"And now, VWBT is proud to present the show that squashes reality like a bug. That's right, you better be ready to: MegaRace!"
— The Announcer
A Racing Game / Vehicular Combat series created by Cryo Interactive in 1993.
Taking place in The Future, MegaRace is a series created by Virtual World Broadcast Television.note Designed to inject a little excitement into the monotony of everyday life, MegaRace lets whoever is interested participate in high-speed races against vicious criminal gangs that the rule the roads of the future. The catch is that the races are entirely virtual, so no harm befalls anyone.
The host of MegaRace is the eccentric Lance Boyle, who initially encourages the contestants, but won't hesitate to insult them if they fail.
The entire trilogy is available on GOG.com and Steam.
Tropes throughout the series:
- Acme Products: The in-universe "MegaRace" series is sponsored by a variety of bizarre products and companies, which offer a whole string of useless-to-outright-dangerous functions. Some of these products are offered as "prizes" for winning races.
- Ambiguous Robots: It's implied in the first game that Lance Boyle may not be real, but it's never followed through on. Though his behavior does become more erratic with each game.Lance Boyle: "Hi, I'm Lance Boyle, and people often wonder if I'm real."
- Crapsack World: It's implied that the world is such a depressing place that participating in MegaRace is the only chance that people have at attaining happiness.
- Cyberpunk: The series has an oppressive and dystopic atmosphere and aesthetics that take a lot of inspiration from the cyberpunk genre, especially the The Running Man.
- Cyberspace: Though many of the racetracks are real, physical places with the racers and cars are only being holographic projections, some of the tracks are 100% virtual reality. The prime example being "The Skyholder" bonus track from the first game, a track that twists and turns on itself while suspended in midair in an Alien Sky.
- Futuristic Superhighway: Several tracks from the first game, such as The Orbital Junkyard, a racetrack in the middle of an Asteroid Thicket, and Particle Accelerator, which, as its name implies, takes place in a gigantic particle accelerator. All the tracks MegaRace 3 have a futuristic aesthetic.
- Have a Nice Death: Happens a lot, and Lance actually says this verbatim in the first game.
- Holographic Terminal: None of the racers are driving actual cars, they are only holographically projecting themselves from inside the VWBT studio.
- "Just Joking" Justification: Lance's insults and threats are often followed by him saying "Just kidding!".
- Lampshade Hanging: Lots and lots of it.
- Large Ham: Lance Boyle, especially in the sequels.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: This is Lance Boyle's entire reason for existing.
- Live-Action Cutscene: The host of the in-universe show "MegaRace", Lance Boyle, is played by Christian Erickson, who portrays him in every game. Erickson is set to reprise the role in the upcoming reboot, assuming it ever gets released. Lance has an assistant in MegaRace 2, played by Alice Evans.
- MegaCorp: VWBT is implied to have a lot more power in the world than just being a simple TV studio.
- Mind Rape: While no one actually dies in the virtual world, Lance hints that prolonged exposure to the virtual world can fry your brain.Lance Boyle: I got the statistics right here, only I'm not allowed to tell.
- Minimalist Cast: Lance Boyle is the only major character in all three games, though he does have an assistant in the second game.
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Nintendo Hard: The games get very hard after a while. - Pre-Rendered Graphics: In the first two games, the backdrops of the cutscenes, which feature live actors, and the racetracks themselves are pre-rendered. This is most noticeable if you drive backward on the tracks in MegaRace 2, since the Fixed Camera was obviously not intended for that. The first game is on-rails, so you cannot drive backward in that one. The third game is rendered entirely in real-time, though the cutscenes are still live-action.
- Punny Name: Lance Boyle.
- Serial Escalation: Each game is more violent than the last, and Lance gets increasingly hostile too.Lance Boyle: "You're with MegaRace 2, it's like MegaRace 1, only a lot more brutal!"
- Vehicular Combat: There's more of an emphasis on it in the first game, though it is still present in the sequels.
- Weaponized Car: Several of them, some of them upgradeable.
- A Winner Is You: *Finish final race* *Brief celebration* *Roll credits*
Tropes in specific games:
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MegaRace 1 Tropes
- Alien Geometries: The Skyholder.
- All There in the Manual: The Can apparently takes place in Tokyo, though you wouldn't know that without looking at the level select screen.
- Bonus Stage: The Skyholder. You get two laps, and the track is loaded mainly with bonus point and score penalty spaces. There are a few caveats, though: first of all, you can't slow down, since your brakes have been removed. Second - and Lance doesn't mention this - the enemy cars are now racing towards you. Finally, running into one of them crashes your car and kicks you out of the stage, although the good news is that you move on to the next stage whatever happens during the Skyholder, and you will get a handful of points since you did technically take out the other car.
- The Can, on the other hand, is a penalty stage because it's only offered if you don't win a race, and even then, only if you've had enough of a winning streak and took out enough cars in the race you lost. Lance doesn't call it the "Last-Chance Speedway" for nothing, as a failure here is a Game Over.
- Car Fu: One of the possible ways to defeat the speed-gangs. The most common way, in fact, if you suck at conserving ammo. This isn't an option during the Skyholder track, because you will instantly crash, but at least you play on no matter what happens there.
- Cosmetic Award: Successfully finishing a race nets you a completely meaninglessly prize, though it's all for Rule of Funny.Lance Boyle: "A fully-qualified, dolphin dentist. Open wide, you won't feel a thing! This unique gift is offered by the makers of "Bigger, Plastic Crocodiles": they're plastic and they're like crocodiles, only bigger."
- Covers Always Lie: None of those cars on the cover ever show up in the game.
- Derelict Graveyard: The Orbital Junkyard.
- Game-Breaking Bug: Finishing a race with your weapons disabled causes them to be disabled by default in the next race, and not all tracks have symbols that can restore your weapons.
- While not game-breaking, there's a bug that replaces some of the level introduction videos with earlier ones if you've reloaded at all. The only way to see them all is to play through in one sitting, without dying.
- Guilt-Based Gaming: Lance will belittle and insult the player for quitting, but if you quit after a good winning streak (namely, each environment at least once during a single session) this is averted; then he'll compliment you on your skill and say you've earned a break.
- However, if you quit after crashing in the Skyholder, even though it's a Bonus Stage, you'll still get the same "Look at that loser crawl away to die!" ending that you get for immediately quitting after dying, even if you've otherwise got enough of a winning streak to avoid that or the "The Enforcer can't take the heat, huh?" ending.
- I Don't Like the Sound of That Place: Terminal City.
- Industrial Ghetto: Wasteland is one.
- Interface Screw: One of the symbols on the road causes your screen to waver for a few seconds. Another causes your HUD to go dark.
- Long List: Lance rattles a list of mad scientist projects in alphabetical order.Lance Boyle: "[...]vast armies of giant psycho-mutant aardvarks... beagles, caterpillars, dolphins, enzymes, frogs, girl guides, houseplants, iguanas, jellyfish, koalas, lepidoptera, mushrooms, newts, orangutans, polyps, quarks, rodents, spiders, tuna fish, umbrella birds, vegetarians, wasps, xerophytes, yaks and zygodactyls.
- Made of Explodium/Every Car Is a Pinto: Rival cars explode when you pass them.
- Mercy Mode: The Can, aka The Last-Chance Speedway, an extra speedway that's unlocked after you've successfully finished several races, and then lose a few.
- New Game Plus: Completing the game on the "Novice" difficulty will automatically start the game over on the "Hardened" difficulty, with all the cars unlocked. You can start with the "Hardened" difficulty right away, but the cars won't be unlocked yet.
- Loading a game that's been beaten on "Hardened" lets you select any of the tracks, including the two bonus speedways.
- New Neo City:
- NewSan is this to OldSan.
- The Golden Gate Speedway is a tribute to the original.
- No OSHA Compliance: Factory Land.
- Noodle Incident: It's never said what happened to OldSan.
- Power-Up: Played straight and inverted. The tracks are covered in symbols, which can either help younote or hurt younote .
- Shark Tunnel: The Aquatube, present in all of the Maeva speedways.
- Soiled City on a Hill: Terminal City is said to be one.
- Spectacular Spinning: The Big Zero; a giant, spinning circle.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial: Gee, Lance sure is awfully insistent that nobody dies on this show, isn't he? Of course, Lance suggests that it might not be completely harmless after all:Lance: "Of course, he only got splattered virtually, but even so; how many times can somebody's neurons take that kind of partying? I've got the statistics right here... only I'm not allowed to tell."
- The Theme Park Version:
- Magical Maeva is this to Atlantis.
- The Blue Lagoon Funworld is an actual theme park.
- Unexpected Gameplay Change: While Lance does mention that your brakes have been cut on The Skyholder, he neglects to mention that your opponents are now racing towards you.
- Welcome to Corneria: Lance's dialogue is very limited, so expect him to repeat himself a lot. Same goes for the prizes. It's, of course, lampshaded:Lance Boyle: "Hey, I'd go for one of these myself, if I didn't already have a boxful."
- Womb Level: Belly of the Beast is a racetrack inside a "Fractalian Whale".
MegaRace 2 Tropes
- Accidental Misnaming: Lance calls his assistant a different name every time. During the ending cutscene, she says her name is "Kylie".
- Heal Thyself: After each race, you're taken to a garage to repair and/or upgrade your car.
- Ms. Fanservice: Lance's assistant.
- Second Place Is for Losers: Play very straight in MegaRace 2, where ending up other than the first place won't get you any respect.
- So What Do We Do Now?: Brought up by Lance:Lance Boyle: "[The winner] is crowned King MegaRacer 2, he experiences a sense of achievement and returns in regal triumph to reality, where he will probably never readapt."
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Lampshaded in the intro.Lance Boyle: "You're fired." *Beat* "Just kidding, folks. You'll be seeing Charlene, or somebody surprisingly similar, throughout the show. Believe me, you won't tell the difference. I won't, and I should know."
MegaRace 3 Tropes
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Lance's assistant from MegaRace 2 is nowhere to be seen in this game.
- Flying Car: Replacing the normal, wheeled vehicles in the first two games are shiny, sleek jet-type vehicles.
- Genre Shift: The first two games are pre-rendered and on-rails, this game is rendered in real-time with free movement.
- Oddly Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: The third game was originally released with the subtitle "Nanotech Disaster", which has nothing to do with the game. It was left off of future releases.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: Lance is much more hostile in this game than he is in the previous two games.
"Have a nice death, baby!"
