Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament

Overview

Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament is a racing game developed by Supersonic Software (DOS releases) and Codemasters (Game Boy, Game Gear, Genesis, and SNES releases). The game was published by Codemasters (Genesis, PC, and Game Gear releases) and Ocean Software (SNES and Game Boy releases).

Gameplay

Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament added a variety of things to the Micro Machines series. It was the first Micro Machines game in which cars handles differently on each course and the first title in which helicopters and hovercraft featured. The idea behind this was to add variety to the gameplay but the differences in handling where minimal except for the case of the hovercraft which was very tricky to handle.

Vehicles

J-Cart

The main addition Micro Machines 2 brought to the table, and the reason the game carried the Turbo Tournament tag was the J-Cart. The J-Cart was a modified game cartridge that as well as storing the game also housed 2 controller ports. This enabled the Genesis version of the game to now accept four controllers instead of the usual two. As Micro Machines 2 races featured 4 racers at a time the makers then decided that for some reason four players would still not be enough. They added the ability for 2 players to play with the same pad, with one player taking the D-Pad to steer and the other using the face buttons accelerate/brake their car. In Practice this was always a very amusing way to play as you had to be certain that your fellow player would screw up at the death.