''Wacky Races'' is a racing video game developed by
Appaloosa Interactive Appaloosa Interactive (formerly Novotrade International) was a corporation, founded in 1982 in Hungary, that produced video games, computer programs and television commercials during the 1980s and 1990s.
History
Novotrade International was founded ...
for
PC and
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...
and by
Velez & Dubail for the
Game Boy Color
The (commonly abbreviated as GBC) is a handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on October 21, 1998 and to international markets that November. It is the successor to the Game Boy and is part of the Game ...
. It was published by
Infogrames in 2000. An enhanced version of the game, called ''
Wacky Races: Starring Dastardly and Muttley'', was released for
Dreamcast and
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...
in the same year.
The games use the story and characters from the American series
Wacky Races created by
William Hanna and Joseph Barbera. The eleven racing cars compete against each other across circuits inspired by the cartoon characters.
Gameplay
The game features eight ready-to-play vehicles and an additional three boss vehicles that must be unlocked. The eight regular vehicles (and their drivers) are the Buzz Wagon (Rufus Ruffcut and Saw Tooth), the Boulder-Mobile (the Slag Brothers), the Arkansas Chugga-Bug (Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear), the Compact Pussycat (Penelope Pitstop), the Bullet Proof Bomb (the Ant Hill Mob), the Turbo Terrific (Peter Perfect), the Creepy Coupe (the Gruesome Twosome), and the Army Surplus Special (Sergeant Blast and Private Meekly). The three boss vehicles and their drivers are the Crimson Haybailer (Red Max), the Convert-A-Car (Professor Pat Pending), and the Mean Machine (Dick Dastardly and Muttley).
Each vehicle has its own characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses, resulting in a wide variety of driving styles. For example, the Army Surplus Special has low acceleration but a high top speed. The Arkansas Chugga-bug, meanwhile, has a moderate top speed but very good handling.
As in ''
Mario Kart
is a series of racing games developed and published by Nintendo. Players compete in go-kart races while using various power-up items. It features characters and courses from the ''Mario'' series as well as other gaming franchises such as ''T ...
'', each competitor has abilities and weapons to fight their way to first place (such as
bubble gum, exploding
pumpkins, and
land mines). The player must accumulate floating pink coins, called Wacky Tokens, scattered around the tracks in order to use their vehicle's specific abilities. These abilities are divided into three categories: defense, speed, and attack.
At the end of the championship mode for the first time, the player has access to the Mean Machine, driven by
Dick Dastardly and Muttley, with superior gadgets.
The game has four game modes:
Time Trial,
Championship,
Multiplayer, and Super Gadgets. The latter offers a detailed list of all the gadgets available in the game.
Reception
The PC version received "mixed" reviews according to the
review aggregation website
Metacritic.
[ In Japan, where the PlayStation version was ported for release under the name on July 26, 2001, followed by the Game Boy Color version on November 22, 2001,][
]
References
External links
*
*
{{Wacky Races
2000 video games
Cartoon Network video games
Game Boy Color games
Infogrames games
PlayStation (console) games
Racing video games
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
Windows games
Video games based on Wacky Races