1 at the door of a building allows you to enter the building and get clues, but that will take time. The airport will always be at the far right for when you need to go to destinations, the three buildings where you go for clues will always be in the middle, and the far left will always have a payphone where you can fill out the warrant. Just like in other versions of the game, you'll want to have at least three descriptive clues about the suspect, such as the color of their hair, their gender (which is always given to you at the beginning of a case) or what kind of vehicle they drive. Once you do that, you'll be able to get a warrant for the suspect and arrest them when you get to their hideout. If you don't have a warrant, or if you take too long, the crook is left off the hook...so don't let that happen!
Once you get clues as to where to go next, you'll have to go to the airport on the far right and pick your destination. If you pick the right one, you'll get more clues, and a V.I.L.E. henchman shows up. (This is the only time V.I.L.E. is really mentioned, and ACME is also barely mentioned, if at all.) Unlike other versions, though, the henchman can throw a knife at you. You'll want to move out of the way of the knife and dodge it. If the knife hits you, you'll be out for a few hours, and that is time that you do not want to lose. If you're at the wrong city, the people won't know who you're talking about, and you'll have to go back to the previous city and try again.
When you reach the suspect, the people in town will tell you to watch your step. Once you see the suspect while walking around, you'll want to be out of the suspect's way so they don't shoot at you. Once they show up, you'll have to avoid being shot as you wait for the police to arrive. Once they do, and you have the proper warrant for the proper suspect, you'll complete the case. From here, you'll start another case, and you'll eventually rise up the ranks until you capture Carmen Sandiego and beat the game.
If you need to, you can also hold down Button 2 to speed things up and move faster. I wouldn't recommend it while a V.I.L.E. henchman or a suspect is on screen, though.
After completing one case as Rookie, you'll be promoted to Sleuth. You'll need to complete three cases as Sleuth to become Private Eye.
The clues that I have here are from the Super Nintendo playthroughs of the game, and I have imported them over here for convenience. Some things are different from the Super Nintendo version, such as Lima, Peru having sols for the currency instead of intis and Rio de Janeiro having cruzeiros for the currency instead of cruzados (which means that some clues were updated on Super NES). Also, for some reason, this version of the game considers India's flag to be red, white and green for some reason reason. I will mention some new ones from time to time.
Cumulative Cheat Sheet
Athens, Greece
- currency is drachmas
- Hellenic Republic
- blue and white flag
- Greek dictionary
- ancient Sparta
- Parthenon
- Balkan Peninsula
- Cretan art
- Aegean Sea
- Plato's Republic
Baghdad, Iraq
- Tigris River
- oil well
- red, white and black flag
- Sumerian writing
- Mesopotamian pot shards
- leader is the Ruling Council
- Arabian gazelles
- oil rig
- Syrian desert
- Arabic dictionary
- Euphrates
- dates
- currency is dinars
- petrochemical plant
Bamako, Mali
- desert horned viper
- guide to Timbuktu
- peanuts
- Niger River
- green, yellow and red flag
- Sahara desert
- currency is francs
- ancient Timbuktu
- leader is the President
- Tuareg people
Bangkok, Thailand
- Buddhism
- teak forests
- black market bahts
- Chao Phraya River
- red, white and blue flag
- Siamese art
- currency is bahts
- pepper
- King Cobra
- Siamese wats
- Siamese Summer Palace
- Chulalongkorn
Budapest, Hungary
- currency is forints
- Croatian wedding customs
- leader is the President
- Alfold plain
- Stephen the First
- Magyar artifacts
- Gypsy dialects
- grapes
- red, white and green flag
Buenos Aires, Argentina
- currency is australs
- sun flag
- soybeans
- Spanish colonial history
- gauchos
- Mount Aconcagua
- Parana River
- Patagonian Express
Cairo, Egypt
- Nile River
- Sinai Desert
- riddle of the Sphinx
- red, white and black flag
- Bedouin
- Arabic phrasebook
- Nubian baskets
- cockroaches from a pharaoh's tomb
Colombo, Sri Lanka
- ancient Veddah village
- ancient Serendip culture
- golden lion flag
- Indian Ocean
- currency is rupees
- ancient Taprobane
- Tamil dictionary
- Sinhalese and Tamils
Istanbul, Turkey
- Byzantine Empire
- crescent and star flag
- currency is lira
- figgy pudding
- Black Sea
- oil rig
- petrochemical plant
- Turkish dictionary
Kathmandu, Nepal
- Hindu meditations
- Asian kingdom
- hides
- double triangle flag
- one of India's neighbors
- Himalayas
Kigali, Rwanda
- Mount Karisimbi
- red, yellow and green flag
- Tutsi wood carvings
- Pygmy tribe
- Pygmy creation myths
- Hutu economics
- volcanic activity
- genetic research on extremely tall people
- Kagera River
Lima, Peru
- map/geology of the Andes
- red and white flag
- Spanish conquistador
- lost Incan city
- currency is sols
- Mount Huascaran
- Francisco Pizzaro
- Mount Solimana
- llama backpacking trip
- Incan agricultural practices
- leader is President
London, England
- currency is pounds
- red, white and blue flag
- Welsh pronunciation
- punting on the Thames
- Saxon manuscripts
- House of Windsor
- Orkney Islands
- tweed market
Mexico City, Mexico
- Popocatepetl
- Mayan calendar
- gila monsters
- red, green and white flag
- currency is pesos
- leader is the President
- Aztec ruins
- lost Aztec city
- silver
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
- French dictionary
- maple leaf flag
- second-largest country in land size
- French colonial history
- Northwest Territories
- currency is dollars
- red and white flag
- Jacques Cartier
- whooping crane
- Sir Alexander Mackenzie
- potash company
- Montmorency Falls
- Laurentian Uplands
- Gaspe Peninsula
- Yukon
Moroni, The Comoros
- currency is francs
- island nation
- green and white flag
- Anjouan scops owl
- perfume industry
- vanilla beans
- French phrase book
- Mount Karthala
- volcanoes
Moscow, Russia
- currency is rubles
- Tsarist genealogy
- red flag
- Communism Peak
- Ural Mountains
- Kremlin
- sugar beets
- Ukranian Easter Eggs
- Slavic cookbook
- Ivan The Terrible's love letters
- black market rubles
New Delhi, India
- wild yaks
- leader is Prime Minister
- currency is rupees
- red, white and green flag
- copra
- Ganges
- Hindi dictionary
- Red Fort
- Sikh philosophy
- Sikh turban
- a use for cobra venom
- yak-skinned coat
- Nanda Devi
- Sikh wedding customs
New York, New York
- United Nations tour guide
- red, white and blue flag
- leader is the President
- history of skyscrapers
- modern art
- Hudson River
- Statue of Liberty
- Grant's Tomb
- major subway system
- copperheads
Oslo, Norway
- currency is kroner
- fjords
- red and blue cross flag
- Nordic skiing
- Norwegian dictionary
- bibliography of Ibsen's plays
- pyrite
- Harald the Fairheaded
- Barents Sea
- leader is the King
Paris, France
- currency is francs
- textiles and fashion design
- leader is the President
- ancient Franks
- French pronunciation
- Eiffel tower
Peking, China
- currency is yuans
- red flag
- Yellow Sea
- Shang Dynasty art
- giant pandas
- Forbidden City
- Yuan Dynasty art
- Minya Konka
Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea
- taipans
- red, yellow and black flag
- coconuts
- currency is kinas
- Mount Karkar
- jungle wildlife
- tribal culture
- Mount Manam
Reykjavik, Iceland
- volcanoes of the world
- Danish colony
- Viking artifacts
- red and blue flag
- boil eggs in a hot spring
- bathe in a hot spring
- turnips
- currency is kronur
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
- currency is cruzeiros
- green, blue and yellow flag
- headwaters of the Amazon
- Amazon Basin
- professional bushmasters at work and at play
- Brasilia
- golden parakeets
Rome, Italy
- Mount Etna
- European volcanoes
- leader is the President
- Apennines
- green, white and red flag
- volcanic eruption
- marble quarrying
- shoe company
- Italian gestures
- Tyrrhennian Sea
- currency is lira
- Renaissance art
- textiles
- the Forum
- Po River
San Marino, San Marino
- currency is lira
- blue and white flag
- country run by Regents
- oldest republic in Europe
- ceramics factory
- postage stamps
- Mount Titano
- republic founded in the 4th century
- Italian dictionary
Singapore, Singapore
- one of the world's largest ports
- red and white flag
- currency is dollars
- stonefish
- island in Southeast Asia
- British colonial rule
- republic founded in the 4th century
- Malayan art
- Chinese restaurant
- English dictionary
- rubber plantations
Sydney, Australia
- island continent
- red, white and blue flag
- leader is Prime Minister
- aboriginal dreams
- wallabies
- English dictionary
- the outback
- Great Sandy Desert
- tiger snakes
Tokyo, Japan
- money is yen
- Emperor Jimmu
- Shinto rituals
- shoguns
- leader is the Emperor
- Japanese characters
- archipelago
- Imperial Palace
- Commodore Perry
- electronics
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