The V.I.L.E. henchmen

Every case begins with one of Carmen's henchmen — a member of V.I.L.E. — pulling off a theft and fleeing. The original 1985 game shipped with a fixed pool of suspects; the player is assigned one per case and tracks them through a chain of cities. Carmen sits at the top of that pool and is only assigned to detectives who have already climbed the ranks.

Each henchman is defined by a small set of traits — hair colour, hobby, favourite food, mode of transport, and a distinguishing feature such as a tattoo or jewellery. Witnesses drop these details in passing ("she sped off in a limousine", "he kept talking about tennis"), and the player files them on a warrant. Get the combination right and the trait clues identify exactly one suspect; get it wrong and even a correct arrest is thrown out.

A growing cast

The trait-clue suspect model carried through the whole series, with the roster reshuffled to fit each title's setting. The Deluxe remake of the World game expanded the line-up to twenty villains and introduced new names such as Sarah Nade. Where in Space reframed the gang as Carmen's "henchthings" to suit its science-fiction setting. Whatever the era, the loop is the same: identify the crook from their habits, chase them to the end of the trail, and make the arrest stick.