Wacky Races (Game)

Wacky Races

GAME » on June 2000

Dreamcast (Platform)Game Boy Color (Platform)PC (Platform)PlayStation (Platform)PlayStation 2 (Platform)

The over-the-top road rallies of the 1960's Hanna-Barbara cartoon series gets its first "kart racer" treatment.

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Overview

The Gruesome Twosome with Rufus Ruffcut vying for 2nd place

Wacky Races is a cartoon-comedy racing game developed by Infogrames Sheffield and published by Infogrames for the Dreamcast (Platform) in both North America and Europe on June 2000. It received a PlayStation 2 (Platform) release as a European exclusive on June 2001 as Wacky Races starring Dastardly & Muttley. It also received a separate PlayStation (Platform) and PC (Platform) adaptation by Appaloosa Interactive (Company), both released in Europe on September 2000 with the PC version also released in North America (sometime in 2000) and the PS1 version also released in Japan (on July 26, 2001 as Chiki Chiki Machine Mō Race).

Based on the late-'60s Hanna-Barbera cartoon of the same name, Wacky Races follows over-the-top road rallies with various themed cars and slapstick humor. As a game, it follows the same formula as other "kart racers" of the era, with cartoon-style physics, lapped tracks in wacky environments, and numerous power-ups that make use of each vehicle's unique gadgets and abilities for boosts and hazards.

The only voice actors to return from the original 1960's cartoon are Janet Waldo (Person) (as Penelope Pitstop (Character)) and John Stephenson (Person) (as Lazy Luke). The new voice cast includes Jim Cummings, Billy West, Greg Burson, and Scott Innes, with Gregg Berger as the race narrator.

The game also received a handheld adaptation by VD-dev for the Game Boy Color (Platform), released in North America on June 9, 2000, in Europe on June 30, 2000, and in Japan (as Chiki Chiki Machine Mō Race) on November 22, 2001. Like the studio's other racing games for the platform, this version keeps the behind-the-back perspective with raster line rendering for scrolling the road and faux-sprite scaling for scrolling obstacles.

Gameplay

The game plays like a traditional kart racer than previous adaptations of the Wacky Races cartoon.

In the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, each car has a different assortment of special abilities, of which players choose three to race with (each ability on its own dedicated button). These include require the use of Wacky Tokens acquired throughout the race and consist of either projectiles, hazards, enhancements, or shields. New abilities can be unlocked through Adventure mode.

The Dreamcast version features two handling styles: Kart and Advanced.

Adventure (DC/PS2)

The game's main single-player and two-player co-operative mode take a page from Diddy Kong Racing (Game) and presents a hub world to drive around in, using stars earned through completing challenges to unlock new challenges and new abilities, eventually allowing players to challenge boss characters in a one-on-one race to unlock them. These challenges include:

Track Challenge - Standard single-race event.
Wacky Cup Challenge - Five-race event, with all participants earning points for placing in the top four of each race.
Golden Muttley Challenge - Single-race event with a twist: players must find 10 golden Muttley (Character) statues throughout the track in addition to winning the race in first place.
Battle Challenges - A free-for-all battle event where all eight participants drive around an enclosed arena, using their abilities to eliminate each-other. Each participants are given three "lives" and 10 tokens (gaining more by damaging opponents). A special four-event Battle Cup challenge can be found, combining this with the point system from the Wacky Cup Challenge.
Team 00 Tag Challenges - PS2 version only. Single-race event with a twist: the driver in last place on each lap is eliminated.

Cars & Racers

In the Dreamcast and PS2 versions, all eleven vehicles from the original cartoon, along with their racers and their special characteristics, gadgets, and abilities, are playable:

The Slag Brothers (Character) in the Boulder Mobile (#1)
The Gruesome Twosome in the Creepy Coupe (#2)
Professor Pat Pending (Character) in the Convert-a-Car (#3)
Red Max in the Crimson Haybailer (#4)
Penelope Pitstop (Character) in the Compact Pussycat (#5)
Sergeant Blast & Private Meekly in the Army Surplus Special (#6)
The Ant Hill Mob in the Bulletproof Bomb (#7)
Lazy Luke & Blubber Bear in the Arkansas Chuggabug (#8)
Peter Perfect (Character) in the Turbo Terrific (#9)
Rufus Ruffcut & Sawtooth in the Buzz Wagon (#10)
Dick Dastardly (Character) & Muttley (Character) in the Mean Machine (#00)

In other versions, only a select amount of the original eleven are playable:


Car	DC/PS2	PS1/PC	GBC
Boulder Mobile	Available	Available	Available
Creepy Coupe	Available	Available	Not Available
Convert-a-Car	Unlockable	Not Available	Not Available
Crimson Haybailer	Unlockable	PC only	Unlockable
Compact Pussycat	Available	Available	Available
Army Surplus Special	Available	Available	Unlockable
Bulletproof Bomb	Available	Not Available	Available
Arkansas Chuggabug	Available	Not Available	Not Available
Turbo Teriffic	Available	Available	Unlockable
Buzz Wagon	Available	Not Available	Available
Mean Machine	Unlockable	Unlockable	Unlockable

Tracks & Cups

PS2/DC Version

The Dreamcast version includes 15 standard courses, each split into three separate themed locales: Wild Frontier, Snowfall Peaks, and Redwood Valley. The PS2 version adds five additional courses in a fourth locale: The Big Apricot.

Wild Frontier

Wild Frontier is a desert packed with stereotypical locations for driving around in such as an oil mine and the Wild West towns that surround it.

Oil Be Back
Tombstone Pass
Los Angle Teaze Square (unlockable, also used for Battle)
Railway Canyon (unlockable)
Manic Mines (unlockable)

The point-to-point race for unlocking bosses takes place in Up Sand Downs.

Snowfall Peaks

In contrast to Wild Frontier, Snowfall Peaks is the wintry location within Wacky Races with races usually taking place in and around snowy mountains and caverns.

Snow La Costa
Snow Hope Village
Gruesome Towers (unlockable, also used for Battle)
Glacier Lake (unlockable)
Ice Caverns (unlockable)

The point-to-point race for unlocking bosses takes place in Snow Top Drop. There is also a second Battle track.

Redwood Valley

Redwood Valley is the balance between the two locations above taking place in a lush forest as with races taking place around a lumberjack mill and sprawling fields for example.

Lumberjack Lake
Scarecrow Creek
Wood Stockade (unlockable, also used for Battle)
Redwood Springs (unlockable)
Rush More Rapids (unlockable)

The point-to-point race for unlocking bosses takes place in Wood Stockade 2.

The Big Apricot

Exclusive to the PS2 version. A deliberate pun on New York City, The Big Apricot is another contrast to the nature of Redwood Valley, taking place in key locations within a bustling modern day city such as a shipyard, an airport terminal and on rooftops of tall skyscrapers.

Fish 'n' Ships
Subway Shenanigans
Alone in the Park (unlockable)
Terminal Turmoil (unlockable)
Rooftop Runaround (unlockable)

PS1/PC Version

The game includes 20 courses, each split into four separate locales:

Canyon
Silly Hills
Down & Town
Chilly Thrills

Each championship follows the same formula, first with a Canyon track, then with a Silly Hiils track, then with Down & Town, and finally with Chilly Thrills. The fifth championship, "Dick's Revenge Championship", has players racing in the Mean Machine.

Players can unlock "Mirror Mode" tracks.

GBC Version

The game includes nine tracks, each set throughout the United States.

Fun

Arkansas
Missouri
Mississippi

Super

Nevada
Alaska
New York

Crazy

Unlocked after clearing the other two Cups.

Oregon
Michigan
Hawaii

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