Road Runner

released on Jul 01, 1986

The player takes on the role of the Road Runner - from the much-loved Warner Bros. cartoon series - and must outrun and outsmart the villainous Wile E. Coyote, in this abstract sideways-scrolling racing game from Atari. A variety of traps and pitfalls await the Road runner (such as a cannon, land mines, cliff-top drop etc.) which must be carefully avoided. It is possible, however, to lure Wile E. Coyote into these traps to put some valuable distance between the Road Runner and his pursuer. Road Runner must also eat the piles of seed that appear at various points throughout the stages, as missing five bird seeds will cause Road Runner to faint and result in the player losing a life. Road Runner's colourful, beautifully-drawn graphics capture the spirit and humour of the legendary cartoons perfectly. The music and sound effects are also faithful to the cartoon series.


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A great recreation of the cartoon in many respects. While using classical music in old games was a lazy way of putting together a soundtrack, it feels more deliberate here. The visuals also evoke the comics very well, and the gameplay works for the most part. I do think the straighter chase sequences are a bit clumsy, and could have benefited of being more of a "race" with obstacles, but all in all it's a solid effort.

Road Runner (1985): Qué malo es. En ningún momento queda claro cuándo te vas a cansar, si te pasas de bueno el juego te hace perder, y la repetición es su mecánica principal. Como cosas positivas, se ve muy bonito para la época y es original. Fueron años duros (4,35)

Incredibly miserable arcade game based on the Looney Tunes character where you're forced to collect every last piece of bird seed left on the road (and I do mean every last one of them) while Wile E Coyote chases after you.

Not only are the controls super stiff but it feels so one sided as Wile E will almost always catch you.

I bet we've all wanted to be like the Road Runner one day but if it's as super annoying as this, maybe I'll pass thanks.

Tengen, known for outstepping Nintendo's publishing rules back in the 80s are mostly known for their version of Tetris, which is just as beloved as the original NES version. However they did make other games, such as this here, Road Runner. Based on the looney tunes series of shorts about the characters Wiley Coyote and Road Runner this strange game plays... uh. I don't know how to put this...

Its garbage, its such a bad game. The goal for the player is to outrun wily coyote but you have to also maintain seed so road runner doesn't just stop dead in his tracks and stare at you. also you have to avoid obstacles and, uh the game punishes you for doing well by having the coyote go on an unstoppable roller skate ride towards the road runner. The controls are rather stiff which isn't an issue until you reach stage two.
I swear the opening to stage two should read "Abandon all Hope all Ye who enter here"
This labyrinth is a hell full of unfair deaths as the stiff controls combined with the rocket riding wily coyote seeming to track your every thought through the screen makes this game more of a frustration than a challenge. This is where the road ends for me and this game.
Like conceptually its nice and I think it could be made well, even on the NES with all the technical limitations, but this just isn't it. Like, why are they forcing the player right to left, why not left to right like a normal game?
The presentation is awful with strange choices for colors and extremely hard on the eyes backgrounds. Also the music while just popular classical compositions is extremely grating on the ears to have to sit through, id, rather it play that cursed "among us drip 8 bit mix" I made to be painful on purpose instead of this game's Soundtrack.
I thought since Tengen were known for halfway decent unlicensed Nintendo games I thought this one could be an underappreciated gem, but in reality it was just a frustrating and ugly mess of a game. At least the label kinda looks neat.