Wacky Races/Wacky Races: Starring Dastardly and Muttley is a 2000 racing video game developed by Infogrames Sheffield House and published by Infogrames for the Dreamcast and later for PlayStation 2 in 2001. The game is based on the cartoon series Wacky Races which features 11 vehicles all racing over various landscapes to win first place. The vehicles featured include the most infamous vehicle in the series, The Mean Machine driven by Dick Dastardly and Muttley.

Wacky Races Enhanced as Wacky Races: Starring Dastardly and Muttley
Developer(s)	Infogrames Sheffield House
Publisher(s)	Infogrames
Platform(s)	Dreamcast PlayStation 2
Release	Dreamcast NA: June 27, 2000[1] EU: June 30, 2000 PlayStation 2 EU: June 29, 2001
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single player, 2-4 multiplayer

Gameplay

The game includes two modes: Arcade and Adventure. Arcade mode features normal racing across various tracks. In Adventure mode, the player races on tracks to win gold stars or Wacky Trial clocks to unlock more tracks, abilities and challenges. Wacky Trial clocks are rewarded when a race is won in a certain amount of time. These are needed to unlock boss challenges as well. Gold stars are needed to unlock various things such as tracks and areas. They are gained by winning various events. Once 10 gold stars have been rewarded, the Boss Area is unlocked, in which the player must compete against one of three "elite" cars; Professor Pat Pending's Convert-a-Car, the Red Max's Crimson Haybailer, and the Mean Machine. Dastardly and Muttley are the main bosses of the game, with many of their power-ups geared towards attack.

Gadgets include an explosive mine that can be placed along the road, turbo speed, a temporary flying ability, and temporary invincibility. Pink discs known as "Tokens" float along the track. When picked up they fuel gadgets and give the player the option to perform one. Once they are used, they are shot out the back and left for other drivers to pick up.

All the vehicles and drivers from the cartoon are featured in the game; but there is only an eight car grid, preventing them all from racing at once. The vehicles are put into 5 groups, based on their acceleration, speed, and handling. The game features four themed levels, including a desert with Wild West towns and coal mines; snow-covered mountain towns; a Wacky Races version of Mount Rushmore; and a large city with rooftop race tracks.

Voice Cast

• Gregg Berger - Narrator
• Greg Burson - Red Max, Sergeant Blast, Peter Perfect, Rufus Ruffcut
• Jim Cummings - Dick Dastardly, Rock Slag, Gravel Slag, Big Gruesome, Private Meekly, Clyde
• Janet Waldo - Penelope Pitstop
• Billy West - Muttley, Little Gruesome
• Scott Innes - Professor Pat Pending
• John Stephenson - Luke

Trivia

Both Janet Waldo and John Stephenson reprise their roles as Penelope Pitstop and Luke respectively. The game is notable for allowing players to have Dick Dastardly finally win a race. If the player wins as him, the narrator is taken aback or disgusted and Dastardly is happy and surprised at winning a race.[1]

Wacky Races: Starring Dastardly and Muttley

The game was only released in PAL Regions.

Reception

The Dreamcast version received favorable reviews, while the PlayStation 2 version received above-average reviews, according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.[2][3] Greg Orlando of NextGen said of the former console version, "Few will likely remember the short-lived Hanna Barbera cartoon Wacky Races, yet just as few will likely forget this crazy-fun video game translation."[19]

Notes

References

External links

• Wacky Races: Starring Dastardly and Muttley at MobyGames