Micro Machines (Megadrive) Challenge Mode Playthrough

After mentioning it yesterday in the Rage Racer playthrough (    • Rage Racer Playthrough (Class 1-5)   ), I finally decided I should give this a playthrough. I did actually record this very early on into this Youtube channel - I want to say 2012-2013, but editing in Camtasia proved a nightmare. This was definitely the first racing game I played, and I do have memories of playing this in multiplayer too. I owned this and my friend owned the PAL Exclusive Turbo Tournament '96 edition of Micro Machines 2 which had 2 controller ports extra on the cart. It also had a track editor mode with passwords so you could load your friends designs. Pretty nifty. Though I don't remember the Challenge mode being nearly as fun as this. I also remember this having blue backgrounds in the intermission screens instead of black. Maybe that was a PAL thing, because this is an NTSC playthrough. I don't think you need to win any races until the final one to actually complete the game - just finish second, although I may be wrong. The general strategy to not cause yourself too much pain is to pick the better rivals early on whilst the races are easier. The slightly better AI in later tracks could be that slight edge you don't want the AI to have. I'd find it hard to rank the vehicles, but I would definitely rank the Sports Car lowest for it being the joint fastest but also the most annoying obstacle filled theme tracks with the worst handling. Tanks would probably be my favourite for the chaos of blowing each up (and the third example has a loop of chaos on the first lap). The boats in the bath tub is also a cool concept, but it probably needed some more scenery or another hazard type to make it out. The Warriors in the garage probably has the opposite problem, a bit too cramped. The Formula 1 type cars work better on their stages as fast cars, much better than Sports Cars. The Helicopters have the neat feature of the edges acting as firm borders. The others are fairly unremarkable, although the Breakfast levels probably stand out more for variety than the Sand Dunes ones. There's also some exploits you can do by going off track, there are shortcuts you can take, but for the most part I tried to avoid them. I imagine there could be potentially fairly large ones if you bothered to look for them, but the only ones I know of save a couple of seconds at most. I'll give Timestamps for EVERY race - including the Rufftrux Time Trials. 0:00 - Character Select 0:20 - Qualifying Race 1:15 - Race 1: The Breakfast Bends (4x4) 2:35 - Race 2: Desktop Dropoff (Sports Cars) 4:30 - Race 3: Oilcan Alley (Warriors) 6:30 - RuffTrux Time Trial 1 7:25 - Race 4: Sandy Straight (Turbo Wheels) 9:10 - Race 5: Oatmeal In Over Drive (4x4) 11:25 - Race 6: The Cue Ball Circuit (Formula One) 14:30 - RuffTrux Time Trial 2 15:25 - Race 7: Handymans Curve (Warriors) 18:05 - Race 8: Bermuda Bathtub (Powerboats) 19:45 - Race 9: Sahara Sandpit (Turbo Wheels) 22:00 - RuffTrux Time Trial 3 23:15 - Race 10: The Potted Passage (Choppers) 24:40 - Race 11: Fruit Juice Follies (4x4) 27:50 - Race 12: Foamy Fjords (Powerboats) 29:50 - Race 13: Bedroom Batlfield (Tanks) 31:40 - Race 14: Pitfall Pockets (Formula One) 34:20 - Race 15: Pencil Plateaux (Sports Cars) 38:05 - Race 16: The Dare Devil Dunes (Turbo Wheels) 40:20 - Race 17: The Shrubbery Twist (Choppers) 43:00 - Race 18: The Perilous Pit Stop (Warriors) 45:35 - Race 19: Wide Awake War Zone (Tanks) 48:20 - Race 20: Crayon Canyons (Sports Cars) 51:45 - Race 21: Soap Lake City (Powerboats) 53:55 - Race 22: The Leafy Bends (Choppers) 56:10 - Race 23: Chalk Dust Chicane (Formula One) 59:35 - Race 24: Go For It! (Tanks) 1:03:20 - "Win This Race To Be Champion" (Sports Cars) 1:07:15 - "Ending"