It was 1992, and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System was in full swing, having been released in Japan, North America, Europe and Oceana in the last two years and it was selling like hotcakes. 1992 was also the debut of Super Mario Kart for the SNES, eventually going on to sell 9 million copies. It allowed you to take control of one of eight characters from the Mario games and lets you race against the other Mario Characters in kart racing.
Because of its success, dozens of clones were released over the years, including Cash Team Racing, Mickey’s Speedway USA, South Park Rally, and the generically titled SuperKarts. Amongst these clones was a PC title called Wacky Wheels.
Developed by Beavis Soft, published by Apogee Software, and distributed by FormGen, Wacky Wheels was released on October 17th 1994 for MS-DOS on both floppy disc and CD-ROM. It came out in two versions, a regular version that had three sets of tracks that up to 21 tracks, and an “upgrade edition” containing an additional three sets of tracks, which is another 21 tracks, which could be bought as a “complete” collection with all of the tracks and as a separate add-on pack to the regular edition.
The standard edition came with three sets of tracks, totaling 21 tracks. The upgrade edition came with three more sets of tracks, adding another 21 tracks to the game, giving the game a total of 42 tracks to race.
Surprisingly, there is a plot to the game. 8 animals have escape from the zoo on lawn mowers (which look suspiciously like go karts), which include Peggles the Duck, Morris the Moose, Sultan the Camel, Uno the Panda, Ringo the Racoon, Blambo the Elephant, Tigi the Tiger, and even a shark named Razer, who has somehow stayed out of the water long enough to join in the race. The plot is pretty much irreverent and is just an excuse to have animals racing around a track.
Graphically, Wacky Wheels looks pretty good, and the fact that everything is cartoony and colourful certainly helps it. It has aged fairly well, even if it wasn’t anything fantastic when it first came out. The music fits well and is appropriately “wacky”
There is some variety in the locations of the tracks, including a cityscape, a desert, and maps that have bodies of water that the racers can go through, with a periscope that pops when they do so that they can see where they are going. There are even tracks that have lava, and the racers can go through too. Apparently these animals are made of titanium. Maybe the zoo they came from has a Umbrella from Resident Evil style laboratory under it and these animals are their experiments.
Gameplay wise, this is pretty much Super Mario Kart. The left and right arrow keys turn you left and right. The ALT key accelerated the driver, and CTRL shoots hedgehogs at other racers. Yes, hedgehogs. You pick up hedgehogs while racing and you shoot them at other racers to stun them for a couple of seconds. The hedgehogs seem to be OK with it too, waiting patiently out on the racecourse.
There game also comes with power ups for you to use. There is the Match Box, which shoots out three fireballs in three different directions. The rest of the power ups are strangely exclusive to the Single Player or Multiplayer. I guess its to balance out each mode, but its still a little weird. In the Single Player, there is a Bomb you can drop on the rack for another racer to run into, the Oil Can, which lays a puddle of oil on the track, and the Devil Pups. These are two angry red balls that will bounce off the walls and each other at the spot you drop them.
In the multiplayer, you get the Upside Down Hog. If a racer accidentally hits it, it flips that specific players screen upside down. For some reason, you can only use both the Match Box and Hedgehogs in both the Multiplayer and Single Player, while the other power ups are specific to either modes.
Speaking of the multiplayer, Wacky Wheels comes with the ability to race with your friends. There is the two player race, which allows you to race head to head with another player, or to race each other along with A.I. Opponents, in which the player who ends up in the higher position wins, meaning you could end up in 3rd place and still technically win because in a higher position than your opponent.
Or you could jump into the two player shoot out, in which two players are put into an arena, and the first player to reach the pre-determined score limit, which is 5, 10, 15, and 20, is the winner. The game also allows you to play with online, through Comm-BatTM Play (Yes, it comes with that TM). Although it would be difficult since it requires a 56k modem or Serial Cable, and people aren’t exactly using those any more.
Wacky Duck Shoot has the player racing around an arena trying to shoot as many ducks that are also racing around the arena. There is also Kid mode, which is designed for younger children who might be having some trouble completing the game because they’re inexperienced. All of the A.I. Have been slowed down so kids have a chance of winning.
Thankfully this game came out at a time when games came with a buttload of secrets and Easter Eggs. For some reason there is an unlockable weapon that freezes your enemies called Ice Cube, and I don’t know why it was only included as a hidden weapon. Whacky Wheels also has the distinction of being the first game to make a Dopefish cameo. There are a few others, but you can try and find those on your own.
There is a remake out there, but I haven’t played it, so i can’t couch for how good it is. I would say that Wacky Wheels is worth checking out, even if it’s literally a Super Mario Kart clone. It’s a good one at that.