Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego? (1996 video game)

Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego?
The former box cover artwork of the game. It was redesigned when Broderbund was sold to The Learning Company in 1999
Developer(s)	Brøderbund
Publisher(s)	Brøderbund
Series	Carmen Sandiego
Platform(s)	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS
Release	1996
Genre(s)	Educational
Mode(s)	Single-player

The remake version of Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego? was released in 1996 by Windows and Macintosh and features Lynne Thigpen playing "The Chief" from the World game show. The game's opening credits finds Carmen arriving in her underground V.I.L.E. outpost in Washington, D.C., as she and RoboCrook plans to steal America's greatest treasure. Carmen later contacts each of her 39 V.I.L.E. operatives telling them to begin their missions.

The Deluxe Edition released in 1998 (also sometimes subtitled as "version 3.5") added an "ACME Global Language Link-Up" satellite which quizzed the user on facts about the current state they were visiting.

Unlike in the previous games, the image of the locations took up most the screen, with the game options only taking up the bottom third of the screen. Each location had an elaborately painted backdrop that could be scrolled around a full three hundred and sixty degrees. Each location provided clues in the form of several bystanders and scraps of paper lying on the ground. The scraps of paper exclusively provided clues about the suspect's appearance. An energy meter at the bottom of the screen steadily diminishes as the player travels between states, speaks with bystanders, and obtains a warrant. If the meter is completely emptied, the case ends in failure.

The user is not given dossiers describing the members of V.I.L.E. and that all the clues given about the suspect are physical traits, enabling the user to identify the crook on sight. This means that the user will have to compile a full warrant rather than one of just enough traits to distinguish which crook is responsible. In the final destination, the crook is seen walking around the location with several innocent bystanders, meaning the user will have to use the warrant to identify which person is the criminal.

Lynne Thigpen appears in various cutscenes as The Chief of ACME, reprising her role from the game shows Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego? and Where in Time is Carmen Sandiego? An added feature are the ACME Good Guides, a group of colorful characters who, if called upon, provide information about the United States. If the user calls an ACME Good Guide during a case, that guide will call back later to inform the user whether or not their warrant has any errors. If the user wishes to take tours with the Good Guides and travel to states without the inconvenience of having to track a crook, "explorer mode" is available.