Lego Racers (PC)

[vmln8r]

Portal 2 looks nice and all, but for simplistic, childish fun this can't be beaten. It's quite fun to beat the bosses into a pulp and then power your way to victory, as I have done here (termed boss-bullying in our household).

More examples of my boss-bullying here.

More about the game here.

[dr_spock]

My kids enjoyed playing it when they were younger. I liked using the portal. Was it green bricks?

[Aanchir]

I had the Nintendo 64 version, not the PC version. I enjoyed it a great deal, but haven't played it in a long, long time.

[The Yellow Brick]

I have Lego Racers 2, never played the first version before.

[gogocar]

I have played this game a thousand times and never got bored. However, Lego racers 2 aren't that good.

It's much more difficult to drive and you have that retarded checkpoints.

And if you miss one, you can say goodbye to the first place.

[Stardusty]

I have played both versions and both are great.

I like LEGO Racers 2 more.

Vertigo and Smash'n'Bash are my favorites (both on Xalax).

It's much better racing system.

Portal (green brick+3 white bricks) in LEGO Racers (1) is awesome, but some weapons in LR 2 are much better.

For exapmle: That yellow bubble that destroys other cars or dark green - translucent red disc.

[Canada_7]

I had the first Lego Racers on PC and back then I found it tough. I remember the powerups like the turbo boost, cannon shot, some sort of trap thing (oil slick, dropping a barrel of explosives, and then some sort of trap thing where it would make whoever drove through the trap with backwards handling), and shield. Did end up beating it though. I don't know where the disc is currently. The second one I never did play.

Speaking of old Lego PC games...did anyone play Lego Island 1 or 2? I had Lego Island 2 but never beat that...never even completed the chase for the Brickster...

[The Legonater]

I always loved the old LEGO Games. I managed to find LR 1 and 2 in some sort of collection with the two Island games. All of them are those sort of games that never get boring. I wish they made more of these types of games, instead of the constant Liceansed ones.

On that note, anybody know where I can get LEGO Chess? I've been searching for it forever.

[Zarkan]

Ah, I still have these games, along with every other major lego computer game released before the current Traveler's Tales age. I tend to prefer the first Lego Racers to the second, as it had individual themed tracks instead of a few words with different paths. The Time Trials were absolutely brutal, to the point that I only was able to beat two or three.

The big draw of these games, of course, is the fact that you can build your own car and race it. In that area, Lego Racers 1 was also better, as it allowed you to unlock new parts to make new cars with, instead of just building one car at the begining of a world and having to stick with it. I still remember the Ice planet themed car I usually used with two giant rocket engines and a driver name Ulta.

Most interestingly, Lego Racers was one of only two lego games I know of that could run without the CD in the drive(the other being Lego Loco). Even back then, with relatively small amounts of space required for instalation, this was a rarity in the PC gaming world, and it's basically non-heard-of today.

[WhiteFang]

This topic is much suitable for the Culture & Multimedia section.

Topic moved.

WhiteFang

[vmln8r]

Thanks for the discussion everyone - I hope it's been a nice nostalgia trip and perhaps even prompted a few to dust of their copy

It's much more difficult to drive and you have that retarded checkpoints.

And if you miss one, you can say goodbye to the first place.

Exactly! I really dislike both those aspects, such that I've only played LR2 start to finish once.

The big draw of these games, of course, is the fact that you can build your own car and race it. In that area, Lego Racers 1 was also better, as it allowed you to unlock new parts to make new cars with, instead of just building one car at the begining of a world and having to stick with it. I still remember the Ice planet themed car I usually used with two giant rocket engines and a driver name Ulta.

Most interestingly, Lego Racers was one of only two lego games I know of that could run without the CD in the drive(the other being Lego Loco). Even back then, with relatively small amounts of space required for instalation, this was a rarity in the PC gaming world, and it's basically non-heard-of today.

That's interesting, I've always needed the CD. If you (or anyone else) has any screenshots of your cars, please post them. I need some new ideas!

[Toa_Of_Justice]

I've played LR1, LR2, LEGO Stunt Rally, and LEGO Drome Racers. Of those, I prefer LR2 the most because of the exploration ability, the great music (Rigel's and Rocket Racer's themes especially), and in the Mars environment, hovercrafts!

Thanks for the discussion everyone - I hope it's been a nice nostalgia trip and perhaps even prompted a few to dust of their copy

Indeed it has! Now I really want to go play LEGO Racers and Stunt Rally again, but I can't get Stunt Rally to work on my Win7 PC (even under an XP virtual machine). I'm going to try my dad's old XP laptop and hope for the best!

Exactly! I really dislike both those aspects, such that I've only played LR2 start to finish once.

Those aspects can be annoying, but after some practice, you won't miss checkpoints very often. It did happen to me quite a bit early on though. Of course, if I fall into last place, that's when some of the more destructive power-ups (such as the homing missile and the super brick remover) tend to be more frequent, and then revenge is mine...

That's interesting, I've always needed the CD. If you (or anyone else) has any screenshots of your cars, please post them. I need some new ideas!

If I can get LEGO Racers 1 to run on my PC, I'll try to get some screenshots for you.

-Toa Of Justice

EDIT: Whoops, I almost forgot: I really want to see more screenshots of that awesome Rogue Shadow racer!

Edited April 27, 2011 by Toa_Of_Justice

[commdr_neyo]

I remember playing this for a long time, together with a friend of mine, while we were waaaay to old

This could be one of my favorite Lego games, I spent countless hours doing every map every way possible

[CF Mitch]

I had the Nintendo 64 version, not the PC version. I enjoyed it a great deal, but haven't played it in a long, long time.

Completely the same for me.

I loved it when I was younger. Last played about 11 years ago, man that's a long time

Thanks for bringing back the memories

Regards,

Mitch

[Toa_Of_Justice]

Yay, LEGO Racers still works on my machine! Now, here are my custom racers, as promised:

Astro Kid

The Volcano

Fire Racer

Space Baron

Plus two more I created today!

The unbelievably fast Racing Angel...

...and the ironically slower Speed Demon.

Full Brickshelf Gallery (when public)

-Toa Of Justice

[Privateer]

Wow. That "boss bullying" as you call it is something that I don't think I've ever accomplished. I try, but it's hard to make them come in last while you come in first; good job! Nice to see that others still find this game fun. I made decals of Rocket Racer and Veronica Voltage that can be found here.

[LEGO AFOL]

LEGO racers 2 I played before. Quite fun.

[Capt. Bluebeard]

Ah yes, I remember this game. Many an hour was spent in the car builder, let alone the actual game.

However, looking back on it now, it isn't really that great:

Firstly, there is very little strategy or skill involved; all the tracks (save for Knight Mare-athon and Time Trials) can be won with this formula:

Green Brick + 3(White Brick) + Shortcut = Victory!

This, combined with the fact that the superior Mario Kart 64 and Crash Team Racing were out at around the same time, makes LEGO Racers look very bare bones in terms of gameplay.

Secondly, there are only 3 circuits; the rest are mirrored. I think this is a real shame, as there were many themes left out that would have been perfect for a racing track (e.g. Western, Ninja, Divers, Town).

I think it's about time for LEGO Racers 3.

With the online capabilities of today's video game consoles and LEGO games selling like hotcakes, it'd be sure to be a hit. I imagine it'd be similar to ModNations on PS3. There could even be DLC packs, so you could use bricks from the original game.

I've even come up with a couple of circuits:

Circuit 1:

Boss: Captain Brickbeard

Track 1 - Space Police Speedway (Space Police III)

Track 2 - Skullkin Grand Prix (Ninjago)

Track 3 - Dr. Inferno's Volcano Raceway (Agents)

Track 4 - Brickbeard's Shipwreck Pass (Pirates)

Circuit 2:

Boss: Jake Raines

Track 1 - Underground Mine Marathon (Power Miners)

Track 2 - Troll Mountain Trail (Fantasy Era Castle)

Track 3 - LEGO City Street Dash (City)

Track 4 - Amset-Ra's Ancient Alleyway (Pharaoh's Quest)

Bluebeard, out-

[airsoftg36c]

Yeah, I got the game, but sadly, Windows 95 refuses to run on modern computers

[Capt. Bluebeard]

Yeah, I got the game, but sadly, Windows 95 refuses to run on modern computers

You do not need Windows 95 to run LEGO Racers.

To run it on Vista, follow these steps:

Simply right click on the shortcut of the game and click 'Properties'. Then, in the target box, you should see where the shortcut takes you, e.g; "C:\Program Files\LEGO Media\Games\LEGO Racers\LEGORacers.exe". Then add " -novideo" without the quotation marks at the end, so it's something like this;

"C:\Program Files\LEGO Media\Games\LEGO Racers\LEGORacers.exe" -novideo

That'll cut out the start-up videos that stop the game from running.

I have a feeling that this only works with the "Revival" version, but I dunno.

Bluebeard, out-

Edited August 2, 2011 by Capt. Bluebeard

[airsoftg36c]

... I have Windows 7...

[Capt. Bluebeard]

... I have Windows 7...

No worries, there is still hope:

- Run LEGORacers.exe in compatibility mode for Windows 98/ME.

- Run in 256 colours.

- Run in 640x480 resolution.

However, be warned! I have not tried this (as I do not have Windows 7) and the website on which I discovered this said that this method may cause the game to crash a lot.

Bluebeard, out-

[MFROG5]

WINDOWS 7

Right-click on the actual LEGO RACERS application -> Properties -> Compatability -> Run on Windows 98 and click Apply. This is a simple solution that I know works if you play the game off a flash drive. I remember doing a more complicated process to get it working if you install it on a computer.

[LandShark]

Damn, I loved that game!

It still works on my computer, and whenever I play it, it always bring back fond memories...

Something about it just seemed so... right.

I do agree that we need a new Lego racing game, imagine if it had graphics like other modern Lego Games, and included lots of recent themes.

[1980-Something-Space-Guy]

Boss bullying, I loved that! I would use the hook and reverse, especially with Captain Roger (personal grudge there). I managed to get it running on Windows Vista. Some years after playing the game, I found about its cheats. There is nothing like the first race with the first circuit, with the Max power-up cheat and the all red power-up cheat enabled at the same time! If you add to that the super fast cheat, it's a killer!

I couldn't resist uploading some ridiculous racers I made on purpose

This guy is so clueless, he forgot his pants, helmet, and built his car the wrong way!

I think this must be the most massive car you may build. I made it for top speed, but in the end it's just a funny block car!

You may infer this guy got his car wrecked, or maybe they stole all his pieces. Bottom line is, he's got one of the worst cars ever! (L stands for loser )

Another candidate for the worst cars ever. This car is unbalanced on purpose!

Ohhh the times. I built these when I was 13 years old, just for the fun of it

Edited August 8, 2011 by johnnyvgoode