Who Wants to Beat Up a Millionaire (Game)

Who Wants to Beat Up a Millionaire

GAME » on 2000

You won't get rich, but you can make those who already are suffer for it.

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Overview

Who Wants to Beat Up a Millionaire is a comical trivia game developed by Hypnotix and published by Simon & Schuster Interactive (along with Havas Interactive (Company)) for the Dreamcast (Platform) and PC (Platform) in North America in 2000, with PC releases in the UK by Xplorys BV (Company) and other European regions by MitCom Neue Medien GmbH (Company).

A parody game of the TV game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, Who Wants to Beat Up a Millionaire combines a sometimes-humorous take on real-life trivia (similar to the You Don't Know Jack series) with the theme of the show (including parody game show host "Egregious Phillin" and the use of lifelines, or "lifeboats") and a new objective, where correctly answering trivia questions puts players in a first-person boxing-style mini-game where they try to beat up their millionaire opponent and drain their money.

Gameplay

The objective of Who Wants to Beat Up a Millionaire differs between 1-player and 2-4 player games:

In single-player, players choose a millionaire for their opponent, and must beat $1,000,000 out of them before getting a trivia question incorrect (which ends the game prematurely).
In multiplayer, players choose a millionaire to represent them, and must be the last one standing by having $1,000,000 knocked out of each opponent.

Regardless, the game includes four-choice trivia questions with a 10-second buzz-in timer and a 3-10 second answer timer (based on when they interrupt the host), and require players to buzz in (with the A button) before choosing their answer and, in multiplayer games, the opponent they wish to beat up. Getting the question correct has them on the attack, while getting it incorrect either ends the game prematurely (single-player) or has them on the defense against the opponent they chose (multiplayer).

Lifeboats

Similar to the "lifelines" in Who Wants to Beat Up a Millionaire, the game gives players three limited-use aids ("lifeboats") to help them on questions they're having trouble with:

One or the Other takes away two wrong answers on the board.
Fortune Cookie has the game hinting at whether the chosen answer is correct, and gives them the option to change it.
Chicken Out (single-player) skips to a new question.
Pass the Buck (multiplayer) forces a opponent they choose to buzz-in instead, with the player using it as opponent they fight.

Fighting

During the button-mashing fighting mini-game, one player is attacking and the other is defending. The game is presented in first-person from the attacker, and both players attack/defend in one of four directions, with a hit only being successful if it isn't blocked.

In the Dreamcast version, there are two controller configurations: one that makes use of a single A button (with the direction chosen based on the d-pad/stick) and one that makes use of the four face buttons (with the direction chosen based on the button).

At various points in the game, the attacking player is given a themed "special weapon", which deals extra damage.