Fuzzle

Fuzzles are small wildlife first seen in Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee and later in Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath. They are used as the standard guinea pigs in Vykkers Labs, who consider them a commodity species. Drops of acid are easily administered to their conveniently large eyes, and when caged they put up little resistance to experimentation. Still more perish being used as executive stress balls. Fuzzle traps are laid in Oddworld’s wilds to be collected by Vykkers Pods at night. The Magog Cartel is more inclined to capture Fuzzles for Slog food, but Glukkons with an exotic palette are known to enjoy Fried Fuzzles. Mudokons and Clakkerz sometimes keep Fuzzles as pets.

In reality, their adorable appearance masks a vicious nature which comes to life when they are threatened or hungry, as they count with a savage collection of teeth as defense. Munch befriends Fuzzles to keep him company by rescuing many of them from Vykkers Labs; in return the Fuzzles aid Munch in his quest to restore the Gabbit race. The Stranger, as a Steef guardian of the Mongo River, has a natural harmony with the nature around him, allowing him to use Fuzzles (even the failed ADD experiments known as Rabid Fuzzles) as live ammo that act as living land mines.

Biology
Fuzzles consist of nothing more than a round blob covered in thick brown fur, with two bulging eyes and a large mouth full of razor sharp teeth. They have no limbs, and instead move around via bouncing. They speak in high-pitched squeaks and mumbles, though they can apparently be understood by other creatures.

Despite being small and easily killed as a singularity, they are extremely vicious in large numbers and can take down creatures several times larger than they are by jumping and swarming. Think of them as land-based piranhas.

Fuzzles tend to live in the undergrowth, only coming out to look for food or to migrate to another patch of undergrowth. While fuzzles can attack and kill their own food, they are also fine with scavenging, such as with the bolamite seen during the intro cutscene for Stranger's Wrath.

Differences Between Stranger's Wrath and Munch's Oddysee
The fuzzles in Stranger's Wrath are wild creatures and don't seem to communicate with anything other than growls, nor any other mood apart from being angry. Whereas the fuzzles in Munch's Oddysee are more tame; possibly due to their captivity in Vykker's lab, or that perhaps East Mudos specimens are less aggressive than West Mudos ones. The Fuzzles in Munch's Oddysee communicate through "meep" sounds, rather than growls and guttural noises.

Hostility towards Allies
Fuzzles' behavior patterns are still unknown, but the fuzzles have some sort of natural distrust towards Abe. When he communicates with Munch while leading fuzzles, they will growl at him.

The reason behind this could be that Munch was the only character who had tried to help them at that point. Fuzzles only were willing to trust Munch while treating all other inhabitants with suspicion, distrust, and maybe even anger. Therefore for Fuzzles to follow Abe, Munch must first catch the attention of the Fuzzles and order them to follow him, then Abe must direct Munch to follow him, automatically bringing the Fuzzles along with Munch.

All in all, Fuzzles are quick to anger and are suspicious of all non-fuzzles, but will aid others if they prove themselves trustworthy; like Munch did. They're fully capable of turning on former allies, as seen in Munch's Oddysee's Bad Ending.

Trivia

 * In Munch's Oddysee, the meepings of the Fuzzles were provided by the Game's Composer Michael Bross, who also voiced Lulu and many other Glukkons in the game. While their growls were provided by the Producer Lorne Lanning, who did most of the voices for other characters, in addition to using some real animal sounds as part of the blend.
 * Their name appears to be a combination of the words "Fuzzy" and "Cuddle".
 * Rabid Fuzzles in Stranger's Wrath could be based off Fuzzles having been tested on by the Vykkers, or they could be based upon more aggressive Fuzzles found out in the wild.
 * Fuzzles appears similar to an early concept for fleeches, except with more fur and no tongue.

Appearances

 * Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee (First Appearance)


 * Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath


 * The Art of Oddworld Inhabitants: The First Ten Years 1994 - 2004


 * Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath HD
 * Oddworld: Munch's Oddysee HD