Friday, November 14, 2008

"Road Runner's Desert Demolition" Sega Genesis Game

If you were a 90's kid, chances are you remember the Sega Genesis video game system. Most of us either had a Super Nintendo or a Sega, and both Nintendo and Sega were always trying to "one-up" each other. I always stuck to the Nintendo, but there were a few Sega games that I was always curious about and never got to see. Sure, we all had that friend down the street who we played Sonic the Hedgehog with, then they'd come play Mario with us.

But both systems had cartoon games. I did a post on this blog ages ago concerning Road Runner's Death Valley Rally, one of the best games ever for the Super Nintendo. While browsing Youtube for "Looney Tunes", I was thrilled to see a run-through of the Sega Road Runner game that I always wanted to see and never did.

Now I know why I never saw it. This thing has some of the most annoying sound effects and grating music I've ever heard, and that's not good when we're talking about Road Runner. As I recall from the way it was advertised, it was 2 games in 1...one where you played as Wile E. Coyote, the other as the Road Runner. Here's the run-through of the Sega game as the Coyote, if you can stand it:



Now compare it to this footage of "Road Runner's Death Valley Rally" from Nintendo:


I think Nintendo's take wins. I'm biased, but I still think the backgrounds and "animation" on the Super Nintendo game were the closest any video game has come to the classic Looney Tunes style...and the fact that most of it was based exactly on original Chuck Jones animation gave it a real edge. Thoughts?

PS: The same company that produced the Super Nintendo Road Runner game also did "Bugs Bunny's Rabbit Rampage". Here's a run-through of what I thought was its most difficult (and cool looking) level: the fairy-tale land. Watch for appearances by the Big Bad Wolf and 3 Pigs from "The Windblown Hare", as well as the Goofy Gophers and Witch Hazel. Dare you to forget the music!

7 comments:

Silvia Lisanti said...

I won't say that the Sega's one was the worst, is preety nice though, but could not exceed the work at Nintendo's.
First, by watching the video of Desert Demolition I didn't get what's the main mission of the game: the classic chase of RR or a sort of "trip" with our beloved bird across different scenarios, in which Wile E. has to make a sort of testing of the various Acme products?
Secondly, it's about the scenario: I really enjoyed them, but what does the "mexican" scenario in the level 3 has to do with the original cartoon series? As I remind, I never see a RR short taking place between those sort of "kasbahs" that strongly remind me famous video games like Aladin or Prince of Persia!
Finally, the End: the concept of it's nice, but the programers could had develop more by using more animations!

Rob G. said...

Nifty post. To get all videogame geeky on you for a minute, these two clips kind of illustrate the differences between the two systems. The Genesis was better at games with a lot of speed but it's sound chip wasn't as good or color pallet as deep as the Super Nintendo. The SNES games looked prettier but I remember a lot of heavy action games having a lot of slowdown.

Plus the first clip is from an emulator, not a real Genesis. The sound might be better on the real deal, but I kind of doubt it.

Anonymous said...

I prefer Death Valley Rally. I beat that game ten times in the early 90's without using cheats.

Anonymous said...

I have the game. The sound is the same as the YouTube video.

Intersting to note that Desert Demolition was developed by Blue Sky, the companey that would later do Computer animatied films and would make there Wile E. Coyote charater, Scrat the prehistoric rodent.

Anonymous said...

The problem with Desert Demolition's music is that it literally reacted to your footsteps. So with every step you take, a new note is played. I understand they were trying to go for that scene specific Stalling/Franklyn style, but it just doesn't work for games. At least, not these older ones. If you've ever played Dig Dug, it's the same deal. (And yes, I too own the actual cartridge and it sound just like the video)

Ricardo Cantoral said...

I actually prefer the animation in the Sega version but the nintendo version has better music, especially the boss theme.

Arun said...

Never played the SNES game (Genesis kid, here), but I remember Desert Demolition fondly. I'll be honest, I don't remember any actual music, so much as I remember sound starting whenever a character was moving. It was repetitive, sure, but I had a lot of fun with it. It was no "Sonic & Knuckles," obviously, but it was still a pretty solid game. The SNES game does look like a lot of fun, but just from looking at it, I get the feeling the controls are probably a little "slippery"; like the Roadrunner doesn't control quite as nicely as he did in Desert Demolition. Am I the only one who feels that way?

Do you plan on writing about any other Looney Tunes games? I can't record any footage, but I'd be happy to supply other material for other games.

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