
NASCAR Rumble is a 2000 mascot racer for the PlayStation, published by EA Sports and developed by EA Redwood Shores, starring the then-current drivers from the Winston Cup and Craftsman Truck series. Unlike the real-life series, races mostly take place outside of typical stock car tracks and instead occur on the road across various locales. Also unlike most mascot racers, the cars are not super-deformed nor are "kart"-like vehicles.
In 2001, the game got a sequel on the PlayStation 2 called Rumble Racing, which lacks the NASCAR cars and instead has original vehicles.
The game features the following tropes:
- Absurdly Short Level: One of the three bonus tracks, Circus Minimus, is an extremely small circle track. How small? A single lap of it can be finished in less than twelve seconds.
- Always Night: The Metropolis locale, as well as the Swamp Romp track.
- Announcer Chatter: The game has a particularly goofy announcer, voiced by Jess Harnell. And yes, you can turn the announcer off.
- Anti-Frustration Features: The player can reset their vehicle into the center of the track in case they get stuck and/or get spun around backwards.
- Attract Mode: Happens if the player idles in the main menu for several seconds.
- Bait-and-Switch: The intro shows a few cars racing in a generic NASCAR track... only for one of them to break through the wall onto an adjacent road, with another one following after it.
- The Big Easy: The races in the Mardi Gras locale (Rajin Cajun, Big Easy, and Swamp Romp) are contested in New Orleans. Rajin Cajun and Swamp Romp have sections in the French Quarter, and the latter has a section through an above-ground cemetery.
- Blow You Away: The Twister power-up launches a tornado that sends any unfortunate opponents in its way airborne while spinning.
- Car Fu: It's possible to tailspin opponents by steering into their rear bumper. And then there's the Big Rumble power-up, which makes any opponent who touches a racer's front get violently knocked away, complete with a bowling pin sound effect.
- Cave Behind the Falls: Silver Falls has one as a shortcut near the end of the track.
- Collision Damage: Running into an opponent at a high enough speed will send them flying. There's also the Big Rumble power-up, which does the same thing except that its user just has to tap opponents with the front-half of their vehicle.
- The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Averted; CPU racers can't rubber-band, and they can only use power-ups by collecting them on the track.
- The Computer Shall Taunt You: The announcer has an array of phrases for when the player is in last place; one of them is "Admit it, you suck!"
- Cool Car: Some of the unlockable cars, like the Road Captain, a slick sports car, and the Hot Rod, a, well, hot rod with a flame paintjob. Also, most cars become this with their Pro and Elite upgrades where they get bigger engines and bulkier bodies.
- Cumulonemesis: The Storm power-up, which blocks an opponent's view and forces them to steer wildly.
- Dash Attack: Racers can send opponents flying by hitting them with enough force, which is made easier with the Nitro power-up.
- Deadpan Snarker: The announcer can get particularly scathing when the player is doing poorly in the race.Announcer: Don't worry, we'll get there in time to congratulate the winner.
- Defeat Means Playable: Beating a Legend (getting first place) in a Legend Championship unlocks their car.
- Denser and Wackier: Compared to most NASCAR games, which are almost all racing sim games that aim to be as faithful to the real-life motorsport as possible. Rumble, meanwhile, is a Mascot Racer with power-ups and a physics engine that enables vehicles to bounce around like pinballs.
- Die, Chair, Die!: Some tracks have objects that can be smashed through, like pylons, boxes, and glass windows.
- Drives Like Crazy: It's very common for drivers to bump and smash into each other during races.
- Driving Game: A Mascot Racer specifically.
- Establishing Series Moment: The intro has the NASCAR stock cars break free of the speedway and start racing cross country.
- Fade to Black: A quick one happens whenever the player advances through the main menu.
- Fake Longevity: Unfortunately, this game is full of it. Firstly, there's the three different Standard Championship classes, which go Rookie, Pro, and then Elite, with each class consisting of 6 standard Cups that have 3 races each. This by itself is fine for a racing game, but Rumble adds more Cups and even Championships on top of that that make the player race on the same tracks several times, including:
- Wild Card Cup, a set of 3 races with randomized tracks from the 6 locales
- EA Cup, a set of 6 races consisting of every locale's first (Rookie), second (Pro), or third (Elite) track
- Cyber Team Championship, where the player teams up with an AI or human racer (while it counts towards game progression just like Standard, it still has its own set of Cups)
- Legend Championship, which is the same as Standard except one of the opponents is a NASCAR legend, and the player wins their car if they beat them
- Foe-Tossing Charge: The Twister power-up does this to anyone in its path.
- Ghost Town: High Noon takes place in one. It may be haunted, considering that piano music can be heard as you drive through the final section of the track.
- Guide Dang It!: Non-Legend vehicles are unlocked by finding a golden wrench hidden in certain tracks in Championship mode. The problem is that the game never even hints that these wrenches exist, let alone that they unlock new vehicles. The problem is compounded by the wrenches being hidden well enough that players can only find them by actively or accidentally going off-course.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Drivers can run into their own Bad Gas or Oil Slick that they drop on the track.
- Homing Projectile: The Freeze and Storm power-ups travel around the track until they latch onto an opponent.
- Interface Screw: Storm forms a storm cloud above an opponent's vehicle, which covers a good chunk of the screen and messes with the steering of its target. Subverted in that the storm cloud doesn't appear on the bumper cam.
- Invincibility Power-Up: The aptly-named Invincible makes offensive power-ups go harmlessly through its user.
- Invisible Wall: Outdoor sections of tracks will have these to prevent racers from being tossed out-of-bounds.
- Joke Character: The chicken truck fling feathers whenever it collides with something, the golf cart which gets knocked around by anything because its so tiny and the jet car which is the fastest car in the game but is incapable of turning.
- Level-Map Display: There's one in the bottom left of the screen that shows the start/finish line and each racer, represented by a uniquely colored square. In Cyber Team mode, there's only three colors (red, yellow, and green) that represent each team of two.
- Luck-Based Mission: Having power-ups set to Mayhem can turn races into this due to the shear amount of offensive power-ups being thrown around.
- Made of Iron: Nothing damages the vehicles no matter how hard they crash into something/each other.
- Marathon Level: The EA Cup, which consists of six tracks as opposed to the usual three for cups. Considering that tracks usually take 4-6 minutes to finish each, this means that the cup will take around half an hour to complete.
- Mercy Invincibility: Racers get this for a few seconds after respawning, preventing other racers or offensive power-ups from hitting them.
- Metropolis Level: The aptly-named Metropolis locale, which consists of races on urban highways at night.
- Mighty Glacier: The Tow Truck, which is great at shoving opponents out of its way.
- Nitro Boost: The Nitro power-up, which boosts its user up to ~20 mph above their normal top speed for ~7 seconds.
- No One Could Survive That!: A racer got flung against a wall violently by a Twister? No worries, they'll just keep chugging along.
- No Plot? No Problem!: Just race, race, and race some more.
- No-Sell: Of course, the Invincible power-up negates offensive power-ups from harming its user for a few seconds.
- Oddball in the Series: This arcade racing game is the oddball among EA Sports games. It was released before the EA Sports BIG label was created.
- Oil Slick: For some reason, oil slick in this game is represented as a black cone. Regardless, any racer who runs into it will have their traction significantly decreased.
- One Curse Limit: Nope; Racers can suffer the effects of Bad Gas, Oil Slick, Storm, and Freeze at the same time.
- One Stat to Rule Them All: Considering how surprisingly slippery the steering is, handling is important for being able to turn without sliding into walls. This makes the Sprint Car shine in particular.
- Palmtree Panic: The Beach Blast locale consists of three tropical-themed tracks that have the player race on and alongside beaches.
- Personal Raincloud: The Storm places one over your car, which blocks your vision (unless Bumper camera is enabled) and makes you skid uncontrollably.
- Poison Mushroom: The Joker power-up is an interesting variant; It's the only power-up with a time limit on when it can be used, and using it either activates a good power-up or inflicts the player with a bad one.
- Power-Up: Rumble has 11 of them, with most of them being offensive like the Shockwave and Big Rumble.
- Product Displacement: There are no manufacturer logos on the cars, but they're strangely visible in the intro.
- Product Placement: A given being an EA game on top of the Winston and Craftsman vehicles having sponsors plastered on them. There are billboards for Future Cop: L.A.P.D., Sled Storm, and March Madness 2000 scattered throughout most of the tracks. A billboard for Tomorrow Never Dies can also been seen in one of Night Flight's loading screens.
- Pun-Based Title: Several tracks have puns for names: Golden Rule, which contains an abandoned mine shortcut; Ship Shape, located in a shipyard; Fowl Play, which has a shortcut through a chicken hut that contains the golden wrench that unlocks the Chicken Truck; Dog Tired, which has a shortcut through a dog track; and Circus Minimus, the shortest track in the game.
- Punched Across the Room: Happens if a vehicle gets rammed hard enough or is hit by the Big Rumble power-up.
- Racing Game: Obviously, since this is a NASCAR game.
- Ramp Jump: Present in almost every track, with some letting racers get a lot of airtime.
- Recycled Soundtrack: The music for the bonus tracks is an extended version of the opening theme to Tiger Woods PGA Tour 2000.
- Replay Mode: After a race is finished, the player can choose to watch a replay of it, complete with unique camera angles.
- Rubber-Band A.I.: Surprisingly averted for a mascot racer, meaning that a skilled enough player can beat even Elite opponents in a race with no power-ups. This can even be confirmed by just watching the time differential of opponents behind the player.
- Rule of Three:
- There are three speed classes: Rookie, Pro, and Elite. Rookie cars are standard NASCAR stock cars, which get bigger engines and rocket boosters with each successive upgrade.
- Each locale has three unique tracks, which make up each Cup. There's also three unlockable locales.
- Shifting Sand Land: The Bad Lands locale features three desert-based tracks.
- Shout-Out:
- When you drop an Oil Slick, the announcer may say "black gold, Texas tea".
- If the Credits Gag is to be believed, the Road Captain car is named after Sky Captain from Future Cop: L.A.P.D. Both games shared the same developer.
- Souvenir Land: Hog Hollow has the titular pig-themed amusement park, which has an animatronic pig band. The normal route is through its parking lot, but a shortcut goes through the park itself.
- Super Drowning Skills: Falling into water forces racers to respawn, which is obviously justified by the fact that they're driving automobiles.
- Time Trial: The Time Trial mode lets the player drive any of their unlocked vehicles on any unlocked track and try to set 4-lap records.
- Unlockable Content: Plenty, including 16 unlockable vehicles (10 special and 6 Legends), 3 locales (with 3 tracks each), and 2 difficulty modes and classes.
- Wacky Racing: Thanks to the arcade-like physics and power-ups.
- Weaponized Car: Vehicles become this through the game's offensive power-ups.
