Neopets: Operation Kreludor was released by Smashing Ideas Inc. and Nick Arcade in 2006. It was a match-three style game, available online to download from the now defunct Nick Arcade website. The game was described on Nick Arcade as:
Clear a path through hordes of enemy robot Petpets to help your Grundo hunt down a dangerous criminal on Kreludor!
You can choose between two Grundo bounty hunters, Gangrenous Green and Pink-E, to play as. You receive a message from a helpful robot petpet, an "Omnibot 4000", that you have been selected to locate a dangerous criminal on Kreludor. To locate this criminal, you have to clear out more robot petpets that are blocking your way. The Omnibot 4000 gives you a tool to use to remove these petpets. You make matches to clear a path towards your goal, and make your way towards this nefarious foe!
I don't think I've ever seen a Grundo with five o'clock shadow before.
I wonder why her name is "Pink-E".
Using your mouse, you click to rotate 2 by 2 squares of petpets to try to create vertical or horizontal lines of at least three matching petpets. Your goal is to make matches to clear these petpets, creating a path between two doors on each level. The game highlights the direction that the petpets will rotate in by showing an arrow overlay on the selected petpets. The direction is always clockwise. The selected petpets will also be highlighted with a white outline, so you know which four petpets will be rotating.
It was Goparokko before Goparokko was cool.
Omnibot 4000 will give you a brief tutorial at the beginning of the game to explain how to play.
He's a helpful little guy.
There are three areas with twenty levels in each area. The three areas are called "Mines", "Lab", and "Headquarters". Mines contains the smallest level stages to clear with the fewest petpets, while Lab has a bigger area, and Headquarters the biggest and the most petpets.
There are also various obstacles, such as rocks and machinery, placed randomly throughout each level. You cannot rotate these objects, and instead either have to use a bomb to remove them, or work around these obstacles. Examples of these areas are below.
Mines level example
Lab level example
Headquarters level example
To win a level, you need to create a path for your Grundo and Omnibot 4000 between two doors. One door will generate on the left, and one on the right. These doors will randomly generate along either wall, so any time a level is started or restarted the doors may not be in the same location. Once a path is open, you will not be able to make more matches and a path will be lit up in white, and the characters will follow the path to the next door.
This is what a completed stage will look like.
Between levels, a map will appear to show you how much of the area you have completed. The incomplete levels will be grey, the completed ones will be filled in with green, and the level that you are on will have a red "X" in it.
The beginning map, showing all 20 levels to complete.
The game runs on a timer, indicated by a green bar on the upper left side of the screen. The first area has the longest starting timer, while the third and final area has the shortest starting timer. The clock runs down as you play, though you can increase the amount of time you have to create a path. As the timer runs down, it turns yellow and red, and the game plays an alarm noise. This sound increases in pitch and speed the closer you are to the clock running out. Making matches of four or more petpets increases the time you have to complete the level. These matches do not have to be the same species of petpet to activate the time bonus. When you activate a time bonus for the first time, the game will let you know! The bonus will increase based on how many more petpets are matched at one time.
If you run out of time on a level, you are told that security has found you and you can restart the level.
As you progress through the game, new petpet types will begin to show up on levels. This gives you more options for matches, but also makes the game play harder at later levels when the timer is much shorter. The Omnibot 4000 will have a pop up speech bubble informing you of these new petpets.
A new petpet spawns in the Mines!
Another new petpet appears in the Lab.
I don't think that's actually a petpet...
There are eight possible petpets at the highest levels:
Petpets will also randomly spawn in again if you take too long on a level. Every petpet does not need to be removed from the board to complete the level.
Bombs will also generate as you make matches. These bombs can be used as power ups to clear areas without having to make matches. They can also be used to remove obstacles, like rocks or machinery, that prevent you from making matches. Bombs are activated by clicking on it once it appears on your screen, then selecting the bomb from the inventory window on the left side of the game board, and then selecting where you would like to place it on the board.
There are 5 different types of bombs in the game:
This bomb clears all of one type of petpet type or all of one obstacle type from the board.
This bomb clears five total spaces in a diamond shape.
This bomb clears 13 total spaces in a diamond shape.
This bomb clears six total spaces in a horizontal line.
This bomb clears six total spaces in a vertical line.
Bombs will carry over between areas and levels. You can have up to six total bombs in your inventory at any time. Each bomb will take up one inventory slot, as the inventory does not stack items.
Bomb get!
Bomb placement, showing which tiles will be cleared.
There are two game modes to select from, Mission and Infinite.
Mission Mode is the story mode for this game. The story is presented as comic panels, which pop up at the very beginning of the game, in between sections, and at the end of the game. The Grundo that you selected would be shown in these story pages. If you exit out of the game, the next time you start that Mission Mode save you will be presented with the most recent comic panel that you would have read before starting the next level.
Infinite Mode works the same as Mission Mode. Your goal in this mode is to complete as many levels as possible before running out of time on a level. Once you run out of time the game ends and you have to start the entire game over.
Points are earned in a few ways. You earn points by making petpet matches and clearing space on the board, collecting bombs, finishing a level, and you earn a point bonus based on how much time is left on the clock when you finish the level. Petpets that are left on the board at the end of a level will also be manually removed by the game, giving extra points per each petpet removed this way. At the end of each level, a screen will pop up to inform you of your current score and any applicable bonuses that were earned.
There is an in-game achievement system with nine achievements possible, referred to as trophies.
A mostly filled in trophy case.
You earn trophies based on different criteria:
And here's what those trophies look like:
When you earn an achievement, the game informs you through a pop up box in the middle of the screen.
This was very difficult, let me tell you.
The story begins with Gangrenous Green or Pink-E (depending on which Grundo you selected) relaxing in Cafe Kreludor, waiting for Gormball matches to begin for the day. A petpet, named the Omnibot 4000, interrupts you, relaying a message to you that you have been selected to locate a dangerous criminal that has been located on Kreludor. Gangrenous Green or Pink-E states this will be easy money, and heads off in a six-wheeled vehicle across Kreludor to start looking for their target.
Gormball matches are serious business.
You sneak in through the Kreludor Mines to try to locate the entrance to the facility your target is hiding in. Once you break in, the story cuts away to a blue Grundo informing someone else that there are intruders in the area.
That silhouette looks awfully familiar...
After making your way to the door between you and your target, the door opens to reveal... Dr. Sloth!?
He's a lot shorter than I remember.
As it turns out, this isn't actually Dr. Sloth himself, but an imposter! The imposter wants to take over the mines to enrich himself with Kreludite and take over Dr. Sloth's operations. A nearby screen lights up with Dr. Sloth speaking to you, saying you've done well. Dr. Sloth also reveals that he's been searching for the imposter for a while now. Omnibot 4000 encapsulates the imposter in a bubble and jets off, his prisoner in tow. Dr. Sloth then reveals the most evil part of his plan, you have to find your own way home. The game then ends.
You were working for Sloth the entire time!
The credits for this game were listed as a single page, seen below.
Enjoy some video of the gameplay, along with the game's theme songs! (Or view the playlist on our YouTube channel.)
Opening Gameplay
Opening Gameplay as Pink-E
Lab Levels
The below audio files were cleaned up and rendered into loops by Jellyneo, so there may be some slight variations from the original game.
Main Theme
Comic Theme
Mines Level Theme
Lab Level Theme
Headquarters Level Theme
Time Running Low 🚨
This page was written by Steph and last updated on September 1, 2026.
