Motor Toon Grand Prix

An underrated racing game
On
February 14, 2011
Today, we take our racing games for granted. With the mild execption of playing Crusin' World for N64, I suck at all of the new racing games. The arcade racing games are even worse that I just happeneded to fall into the temptation of those fast-paced redemption and prize games, where you have to stop a time-traveling-speed light just at the right time to get the prize or jackpot.


But this driving game is a game where you don't need a driver's license or decent graphics to have fun.......



And if you said "What is Mario Kart?" you're dead wrong!


The correct answer is.....




Yes, Motor Toon Grand Prix. Allthough in Japan it's the sequel, this is how us Americans got the game. This paved the way for the Grand Turismo series, for you PlayStation racing fans. of the This is basically


I remember lending this game from a realtives' house, and there's a lot to remember about this game.

THE MAIN CARS AND THE DRIVERS

Please keep in mind that, to avoid plagriaism, I decided to form my own opinion about the ones I liked.





Captain Rock- an airplane pilot, who drove the car everyone wants. Probably the stirdiest kind too if you played it nearly all the time. His car's design looked a lot like this....



Captain Rock was the "Mario" of this game, in fact more of a Mario in terms when I played it.



Princess Jean- In the opening cinematic, she was being exposed in the shower (but covered up when she opened the curtian). I remember that and her Taj Mahal-like castle. I found her to be Princess Peach of the game when comparing "Mario Kart" to this game. All I can say of her Model-T like buggy- "Does my car mak me look thin?"




Penguin Bros. and some others


The Pengiun Bros. were some serious bad penguins. They had a Batmoblie looking car, almost like if The Penguin stole Batman's car!
Now the aliens, Raptor and Raptor were hard to manuever with the controls. I mean, a UFO for steering? Wait until they are Dualshock stick compatible before doing that character, and Raptor and Raptor may would have worked!

Bolbox was a robot who drove the toughest car ever!

There was also unlockable characters, but those are more secondary.

Now let's move on to.....

THE ITEMS



Ahh....yes, how would you ever beat a cartoony race without power-ups? They made Mario fans want to race, but what about this race? While they may seem more cartoony, generic and general, they were also not themed like Mario Kart.


Based on my memory- here's the power ups.
Big Bigger Biggest- A big L-candy cane-shaped item that made cars grow. I thought if that could ever be possible for someone's old Jeep Grand Cherokee.

Tiny Tiny Tiny- A candy cane shaped item that did the opposite.

Power Up!- The power up that did abosloutely nothing in my opinion.


Wonder Clock- probably my favorite. A rainbow-spinning clock chime that was on a weird trip that froze the other racers.


Pandora's Box- Similar to wonder clock but it made the others racers lose control of the wheel. And burnin' hot colors.


32-Ton Weight- A big weight that slowed down the other drivers carrying it on their back.

Turbo- You can speed automatically with this power-up. Think of what the Mushroom does in "Mario Kart".

Crazy Mushroom- You shoot it, it spins like a boomerang and POW!

Fireball- Shoot this fireball straight right and the racer in the next place jumps after explosion!


Bomb- I forgot what that does.


Dynamite- Makes the other player more behind but slowly rolls.

Missle- This missle flies to the racer in the next place and if gentle enough- KABOOM!


Jump- A winged boot that makes you jump. However, if don't land right you'll fall down or fall behind!

NOW LETS MOVE TO THE MUSIC! (no pun intended, sorry! and no dacing intended!)


The menu music is a great pop tune that can give you weird messsages, plus it will never leave, as the Nostilaga Crtic said about "Ducktales"! There is sub menu music is good too- epsecially Goodies!
Another good music is the feel-good replay BG music that is a great Stevie Wonder-like arrangement of the main menu tune .


Some of the Levels-

Toon Island II- The easiest level ever. I love all the billboard and the colofulness.


Gulliver House= I never heard of Gulliver's Travels until I watched the Fleischer/Paramount cartoon movie, and with the new Jack Black movie ruining the book even more- it is fun to play in.

AND WE'VE SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST, PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FOR THE REFLECTIONS!


Yes, this classic PS1 game is a great underrated alternitive to "Mario Kart". And it's the beginning of the Grand Turismo series. I played this until I sold the game at a garage sale. My copy was all scratched from the moment I first played it, which was bad for the PS1 I had but it played okay, but it constanly froze when it wanted too, distorting the music score and the cinematics. Thankfully the game is remastered to download for the PS3 via the Playstation Store. I mean, this was a fun game to play. Even with a memory card, the unlockables are hard to get unless you beat the game. Better see if it works for the PS3.
Anyways, it was the easiest to manuever. You got your square controls that made it easy to shift, especially with Captain Rock. Most of my memory of the game is covered in the rest of the article though. The name "Poly's" reminded me of a grocery store that burned down in a nearby town in a fire several years ago, so it gave me feel-good message. Plus I believe it evolved into "Sony Polyphony", which "Polyphony" was a word I likd. I think this would have competed with Mario Kart and gave the Playstation a Wii-like image in terms of demographic, epsecially with the early days of the PS3. I know I'm being a little current, but I'm going deep into my thoughts about my reflections. I wish I had a second controller though.

To tell you the truth, I never had Mario Kart until the Game Boy Advance was in my hands, so I liked this game.


As for the rest of the game...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ioZX3rskJM

(sorry couldn't embed)
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