Kao the Kangaroo (2000 video game)

Kao the Kangaroo (Kangurek Kao) is a platform video game developed by X-Ray Interactive for Microsoft Windows, Dreamcast and Game Boy Advance. During development it was known as Denis the Kangaroo.

Plot
Kao is a young kangaroo living with his family in the jungle when they are one day captured by a ruthless hunter and his goons. It's up to Kao to drive the invaders from his home and save his family.

Release
The game was marketed worldwide by Titus Interactive, both for PCs and for the Sega Dreamcast console, releasing in Europe on December 8, 2000. The game was released earlier in Poland by Licop Empik Multimedia as a PC exclusive. It scored a major success, exceeding 45,000 units in Poland alone where it remained in the Top 10 for a considerable time.

The Game Boy Advance version was released in December 2001.

The game, alongside its sequels, was added to GOG.com in February 2021.

The game was released on Steam and the Epic Games Store on April 27, 2023.

Reception
Kao the Kangaroo received "mixed" reviews on all platforms according to the review aggregation website Metacritic. Greg Orlando of NextGen called the Dreamcast version "A marsuperior adventure. Pardon the horrible pun – please."

Legacy
A sequel, Kao the Kangaroo: Round 2, was released for the PlayStation 2, GameCube, Xbox, and Windows on April 15, 2005. About 5 months later, a remake of the second game called Kao Challengers was released on October 28 only for the PSP. Later in 2005, a second sequel called Kao the Kangaroo: Mystery of the Volcano was released only for Windows. A reboot, also called Kao the Kangaroo, was published in 2022.