Jules, Shadow, the Chief and Carmen

Treasures of Knowledge trades the usual parade of suspects for a small fixed cast. The manual casts the player as a helper (“Can you help Jules and Shadow track down Carmen Sandiego”), and the two agents stand in the scenes with you, talking things over. The sign-in panel is stamped “Acme World Wide Detective Agency”. For ACME’s other faces, see the faces of ACME.

Jules Argent

The veteran, voiced by Irene Trapp. The user’s guide gives her a personal stake in the case: Jules “once worked closely with Carmen Sandiego before her days of crime” and took Carmen’s departure from ACME “especially hard,” vowing to bring her to justice. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences’ write-up calls her Carmen’s “former partner.” In play she carries the bag: a journal that logs the mission, stamps each country visited and sketches the stolen treasures, with the Chief Com clipped to its strap.

Shadow Hawkins

The rookie, voiced by Mark Atherlay. He “recently graduated first in his class from the ACME academy and is a whiz with technology,” which is why he wears the vest. Its pockets hold the Global Transportation System laptop, the Digital Clue Storage Device, the ACME Field Guide and the WorldWide Data Resource, plus an Abort Mission button. The AIAS summary is less flattering and calls him “an untested rookie.”

The Chief

Voiced by Marcie Henderson and drawn in the manual as a grey-haired woman in a blue jacket, the Chief sends the pair out and stays on call. The Chief Com is the game’s hint line; the manual calls it “the fastest way to get help.”

Carmen

Voiced by Christiane Crawford, Carmen is introduced as “the Master Thief and mysterious Lady in Red” and, a few lines later, “the Duchess of Deviousness,” newly “emerged from her secret hideout.” Per the manual, she vanishes again each time the agents pick up her trail. She reaches them instead through Carmen Clues, written, video or audio messages addressed either to them or to her own henchpeople, which hint at her plans and motives and stay in the clue device for replay.

V.I.L.E. and the locals

The manual still names V.I.L.E. and says her “loyal henchpeople are scattered all over the world,” but it names none of them, and the game’s scripts give the gang a handful of “VILE audio” clues in Japan, Israel, Argentina, the United Kingdom and Mexico. The people you actually talk to are locals and helpers: a Professor whose notes turn up in the Peru and Lost City puzzles, a former and a new innkeeper for the horse-brass puzzle, a clockmaker in Germany, and an ACME field agent in Cuba who, per the scripts, hands over a scanner.

All of them were drawn fresh for this game. The manual credits character art development to Wild Brain Studios, and Wild Brain’s own project page says the makeover was directed by John Hays.