The ACME Good Guides and the Chief on video

The Chief, played by a person

Brøderbund's launch release made a point of it: Lynne Thigpen, the Chief of the PBS game show, was “the first ‘real person’ to play ‘The Chief’ in the Carmen Sandiego software series”, in full-motion video. The credits list a proper shoot, directed by Jonathan Meath on a stage at CityStage in San Francisco. In the game she assigns each case and, as the Chicago Tribune put it, tells agents “if they're on a hot or cold trail.” You reach her through the Translator's videophone, which offers two calls: “The Chief” and “Request Guide”. For the Chief across the series, see the faces of ACME.

Request Guide

The second call brings one of seven ACME Good Guides, specialists ACME had “recently enlisted”, according to Brøderbund's 1996 web page, which says they made their first appearance in this game and in the companion Where in the USA v3.0. Every country is assigned to one guide, who gives a fully narrated tour. During a case you get two tours at a time and then have to ask again; in Explore Mode they talk without interruption. They also do some sleuthing on the side, and a guide can confirm whether your warrant is right before you attempt an arrest. Wikipedia also credits them with the slapstick arrest animations.

The seven

Biographies are from Brøderbund's 1996 page; the countries each guide covers are from the 1999 game notes.

• Ivan Idea: teenage tinkerer who invented the Babel-Link Translator. The United States, China, Egypt, Panama, Australia, France, Nigeria.
• Herman Nootix: philosophy professor at the ACME Institute of Carmenology, keen on “throwing the book” at Carmen's gang, literally. Afghanistan, Japan, Indonesia, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Nepal, Thailand.
• Dee Plomassy: diplomat, fluent in 17 languages, noted for a remarkably tall turban. Canada, Hungary, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Cuba, Argentina, Russia, Sweden, Morocco.
• Renee Santz: conductor of the ACME Orchestra, daughter of the architect Fallan Arches and the bassoonist Red Cheeks. India, Austria, Spain, Denmark, Germany, Turkey.
• Rock Solid: geologist and forester, tough as a boulder and soft on animals. Brazil, Iceland, Kenya, South Africa, New Zealand, Tanzania.
• Ann Tickwittee: archaeologist with a degree in “Ancient Cities and Other Dusty Stuff”. Peru, Mexico, Guatemala, Iran, Greece, Chile, Italy, Cambodia.
• Kim Yoonity: cultural anthropologist and “one of the most well-connected people on the planet”, with the phone bill to prove it. The Philippines, South Korea, Bolivia, Zaire, Pakistan, Singapore.

That covers all fifty countries. A note for the file on one surname: Brøderbund's web page spells it Tickwittee, the button label inside the game says Tikwitee, and the 1999 notes settle on Tikwittee.