Road Runner's Death Valley Rally

File:Road Runner's Death Valley Rally Coverart.png

256px

Road Runner's Death Valley Rally is a video game released for the Super NES. It is based on the Looney Tunes characters Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. It's also for Game Boy, PC, Nintendo 64, NES, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance.

Gameplay

Many attribute the gameplay in this game to the Sonic the Hedgehod games, due to its intense speed and gravity defying properties (such as running up walls).

Premise

The player controls Road Runner, who is to be guided across a series of levels to cross the finish mark, while avoiding Coyote and his contraptions. Coyote has a unique method of ambush for every level, ranging from the Acme BatMan outfit to explosives, and for every level there is a cut-scene of the contraption failing once the player crosses the finish mark. After completing the three main levels in an episode, the Road Runner has to battle Coyote, who is armed with a more advanced contraption.

Controls

Road Runner has a series of control movements useful to beating the game. As per usual in platform games, Road Runner can jump and run (with the B button and control pad, respectively). The first essential move is boosting (with the Y button), where Road Runner can run much faster as so he can easily scale walls or hills without needing to build up momentum. The boost also acts as an invincibility, being able to destroy enemies and resist damage from Coyote. However, this boost quickly depletes the Energy Meter (if empty, the player could no longer use boosts). The next essential move is the A button, which causes Road Runner to continuously peck, whereas he can eat Bird Seed to refill his energy, or simply attack. Although they serve no gameplay use, the L button makes Road Runner say "beep-beep!", and the R button makes him stick out his tongue. Holding Up and the L button simultaneously makes him jump and say "beep-beep!".

Items

The game offers the player several items to aid in the game.

• 1-Up - Appearing as a bouncing Road Runner head, awards the player an extra life.
• 500-Point icon - Awards the player 500 points upon collection.
• Bird Seed - Used to replenish the Energy meter.
• Clock - Stops time and freezes all enemies in their tracks.
• Flag - Touching a flag awards points and adds to the Flag Bonus at the end of a level; collecting enough flags throughout the game will earn the player a continue. Flags are also used as checkpoints: if the player were to lose a life at any point in the level, he could resume at the last flag he touched. The flags come in four colors: yellow, green, red, and purple.
• Heart - Restores the Road Runner's health.
• Shield - Makes Road Runner invulnerable to damage for a short period of time.

Scoring

Destroying enemies and touching 500-Point icons is the easiest way to earn points, but the most efficient is touching flags that are peppered in various areas throughout the level. Some flags are in plain sight, others are out of reach and require skill to run and jump to them. At the end of a level, the player earns three bonuses: Flag Bonus (counts every flag touched), Time Bonus (time left on the Timer), and Energy Bonus (how much energy remaining in the Energy Meter). In addition, the player is awarded an extra life for every 50,000 points collected and a Continue for every 100,000 points.

Boss Levels

All the boss levels begin with Coyote holding up a blueprint of his new mechanism to the screen, displaying how it works, and hints to its weakpoints (labeled with big exclamation marks). It is then the job of the player to disarm and destroy the contraption. After the machine is destroyed, Coyote is pummeled by its destruction and then an Opera Singer walks in, clears her throat and begins to sing. However, Coyote holds up a sign reading "Not Yet". He is then finished off by more destruction. Road Runner then moves onto the next episode.

Episodes

The game offers five "episodes" (or worlds), each containing three levels and a boss level, where Coyote is in control of a larger mechanism (described here).

• "Zippity Splat" - Takes place in the desert seen in the cartoons. Coyote uses a catapult to launch boulders.
• "Rock n' Rivet" - Set on the construction site of Acme Industries. Coyote uses a wrecking ball to crush Road Runner.
• "Train Runnery" - The majority of this episode is set on a fast-moving circus train. Coyote operates a steam train that shoots bombs onto the Road Runner's train.
• "Hopalong Casualty" - Set in a cave loaded with explosives. Coyote is in control of a drill rig.
• "Quantum Beep" - Set on the moon. Coyote controls a giant robotic replica of his head, armed with missiles.

Ending

Upon destroying his giant robot, Coyote evacuates himself from the exploding mechanism, and Road Runner sneaks up behind and goes "Beep-Beep!" This startles the Coyote and he falls off the edge. He falls towards the earth, and then holds up a sign reading "How about ending this game before I hit?" (an homage to the episode Gee Whiz-z-z) Coyote falls and becomes embedded into the ground right before the Finish Line. An Acme truck drives by and bumps over a rock, thus dropping all its explosives onto Coyote. Road Runner runs by, stares at Coyote for a moment, shouts "Beep-Beep!" and zooms across the Finish Line. Coyote looks up, takes an umbrella, and the Opera singer falls and crushes him, singing. Coyote extends an arm, holding a white flag. After the credits roll, the game ends with "That's all, folks!"