Desert Demolition run through using Wile E. Coyote. Although it's roughly a minute longer than the Road Runner version, I like this one better. He more fun to play and more fun to watch. He's more animated and has more variety in his controls, making things feel less samey.

This text describes the game in general and things in common with both characters; for Road Runner specific notes, see the other submission.

Desert Demolition was a game I played on a friend's Genesis when I was younger. I thought it was an enjoyable game, but at the time the sound design annoyed me. Where's the music?! I though. There isn't any until your character does something! It wouldn't be until high school when I came to appreciate the sound design, and heck the game as a whole: the idea was to capture the feel of the cartoons, and most everything they did accomplished that goal. As such, it's one of the finest licensed title available for the system.

In this game, you get to pick between using Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner. As the Coyote, you get to utilize various Acme products (which, shockingly, *don't* backfire) that are strewn about the levels in your chase of the Road Runner and your efforts to get to the end. As the Road Runner, you get greater speed, greater resistance to damage recoil, and more straight-forward levels, but you have the Coyote chasing you down and more obstacles in your way. Both play the same sets of levels, with the second of each set altered to adapt to each character.

Levels come in sets of two. Generally, the first one is shorter and straightforward, while the second is more expansive with branching paths and the need to explore things a little bit. It would seem that the second level would be harder to optimize, and usually that's correct, but the hardest level to get right is actually Train 1. I'm sorry, but straightways shouldn't require having your character slow down multiple times. Wile E. has to deal with explosive barrels and falling anvils; both characters have to deal with oil geysers that cancel out your run, forcing you to use another turbo. The geysers seem to be designed so that they erupt whenever your character passes by them. Quite annoying. They can be manipulated, but only slightly so. Any time you see me bump against the tanks or walk without turboing, that's me trying to manipulate them into not going off. Even then, I wasn't successful in all cases. It may be possible to better manipulate them into not going off, which would be especially helpful as the Coyote, who has no way of becoming intangible to them.

You can greatly speed up your character using turbo boosts, represented by red circles with yellow bolts of lightning. Managing these can be very difficult, as you may have three ready, but need to hold off because they could be better used elsewhere.

There is a difficulty switch, but all it does is adjust how much damage your character takes. As such I went with default and ran into only one problem as the Coyote.

Stamps and clocks were avoided whenever practical to keep bonus counts down.

I can tell the programmers had fun making Wile E. Coyote. His animations and reactions match quite closely with his televised self; fall from a cliff and he'll freak out and go splat when he hits the ground (no body shaped holes, though); run into a wall and he'll bounce off while a cymbal crashes for comic emphasis.

Wile E.'s character-specific action is a lunge. This rarely gets used. It's only put to use to better deal with oil geysers and a bomb in the last level.

Wile E. boost is split into two parts: a charge up and everything after. Both go at the same speed, but the charge up boosts you forward a few pixels. You can get this part to act as though you're starting up by jumping, boosting you forward a few pixels each time until it runs out.

Acme tools that get used:

Rocket Skates: Used everywhere. Jumping gives you a speed boost. If I need to drop them I run into a wall.
Foot Springs: Used for less than a second to grab a turbo boost. The only item that can be manually dropped.
Balance Helmet: Required to complete Pueblo 2. Blance needs to be forward for fastest speed; balance is lost to drop them early.
Flying Suit: Used to cross large gaps. Better understanding of how it accelerates could improve its second use for getting to the exit without flying over it. I tried various timings but got around the same time; I wouldn't be surprised it that could be improved.

Wile E. will fall through ledges if he stands on the very edge and ducks. This can be used for climbing down ladders; elsewhere I used it I think may not have been a good idea.

Enjoy!

10/20/2008: Canceled.