Ahh I've got good memories of this one. I had a SNES, but I bought this instead of Mario Kart just to have something different since all my friends had MK. It's not as good, but it's a solid effort IMO. Though, I always thought they had the handbrake turn because drifting mechanics are a lot harder to get right.
Even though I'm 9 years late at this point, I'll put it out there that I'm fairly certain you can throw off a tire being stuck on your character by rapidly turning left to right over and over until it flies off. It's been quite a while since I played this, but if I remember correctly it does help with cornering to do this if it happens.
Man, I had the demo for this from Duke3D of all games lol. Loved the crap out of it. I remember some super weird glitch (or maybe an intentional cheat?) but I could play with one of the other cars instead of the one they tried to force you with.
Whats with 90's Red Devil looking guys with no pants? The Wacky Wheels lap demon, the Red Guy from I Am Weasel/Cow and Chicken. Someone really had a thing for red demon butts.
That's an annoying thing in some racers, when you finally start getting a good lead after practicing the track, but they still catch up for no other reason than the game wants them to. I rarely enjoy that rubber band AI thing, much prefer consistent AI in racers, it's less frustrating, more realistic and more fair.
You say that, but you might be surprised how many games you LIKE have rubber banding to some degree. If it's done well then you get a suitable challenge which never feels unfair or too easy. It's only when it's done poorly that you notice it happening, and if it's absent entirely, the AI needs to be FLAWLESS or you'll win against them every single time leading to the game getting boring. :P
@@PixelmusementI think it's mainly down to how I play. If I get off to a bad start in a tough race I'd rather just restart than try and salvage it, so I never really get the benefits of rubber banding, just the frustrating stuff, like doing well, messing up in the last second and losing the race. I also find it satisfying to leave everyone in the dust once in a while which rubber banding doesn't accommodate particularly well. You're right though it's probably present to a certain degree in most racers and mostly annoying when noticeable. I don't mind a sort of time trial system, like what Hydro Thunder uses, where you start from behind and need to catch up. There's a time threshold that will usually win you the race (determined by your vehicle's max speed), but getting that time is hard and will usually be a pip to the post. That seems fairer to me as you're judged purely on skill, but the downside is the opponents feel more like checkpoints to overtake rather than race with.
I have such weirdly specific memories of this game that I have no idea why my brain has dedicated brain cells to keeping. I had the shareware version, but there was a glitch where if you watched a demo race with a non-playable character on a non-playable map, you could somehow glitch it to select that character. I thought that was so exciting, I used to use it to play as the panda. Then, at some point, my shareware copy of the game just unlocked and allowed me to pick anyone and play the full version. I have no idea how or why this happened and would actually love to look at the source code to see if there was some time limit on the shareware or something at some stage. The other thing I remember is playing with my friend and using the taunts to make the devil moon the other player, and each of us getting upset because we were taking it way too seriously.
So I tested this out for over an hour because your story was intriguing. It turns out the EXE files for the shareware and registered versions are IDENTICAL! The trick is in the DAT file. The DAT file included with the shareware version has everything necessary to play as any other racer and you can trick this into happening thanks to how the save games work, as some of the demos use locked vehicles while at the same time, demo playback overwrites the state of the save game in memory! ...which includes the demo playback for the ordering info screen which is a run on the second Silver track, which you can then go and play for yourself! HOWEVER, the DAT file is otherwise missing all track data for the registered tracks with that one exception, thus it's 100% impossible for you to have converted the shareware version into a full registered version, though it is possible you tricked it out in such a way to allow driving the locked vehicles and it is very possible to drive on the second Silver track through that save glitch. If you distinctly remember driving the other registered tracks then I hate to say it but, the only possible explanation is someone put a registered copy in its place behind your back without telling you. :P
@@Pixelmusement ! That is mental that a) you saw this and b) you followed up!!! That is so cool to know! Yeah, I’m not a fan of the “the computer just randomly gave me the full version” explanation, but I had no idea how else… but it is probably more likely then that my parents might have intervened… neither of them will remember it but it makes a bit more sense! Ha, so awesome to have an explanation of how that trick worked though, seems very trusting in the lense of modern day gaming to have a demo that actually has all the same data as the full version, but at least it made 8 year old me very happy. Thanks for following up, this really brought back some memories and I also feel I need to thank my mum and dad :p.
I play the Kids mode just to take in the graphics and scenery. That is something I love to do in games. This game is superior to Skunny Karts imo and my pick if I wanna play a Mario Kart style racer. Also..amazing soundtrack/score.
I was expecting more justifications for that frame rate other than "despite it''s poor frame rate". I don't think a game is fun to play at all if it jerks like this. My eyes felt so good when the video finished :p
Yeah... I think the framerate here is roughly the limit I myself can tolerate. On the plus side, 60 FPS looks SO FREAKING SMOOTH immediately following! :B
I love Apogee stuff... but racing is my least favorite game genre, so I've barely touched Wacky Wheels. But I still have it, for the sake of collecting as many Apogee games as possible :P
I love that this channel is so devoted to pure gaming. I like other channels that cover other legacy tech but ADG is just beautiful to watch
Great review of an all-time great game. That music
Sadly, it did not. The remake is a complete disappointment in every single regard :..(
Wow, I just watched the Skunny Kart review. What a difference an extra 2 frames per second makes.
Ahh I've got good memories of this one. I had a SNES, but I bought this instead of Mario Kart just to have something different since all my friends had MK. It's not as good, but it's a solid effort IMO. Though, I always thought they had the handbrake turn because drifting mechanics are a lot harder to get right.
+Louis Gorenfeld Possible. Either way it's a mechanic that you can use that works. :B
If I would have had to guess the racing game with animals when the episode first came out, I would have guessed S.C.A.R.S.
That music is pretty good.
Thanks again for this masterpiece of an OST. I listen to it at least twice a week. It's good for coding ;)
Ahh Yes, Wacky Wheels, the Crash Team Racing of Mario Kart clones.
Even though I'm 9 years late at this point, I'll put it out there that I'm fairly certain you can throw off a tire being stuck on your character by rapidly turning left to right over and over until it flies off. It's been quite a while since I played this, but if I remember correctly it does help with cornering to do this if it happens.
Man, I had the demo for this from Duke3D of all games lol. Loved the crap out of it. I remember some super weird glitch (or maybe an intentional cheat?) but I could play with one of the other cars instead of the one they tried to force you with.
There's a cheat code to make the game run on a faster speed, thus improving the framerate a bit.
Whats with 90's Red Devil looking guys with no pants? The Wacky Wheels lap demon, the Red Guy from I Am Weasel/Cow and Chicken.
Someone really had a thing for red demon butts.
That's an annoying thing in some racers, when you finally start getting a good lead after practicing the track, but they still catch up for no other reason than the game wants them to. I rarely enjoy that rubber band AI thing, much prefer consistent AI in racers, it's less frustrating, more realistic and more fair.
You say that, but you might be surprised how many games you LIKE have rubber banding to some degree. If it's done well then you get a suitable challenge which never feels unfair or too easy. It's only when it's done poorly that you notice it happening, and if it's absent entirely, the AI needs to be FLAWLESS or you'll win against them every single time leading to the game getting boring. :P
@@PixelmusementI think it's mainly down to how I play. If I get off to a bad start in a tough race I'd rather just restart than try and salvage it, so I never really get the benefits of rubber banding, just the frustrating stuff, like doing well, messing up in the last second and losing the race. I also find it satisfying to leave everyone in the dust once in a while which rubber banding doesn't accommodate particularly well.
You're right though it's probably present to a certain degree in most racers and mostly annoying when noticeable. I don't mind a sort of time trial system, like what Hydro Thunder uses, where you start from behind and need to catch up. There's a time threshold that will usually win you the race (determined by your vehicle's max speed), but getting that time is hard and will usually be a pip to the post. That seems fairer to me as you're judged purely on skill, but the downside is the opponents feel more like checkpoints to overtake rather than race with.
DOPEFISH LIVES!
I have such weirdly specific memories of this game that I have no idea why my brain has dedicated brain cells to keeping. I had the shareware version, but there was a glitch where if you watched a demo race with a non-playable character on a non-playable map, you could somehow glitch it to select that character. I thought that was so exciting, I used to use it to play as the panda. Then, at some point, my shareware copy of the game just unlocked and allowed me to pick anyone and play the full version. I have no idea how or why this happened and would actually love to look at the source code to see if there was some time limit on the shareware or something at some stage.
The other thing I remember is playing with my friend and using the taunts to make the devil moon the other player, and each of us getting upset because we were taking it way too seriously.
So I tested this out for over an hour because your story was intriguing. It turns out the EXE files for the shareware and registered versions are IDENTICAL! The trick is in the DAT file. The DAT file included with the shareware version has everything necessary to play as any other racer and you can trick this into happening thanks to how the save games work, as some of the demos use locked vehicles while at the same time, demo playback overwrites the state of the save game in memory! ...which includes the demo playback for the ordering info screen which is a run on the second Silver track, which you can then go and play for yourself! HOWEVER, the DAT file is otherwise missing all track data for the registered tracks with that one exception, thus it's 100% impossible for you to have converted the shareware version into a full registered version, though it is possible you tricked it out in such a way to allow driving the locked vehicles and it is very possible to drive on the second Silver track through that save glitch. If you distinctly remember driving the other registered tracks then I hate to say it but, the only possible explanation is someone put a registered copy in its place behind your back without telling you. :P
@@Pixelmusement ! That is mental that a) you saw this and b) you followed up!!!
That is so cool to know! Yeah, I’m not a fan of the “the computer just randomly gave me the full version” explanation, but I had no idea how else… but it is probably more likely then that my parents might have intervened… neither of them will remember it but it makes a bit more sense!
Ha, so awesome to have an explanation of how that trick worked though, seems very trusting in the lense of modern day gaming to have a demo that actually has all the same data as the full version, but at least it made 8 year old me very happy.
Thanks for following up, this really brought back some memories and I also feel I need to thank my mum and dad :p.
I play the Kids mode just to take in the graphics and scenery. That is something I love to do in games. This game is superior to Skunny Karts imo and my pick if I wanna play a Mario Kart style racer. Also..amazing soundtrack/score.
I remember getting the shareware of this game with Duke Nukem 3D; along with a lot of other Apogee games.
Really a nostalgic game, but I do agree that the catch up mechanics get rather annoying.
+Tyrian3k Catch-up mechanics are fine if they're done well. They are not done well in this game. :P
I like how they didn't even try to differentiate from Mario Kart in any meaningful way.
Oh hey, got my name in the credits :D
+Alexandria “Alyxx” Thorne Proof no one watches the credits since you only just noticed. XD
+Pixelmusement I actually noticed a long time ago, just felt like saying it... ^^'
I was expecting more justifications for that frame rate other than "despite it''s poor frame rate". I don't think a game is fun to play at all if it jerks like this. My eyes felt so good when the video finished :p
Yeah... I think the framerate here is roughly the limit I myself can tolerate. On the plus side, 60 FPS looks SO FREAKING SMOOTH immediately following! :B
Ice cubes ;)
someone should kickstart this!
i loved this game, sadly i only had the demo growing up but there a cheat where you could play as the panda on a new track if i remember correctly.
Great game I play demo long time Few days ago I brought it on steam it was on sell
I love Apogee stuff... but racing is my least favorite game genre, so I've barely touched Wacky Wheels. But I still have it, for the sake of collecting as many Apogee games as possible :P