Desert Demolition starring Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote is a 1995 Sega Genesis game developed by Blue Sky Software and, obviously, starring the Looney Tunes characters Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner.
The game is a platformer homage to the classic Road Runner cartoons directed by Chuck Jones. The game gives you the choice of playing as either Wile E. Coyote or the Road Runner himself, and both have very different playstyles, with Road Runner's putting emphasis on speed and finishing the levels as fast as possible under a tight time limit, while Wile E's playthrough puts more emphasis on using his various ACME gadgets to finish a level and try to catch the Road Runner. The sprites were also traditionally animated rather than being standard pixel art sprites to keep the look of the cartoons down, and the background art and carefully synchronized music matches the style of the films to a tee as well.
Not to be confused with Desert Speedtrap Starring Road Runner & Wile E. Coyote for the Sega Master System and Game Gear in 1994, or Road Runner's Death Valley Rally, developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System by Sunsoft in 1992.
Tropes:
- Acme Products: A given for anything starring these characters. The factory where the products are made serves as the final stage.
- Alliterative Name:
- Desert Demolition.
- The first level is Red Rock Rendezvous.
- The fifth level is Granite Gulch.
- Anvil on Head: There are balloons that carry anvils in the game. Standing under them causes the balloons to pop and the anvils to fall, hitting your character on the head if you're not careful.
- Artificial Stupidity: When playing as the Road Runner, Wile E. is not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree and will gladly buffet himself directly into a wall or a barrel of TNT if you lead him into it.
- Attract Mode: The game has a surprisingly large number of them, seven total, enough that even the manual encourages watching all of them to learn "secret tricks" on how to beat the game.
- Bittersweet Ending: The ending of Wile E Coyote's campaign. He becomes ACME customer of the year and wins a trophy for it from Bugs Bunny and earns applause from the other Looney Tunes—but he ultimately failed to catch the Road Runner as always, and the bird is quick to remind him of it with his trademark "Beep, beep!" and leaves, leaving the Coyote in shock.
- Bonus Stage: Collecting enough Acme stamps in each level except for the ACME Factory gives the player access to various bonus rounds featuring cameos from the other Looney Tunes cast.
- Boss Battle: Depending on who you play as, you either fight Wile E. or the Road Runner as they try to smash you with a giant truck in the final level. Its notably the only boss fight in the game.
- Boss-Only Level: The sixth and final level, set in the ACME Factory, is a small loading dock area where you fight either Wile E. or the Road Runner as they respectively try to attack you in a giant truck.
- Butt-Monkey: True to the cartoons, Wile E. becomes a walking (or sometimes flying) punching bag as he tries and fails to catch the Road Runner. The game is specifically designed to mimic the Amusing Injuries he receives in the cartoons by having him scrunch up if he crashes into a wall or rams headfirst into an explosive barrel.
- The Cameo: Various characters of the Looney Tunes stable make cameos.
- Bugs Bunny and Marvin the Martian appear in the bonus round for "Red Rock Rendezvous".
- Sam Sheepdog pops up in the bonus round for "Buttes and Ladders".
- Yosemite Sam appears in the bonus round for "Choo Choo Terrain".
- Sylvester J. Cat and Tweety Bird appear in the bonus round of "Karl's Bad Caverns".
- Granite Gulch has a bonus round centered on Elmer Fudd hunting Daffy Duck.
- Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety Bird, Sylvester the Cat, Porky Pig, and Elmer Fudd all make cameo appearances as ACME employees in the game's ending.
- Classic Cheat Code: There are two cheat codes in the game.
- Inputting B, A, Right, B, A, Right, A. (BARBARA) at the title screen unlocks Debug mode, giving you access to a level select menu along with a sound test, cruise mode and display coordinates.
- Pausing the game and pressing C, A, Left(twice), Down, A, and Down (CALLDAD) turns on Invincibility.
- Continuity Nod: The ACME Batman outfit from Gee Whiz-z-z-z-z-z-z is used by Wile E. to fly when you play as the Road Runner.
- Critical Existence Failure: When playing as the Road Runner, any contact with Wile E. Coyote will send him reeling off-screen—only to zip back onto it after losing some of his health.
- Death Mountain: Act Two of "Red Rock Rendevous" and Act Two of "Granite Gulch" take place in the mountains.
- Disney Villain Death: When you lose all your lives as Wile E. Coyote, he will fall from a canyon. If you still have continues in your inventory, you can choose whether or not you want to continue the game, but if you don't, a boulder will fall on Wile. E., ending the game and his life.
- Dueling Player Characters: "Grand Finale" pits the character you're playing as against the other, the latter riding an ACME forklift and intending on running you over.
- Eye Pop: Sometimes, if the player falls from a great height as Wile E. Coyote, he will do this before doing his flailing animation.
- Flight: Wile E. can acquire the ACME Bat-Man Suit as one of his five power-ups, which allows him to fly throughout the level.
- Fragile Speedster: The Road Runner runs very fast but his health far goes down fast if you're not careful.
- Homage: The game is one giant love letter to the old Road Runner cartoons, and emulates them so closely that it basically is a Road Runner cartoon, albeit one you can play.
- Human Cannonball: Wile E. and the Road Runner can use the various cannons to launch themselves throughout the levels.
- Impact Silhouette: In the Road Runner's ending, he's made president of ACME, leading Wile E. to panic and crash through the glass window behind him, leaving his silhouette in the window.
- Invincible Hero: When playing as Wile E, you can't actually catch the Road Runner. If you manage to bump into him, he'll just take off in a puff of smoke. At least he also drops some ACME tickets as a consolation prize.
- Irony: The ACME Factory is the only stage to not have any ACME boxes.
- Locomotive Level: Act One of "Choo Choo Terrain" is set on a train travelling through the desert.
- Logo Joke: When you start up the game, the Road Runner runs up to the Sega logo, then jumps when Wile E. catches up to him, causing Wile E. to scatter the letters.
- Mickey Mousing: The game emulates Carl Stalling's style of music for the cartoons by having the games music being a series of pizzicatos that accentuate each action the characters do, even if its something as mundane as taking a step.
- Minecart Madness: "Karl's Bad Caverns" is set in a mine and has rideable minecarts and elevators as setpieces.
- Mythology Gag: The bonus round for "Granite Gulch", where Elmer Fudd hunts Daffy Duck, is a nod to the Chuck Jones' classic "Duck Season, Rabbit Season" trilogy.
- No Plot? No Problem!: Like the cartoons themselves, the plot boils down to Wile E. Coyote trying and failing to catch the Road Runner and is just a setup for all the cartoon antics that follow. Even the game's manual doesn't even attempt to provide a story for the game.
- Parasol Parachute: One of Wile E's five ACME items is a tiny umbrella used to gently float down.
- Playable Menu: After you select your character on the title screen, the options menu has you play as that character and customize the options by having them pull switches.
- Plunger Detonator: Wile E. can use these to briefly lift up boulders blocking entrances. He has to crawl under the boulder quickly, or be flattened.
- Power-Up Food: When playing as the Road Runner, piles of birdseed can be found laying around the levels, and pressing down while he's near them will have the Road Runner eat them and refill his health.
- Pun-Based Title: A couple of the levels have this.
- "Buttes and Ladders" is a play on the classic board game "Chutes and Ladders".
- "Choo Choo Terrain" is an obvious play on "Choo Choo Train", since the level is set on a train travelling through a desert.
- Road Runner vs. Coyote: This game features the Trope Namer pair. You can either play as the former and be antagonized by the latter, or play as the latter and try to catch the former.
- Rollerblade Good: Among Wile E's power-ups is the ACME Rocket Skates, which make him go really fast. They're basically the games equivalent of Sonic's Speed-Up Shoes.
- Seesaw Catapult: In "Karl's Bad Caverns", there are seesaws that have boulders on one end. Wile E. can jump onto the other end to launch the boulder into the air, and when it comes back down, it will launch Wile E. into the air.
- Shifting Sand Land: Act One of "Red Rock Rondevous" and Act One of "Granite Gulch" take place in the sandy parts of the desert.
- Shout-Out: Being another Sega Genesis game with a super fast, blue-colored cartoon character, the developers just couldn't resist making a couple nods to Sonic the Hedgehog by throwing in giant loop-de-loops, springs and even a speed booster as setpieces for the Road Runner to use. The second level in particular feels like it was ripped straight out of a Sonic game.
- Space Zone: The end of Wile E. Coyote's bonus round at the end of "Red Rock Rondevous" has him riding rockets through space, and when he reaches the very end, Marvin the Martian can be seen shooting at Bugs Bunny and fortunately for him it isn't the Game Over screen so it doesn't end with him turning into a constellation like most of the cartoons where he reached space.
- Spring Jump: Wile E. can pull this off by using the ACME Bed Springs.
- Stock Sound Effect: Paul Julian's classic "MEEP MEEP!" sound for the Road Runner is reused for this game.
- Super-Speed: The Road Runner runs very fast and can effortlessly scale loops and walls with slopes on them. His vertical (jumping) speed is somewhat lacking though. Wile E. runs quite fast himself, and can go even faster if he uses the ACME Rocket Skates.
- That's All, Folks!: In true Looney Tunes fashion, this is what you get when you either get a Game Over or beat the game.
- Timed Mission: You have a limited amount of time to reach the goal. Collecting clock power-ups gives you more time.
- Tricked-Out Shoes: Wile E. has two different types of these; Rocket Skates allow him to go faster, and Springy Shoes allow him to do a Spring Jump.
- Underground Level: "Karl's Bad Caverns" takes place in a mine, which includes rideable mine carts and elevators as setpieces.
- The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: "Grand Finale" is set in the ACME Factory, and whichever character you're playing as has to fight the other character, who is driving an ACME forklift.
- Villain Protagonist: This game gives you the option of playing as Wile E. Coyote and using the various ACME gadgets to catch the Road Runner.
- Weaponized Jackhammer: Among Wile E's arsenal is an ACME Jack-Hammer, which can be used to break through rocks and dig holes.
- Wheel o' Feet: The Road Runner's legs turn into these when he's running.
- The Wild West: "Buttes and Ladders" takes place in a Western town.
