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Qleft The strategy lies in choosing the right car for the job. Do you want light, nimble and fast or heavy and lumbering but with the power to destroy in a single blow?
- Omar Waly, Introducing the game
Qright

Maniac Racers was a java powered web game which laid the foundation for the now-famous Need For Madness. It was also treated as a Need For Madness Series entry due to the similarity to the present games.

Maniac Racers tribute poster


Development and Overview[]

Before the production of Need For Madness, a game called Maniac Racers was made by Radical Play. The cars were very similar to the Need For Madness Cars such as an EL KING looking-car called "Bad Boy". The game was a 2-D game, unlike the Need For Madness games. The controls are similar to Need For Madness, but the space bar is not used as there were no ramps, but the player can choose to waste cars or race through all the checkpoints just like in Need For Madness. Many cars from Maniac Racers also resemble the present cars, such as Jet Racer resembling Radical One, and Bull Dog bearing resemblance to Wow Caninaro. Originally, the game was to be the beta version of Need For Madness, but was not achieved due to a lack of similarities in controls and gameplay.

Gameplay[]

The objective of the game is to finish all 8 stages of Maniac Racers. each with varying difficulty. The player either has a choice to waste every car, or to race through all the laps. Each stage must be adapted for the right strategy. Upon finishing, the player is given a congratulations message. Each stage takes up approximately 3-5 minutes. Each map is set on different places, such as a neighborhood, a park, and more. The blue arrow shows the next checkpoint, while the yellow arrow show the closest car (exactly the opposite than how is in Need For Madness).

The gameplay is extremely simple, and has controls that can be compared to a those of a Flash Game. The Arrows Keys control movement, and is also the only controls required for the game.

The Cars[]

There are 6 cars available in the game, from front left to back right:

Deletion and legacy[]

Maniac Racers was deleted and replaced by Need for Madness by Radical Play, due to being overshadowed by the new game Need For Madness. However, the game still can be played on other game websites.

Maniac Racers is still widely known as the "start-off" of the Need For Madness series, and players often request Omar Waly to allow the game to be played (on the official website) once again. Omar however has not considered the possibility, despite games such as The Flowering Nose are still there, and are older than Manic Racers.


Soundtrack[]

Originaly, the game contained a three part musical soundtrack for all three levels to bring more immerse gameplay, however on external links for the game, the music is not on the game but the download for the game contains the soundtrack for all three levels. They are all marked as the title IronMaiden and have a upbeat retro feeling. The file types are MIDI, because they were created by keyboard. The songs are covers of Wrathchild, 2 Minutes to Midnight, and Caught Somewhere in Time, all originally written by Iron Maiden.

  • IronMaiden1

  • IronMaiden2

  • IronMaiden3

Sound effects[]

In classic Radical Play titles, the sound effects were very compressed in comparison to the more clear audio files featured in the Need For Madness series. The game files are also used in au. format instead of the currently used .wav format that's used in every Need For Madness game.

  • Glass Breaking

  • Front car hit

  • Car horn

  • Glass shattering

  • Car tires turning

  • Smashing into cars

  • Hitting buildings

  • Button click

  • Hard turn

  • Destroyed

  • Small hit

External Links[]

Maniac Racers has been retired from the official Radical Play website due to it's successor Need For Madness, however it is still available to the public on other websites that have the embed code like woodlands. Try it here.


Website versions may no longer work due to current Java security features blocking web players. if you want to play the game offline, you must install Java 7 and have a compatible browser (Internet Explorer, Pale Moon, etc)

Go back in time and get the download



Gallery[]

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