Micro Machines (video games)

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Micro Machines on the Nintendo Game Boy

Micro Machines is a series of computer and video games featuring toy cars, developed by Codemasters. They are published on several formats over the years (including Amiga, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy and PS2).

Micro Machine games are departures from normal computer racing games; instead of powerful Formula 1 cars, you race toy cars around home-made courses, such as Dad's desktop or Mom's kitchen, each with its own obstacles.

1 Micro Machines
2 Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament
3 Micro Machines Turbo Tournament '96
4 Micro Machines Military
5 Micro Machines V3
6 Micro Machines 64 Turbo
7 Micro Machines
8 Micro Machines V4

[edit] Micro Machines

Release year: 1991

Released in 1991 on the NES and 1993 on other formats, the first game in the series laid the foundation of the gameplay: a top-down racing game with miniature vehicles. The race tracks are unconventionally themed. For example, some races might take place on a billiard table while others occur in a garden. The cartridge itself was gold with a switch at the bottom in order to be compatible with the American and European hardware. ^[1] It was also released as an add-on to the Aladdin Deck Enhancer created by Codemasters. ^[2]

[edit] Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament

Micro Machines 2 as a J-Cart

Release year: 1994

Not only do you have cars that require different handling techniques for each course, but in Micro Machines 2 you even get to steer a hovercraft or a helicopter. There are also different playing modes which include innovative "head-to-head", in which you get points when you're so fast you drive out of the screen while your opponent is still in the back part of the screen.

A point of sale for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis versions was that there was no need to buy a 4-player adaptor as Codemasters' J-Cart included two control ports into the cartridge itself. It also featured a 'pad-sharing' feature which allowed 2 players to play using the one joypad. Thus it enabled 8 players to compete at the same time.

[edit] Micro Machines Turbo Tournament '96

Release year: 1995 (Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis)

Only released for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis, this was an updated version of Micro Machines 2 that featured new tracks combined with some updated tracks from Micro Machines 2. It also included a track construction kit previously included with the PC version of Micro Machines 2.

[edit] Micro Machines Military

Release year: 1996 (Sega Mega Drive)

Only released in Europe and Australia for the Mega Drive, Micro Machine Military features all new tracks and pretty much every vehicle fires shots, making this game stand out slightly from its predeccesors. This game is intended to run on a PAL console and although playable, will run faster than intended if played on an NTSC system.

[edit] Micro Machines V3

Release year: 1997, 1998 (PlayStation, Microsoft Windows)

Featured 3D-graphics and 8-player multiplayer matches. This was also released in 1998 for the Playstation.

[edit] Micro Machines 64 Turbo

Release year: 1999 (Nintendo64)

Quite similar to Micro Machines V3 for the Playstation, the Nintendo 64 version features numerous vehicles, tracks, and weapons. It also had the "pad share" gameplay mode from its predecessors.

[edit] Micro Machines

Release year: 2002 (PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube)

Featured advanced graphics as well as characters having their own special vehicle. Though it stuck as much as it could to the original formula, something was said to have been 'lost in the translation'^[1].