Wacky Races/Gameplay

Wacky Races | Table of Contents | Gameplay | Walkthrough

Table of Contents

Gameplay

Walkthrough

Controls[edit]

Joystick: In the Amiga version of the game, you must use the joystick to make Dick Dastardly's car (00) accelerate, brake, and jump, with the button to make it fire spikes at the opposing Wacky Racers; however, for the 8-bit versions, you must use the P, O and Q and Space keys instead. For the trap-laying stages, the joystick must be used to make Dastardly himself walk left and right and climb up and down rock faces, with the button to make him jump (in the 8-bit versions you will take control of Muttley instead, bumping Super Mario Bros.-style question blocks from underneath to collect the trap parts) - and for the Amiga version, you can also press P to pause the game, and Escape to abort if you've no chance of winning. For the title screens of the 8-bit versions, you can also press R to redefine the keys, K to switch to keyboard control (even though they use it by default), J to switch to joystick control (if connected), and C to start the game; however, in the ZX version, you must rewind the tape to the start of Side 2 and press the Play button on your cassette recorder before the game will start (you must also do this if you lose and have to start it again).

Characters[edit]

Richard M. Dastardly and Muttley[edit]

The protagonists of the game (the former of whom is named after the 37th US President, Richard M. Nixon, 1913-1994); they must drive their car (00) to the finishing line before the opposing Wacky Racers (something they never achieved for the show, but in one episode it looked like they did, when Dastardly extended the front bit of his car). Being the cheats they are (although Professor Pat Pending, who the prize went to after Dastardly was disqualified, for "stretching a point", was arguably more of one!), they must use every sneaky and despicable means at their disposal, to ensure the opposing Wacky Racers cannot reach the finishing line before them - and when they get far enough in front of the other racers (by finishing in the top 5, or top 4 after the first race, for the Amiga version, but only in the top 2 for all the 8-bit ones due to the number of racers being reduced from ten to three), Dastardly must collect parts to build a trap for them (for the 8-bit versions, you shall have to take control of Muttley instead, bumping Super Mario Bros.-style question blocks from underneath, to collect the trap parts). Due to technical limitations, sprites were also reduced to monochromes, for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum version.

Other Wacky Racers[edit]

All ten of the other Wacky Racers are present for the Amiga version: Rock and Gravel Slag (1), The Gruesome Twosome (2), Professor Pat Pending (3), The Red Max (4), Penelope Pitstop (5), Sgt. Blast and Pte. Meekly (6), The Anthill Mob (7), Lazy Luke and Blubber Bear (8), Peter Perfect (9) and Rufus Roughcut and Sawtooth (10); however, for the 8-bit versions, only the Slags, Peter Perfect and Rufus Roughcut featured. The Anthill Mob's car is also depicted as green (when it was black, in the show), and referred to as "The Roaring Plenty" (when it was called "The Bulletproof Bomb" in the show) - and Peter Perfect's car is also wrongly referred to as "The Varoom Roadster" (on account of how it was called "The Turbo Terrific", in the show).