ADG Episode 9 - MegaRace

[@wardrich]

Man, my grampa had this game in a big collection of games he got. I remember being really wowed by the FMV clips in the game. I actually had some fun with it, too. The pack came with some other really obscure games - Psychotron - Dragon Lore 1 and 2 - Commander Blood And a bunch of others I can't remember. It's really amazing that this game IS as well known as it is! Looking forward to buckling up and watching this ancient ADG :D

[@dhoffnun]

Memories! I loved this game - the cars and tracks were so awesomely fantastical, and you can't beat Lance.

[@ADarkandStormyNight]

For one reason or another, this is one of my favorite ADG reviews.

[@MisterTwo-40SX]

I got MegaRace along with the “multimedia bundle” my dad bought for our 486-50. It came with Strike Commander(my introduction to Origin flight and space sims!) and probably some other games, plus the Knowledge Adventure series and some other educational/reference software. What memories! I LOVE the art/architecture style of this time period. Tons of glass and curves and a strange spirit of optimism. And MegaRace’s music is fantastic.

[@EdKolis]

My copy came with a PC my dad bought as well. Also included were 3D Dinosaur Adventure, 3D Body Adventure (that sounds a lot dirtier than it was now), and for some reason (I think the PC was refurbished, maybe Micro Center forgot to wipe it?) there was a WW2 combat flight simulator called Heroes of the 357th preinstalled on the hard drive without an install disk! Now that game was hard; the first mission was easy, just bomb some buildings, but once you get into dogfighting then it's absolutely insane! I'd like to see a video about that game...

[@MrBenMcLean]

One of the starting cars is actually the best car in the game I think.

[@Dysturbed-00]

You've won a dinner with yourself!

[@kamerat7689]

Didn't know the whole game were FMV, thanks for enlighten me. This game came with the first computer my family bought, a Packard Bell Legend (486DX2 66, 4MB ram, 428MB harddrive and multimedia... :P) early 1995.

[@Pixelmusement]

+Kamerat That's pretty much the same kind of computer my Dad bought in the 90s. Not exactly, but really close. (His had a smaller HDD.)

[@bossyman15]

That's pretty much how I got my game. Tho I don't remember exact Packard Bell model I had.

[@jasonzuvela]

00:23 Never realised that all of these are actually each of the tracks

[@steveweidig5373]

As far as I remember from a review back in the days the grayscale mode was for some older GPUs which would apparently slow down too much, especially during the FMVs, and thus de-sync Audio and Video. So instead of dialling down the graphics, they chose to make it look like playing on an old black-and-white TV.

[@Pixelmusement]

Interesting compromise... :o

[@thewhyzer]

I really need to try the first two MR games, I've had them on GOG for years after all. I recall playing the demo of MR2 from a PC Gamer CD and it blew me away with the track graphics. Later on for some reason I thought Need for Speed 1 also had pre-rendered tracks/racing, but looking up the youtube videos made it clear that it did not.

[@EdKolis]

I like how the ring rotates faster on The Big Zero when you hit a speed boost, due to the racetrack being a FMV. I wonder if this track inspired the antigravity sections in Mario Kart 8?

[@Pixelmusement]

I doubt it. F-Zero debuted four YEARS before this game so Nintendo was already well founded in the concept of anti-gravity racing mechanics. :B

[@marccaselle8108]

This was the first game I played on my Packard bell computer back when it was new in 1995.

[@Pixelmusement]

The irony being that the game wasn't 100% compatible with Packard Bell computers and would occasionally lock up at random. :P

[@Tsaier]

Fooled me as a kid! I swore I was racing the whole time lol

[@snoredizzle]

I absolutely loved this game I was 15.

[@7thDementia]

A watch would only be a good main prize if it was like a Rolex or other expensive-type watch. They gave away watches on some game shows as the consolation prize. (Whammy! The All-New Press Your Luck and Taboo are two that come to mind.)

[@antdude]

I remember this in CompUSA!

[@thomasolson8417]

John Mijo Old post but I think you're thinking of Cyan. ;)

[@realLanceBoyle]

I'm back!!!! kzbin.info/www/bejne/qYXYpXeKd7iLrqs

[@johnmijo]

I bet the monochrome display mode is due to the fact that Cryo first started developing on the MAC, you know the folks that did Myst.

[@andrewslat7283]

Loved this game!

[@lostn65]

greyscale mode was for people who's rig can't handle color. Back then PCs were super expensive and became obsolete very quickly.

[@XaneMyers]

Something I wonder about this and Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver games...why haven't people found out the video format and made their own prerendered tracks? Of course, I also wpndonder how the game keeps track of when you're on top of symbols in this game and in the Hot Wheels game how it knows when there's a jump...since both are FMV games... I'd love to know how these FMV games...work! Obviously also how the developers of both games had the camera PERFECTLY follow the track; I wonder if they had a "spline" or whatever following the track that the camera followed. Of course, the problem with FMV games is how the background video never plays out differently; That spinning loop track speeds up its rotation when you're going faster and...I think I saw someoneplay the first Stunt Track Driver game and some animal ran in front of the track; I think if they wrecked their Hot Wheels car (which looks so WEIRD, with it spinning UP THE SCREEN) the animals would probably freeze in place as they don't really exist and are a part of the background video. I rally hope someone can find out video formats and track data for one of the FMV-based racing games...custom video tracks just sound awesome...though mine would suck!

[@firstnamelastname-oy7es]

+Xane Myers (X-Man) The whole track isn't a movie, there's other data there as well. From some of the footage in this video, it looks like the track itself might even be drawn differently from the FMV parts as well, like on the twisty track. For making a track, you would have to find out the data formats used for each track, and layout the track itself from some pieces or text instructions, as well as put the FMV in the back ground. I think symbol and enemy look up would be done by each item having 3 elements, a number indicating it's position horizontally on the screen (or across the track), a number indicating it's width, and a number indicating what part of the track the item is on, maybe even normalized between 0 and 1. For checking one item with another, such as when the player drives over a symbol, all the game would need to do is go through a list of items, and see if the widths of both overlap each other. A big list would be expensive to crawl through each frame though, so perhaps each item is binned to segments of the track, so only the items in the segment the player car is on need testing against and rendering to the screen.

[@andrewdupuis1151]

great game i have all 3 games

[@Pixelmusement]

They've been trying to make a 4th one for awhile now. Last I saw they'd made quite a good bit of progress, but that was well over two years ago; I have to wonder if the pandemic caused production to grind to a halt or something... :/

[@VedranKlemen]

This game was for rich kids.. :)

[@Pixelmusement]

+Vedran Klemen Or anyone who bought a Packard Bell PC in the 90s. ;)

[@VedranKlemen]

@@Pixelmusement You had to have at least 3x cd rom..:)

[@gillnosowitz2795]

"MegaRace? You mean white people?" we used to make that joke all that time, and before you get mad, check my last name and calm down.

[@Pixelmusement]

...needed to think about that for a moment to get it... kinda reminds me of a moment I saw on Twitter where some guy thought a "racist" was simply someone who races, such as himself, so had plastered his profile with such terminology, completely oblivious to the wrong message he was conveying. :P

[@gillnosowitz2795]

@@Pixelmusement I think the idea of "racist" is kind of harmless (and we take it too serious) because as someone who sees himself as well traveled, I must say some of the closest friends I've seen are black guys and white guys who are both best friends and extremely racist. Always joking about how they would kill their sister if they dated the other person, but spend almost every day with each other. I feel like Patrice O'Neill did a bit on that way back before he passed. Besides outside of the west, wow, things get bad. Anyways, glad my joke didn't offend.

[@Pixelmusement]

@@gillnosowitz2795 It's... a lot more complicated than that, but generally speaking, any kind of language that demoralizes someone over a "trait", something they can't change because it's who they are: skin colour, gender, nationality, etc., is incredibly bad. Sure, some people can take it in stride, but for the most part, it hurts people. While friends can identify what they can get away with saying to other friends without offending, that doesn't work in a public setting where context and motive are unknown, like if you jokingly say you wanna kill some friend over something. Sure, said friend knows you're joking, but if you say that publicly the people watching this unfold are almost certainly NOT in on the joke. Always be mindful of the impression you're leaving when speaking in a public setting and choose your words appropriately. :B

[@samtuttle6455]

U r the only person I've ever heard who liked mr. Boyle. Dude is not funny, even in a cheesy way...

[@Pixelmusement]

Sam Tuttle The humour in MegaRace is meant to be subtle, drawing on the idea of a future where all everyone does is watch TV every day and robots do everything else. MegaRace 2 went for a more direct approach and didn't get the humour right at all. :P