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Wacky Wheels
Wacky Wheels
Date added: 2019-11-05
Tags: None
Rated the best by our players
5 out of 5 based on 4279 ratings.
Game Information:
Everybody knows the Mario Kart saga and the huge amount of clones that this Nintendo saga has received. Wacky Wheels is one of these clones. This Wacky Wheels was developed by Beavis Soft, formed by programmer Andy Edwardson and graphic designer Shaun Gadalla, and distributed by Apogee.
The game came to PC on 17 October 1994, two years after Mario Kart. I include myself, as I was lucky enough to play and enjoy it at the time. The developers made no secret of their inspiration. There are even several tracks that are aesthetically reminiscent of some of those in Mario Kart.
Apogee had the brilliant idea of using the shareware method to whet the appetite of gamers. It got into the hands of many players and word of mouth did the rest.
In this Wacky Wheels game, a group of animals escape from the zoo in search of new adventures together with their great passion, speed. Their vehicles are equipped with a lawnmower engine, which, however, gives the machines they drive great speed. Before the competition begins, we can choose between 8 different drivers. Each has his own personality and way of driving, with different animations and sounds. There is no difference in the characteristics of the vehicle by choosing one or another similar to the classics of the time. As an example, the same is true for the first Mario Kart or Power Drift. The game can be played by one or two players sharing the same computer, in a local network or via modem. The music that accompanies the game is also very varied and very good.
Playing alone, we can choose between several modes. Career mode, in which we can choose between 3 race levels, amateur, pro and champion, as well as time trial and a children's mode. In the races we can choose the number of laps to do in each circuit, 6, 8 or 10. Also two types of engines, 6 horsepower and 12 horsepower, so the race will be slower or faster. The next thing is the type of circuits, the normal ones or within the bonus pack that we can choose depending on the version we have. Once chosen, the only thing left to race is the selection of the competition, bronze, silver and gold. Depending on our choice, the circuits will range from easier to much more convoluted.
In time trial mode we will choose the engine, the track types, the competition and the track to race. In this mode we will race alone, trying to set the best lap time and the best time to complete the race. This mode is a good way to familiarise yourself with the tracks. In kids mode, the car moves slowly at a constant speed, you just have to turn and shoot the enemies, as the name suggests, special for kids.
Another mode is duck shooting, yes duck shooting. We will have to shoot as many ducks as possible in two minutes. Choose between normal and bonus tracks and shoot the duck with no regrets.
A bit of history:
The developers of Beavis Soft were working for a team in Belgium called Copysoft with small developments without too much importance. Andy Edwardson got tired of not having too much work and started in his spare time to develop a game engine. He looked at mode7 and Mario Kart on Super Nintendo and thought about how to port it to PC. Within a week he had a prototype engine ready with tracks and rotations already made. He then started working with Shaun Gadalla on the graphics for several months.
The finished work was shown to the Copysoft team with a demo disk. Although Copysoft were enthusiastic about the game, they did not enter into a commercial agreement with the company. Scott Miller, president of Apogee, came across some screenshots and contacted Copysoft about the game. Beavis Soft fought with Copysoft over the copyright if Apogee distributed the game. When no agreement was reached, they returned all the money Copysoft had advanced them for equipment and development and left with the game to Apogee.
Shortly before the game was finished, Scott Miller sent a fax to Beavis Soft saying that Skunny Kart had been released and was using the engine that Andy Edwardson had created. Andy Edwardson made the mistake of leaving the source code inside the demo disc they sent to Copysoft. Although they accused Copysoft of plagiarism, in the end they did not go to court because it did not look enough like Wacky Wheels.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
