Combat Cars

Short description: 1994 video game

Combat Cars

European cover art

Developer(s)| Scangames
Publisher(s)| Accolade
Artist(s)| Stefan Holmqvist
Composer(s)| John Carehag
Platform(s)| Genesis
Release|

* NA: June 1994[2]
* EU: July 8, 1994[1]

Genre(s)| Racing, vehicular combat
Mode(s)| Single-player, multiplayer

Combat Cars is a racing vehicular combat game developed by Scangames and published by Accolade, and released for the Sega Genesis in 1994.

## Contents

* 1 Gameplay
* 2 Development
* 3 Reviews
* 4 References
* 5 External links
* 6 Features
* 7 History
* 8 See also
* 9 References
* 10 External links

## Gameplay

The player races against other cars and can use various kinds of weapons and gadgets to damage their opponents. The game contains eight playable characters: Jackyl, Sadie Marks, Ray Shades, Mekmac, Metro 1200, Growl, Big Bad Mama and Andrew Alien. Each character has his/her own strengths and weaknesses (speed, car handling, etc.), as well as unique weapons, including a shotgun, glue spots that they can leave to slow other cars, homing missiles, mines, and others. There are 24 different tracks available in the game. The player earns money for winning or placing in races, and this money is used to calculate their score. As the player spends this money on upgrades for their vehicle, their score lowers accordingly.

The player must complete the 24 circuit tracks in multiple laps in linear fashion within a time limit if the player can reach the only checkpoint (which is the start/finish line) in a race to extend the time limit, and should the player run out of time or fail a race, the game is over. The player then must enter their name onto the scoreboard, the background being the type of environment the last race took place. After entering their name, the game resets to the SEGA introduction screen. The game also has a 2-player co-op mode.

## Development

Combat Cars was originally developed by Scangames in December 1992 as Fun Car Rally. The game's art was done by Stefan Holmqvist.[3][4][5] The music was composed Matt Furniss, drawing inspiration from "Fun, Fun, Fun" by the Beach Boys (for the title screen) and "Get Out of Your Lazy Bed" by Matt Bianco (for the name entry screen).[3][6][7] Scangames sold the game to Accolade through MagiCom (later Funcom). However, Accolade wanted the game to have a "cooler" appearance and techno music, so the game was renamed Combat Cars, the eight playable characters were redesigned, and weapons were added.[5][8][9] John Carehag composed the soundtrack in Microsoft Works in five to six weeks.[10][7] It was mostly inspired by 2 Unlimited, of which he had a cassette in his Walkman. The exceptions were the main menu and character select screens, which were inspired by "What Is Love" by Haddaway,[11][12] and the Beach circuit track, which was based on "Justify My Love" by Madonna.[8] Carehag had about 8 minutes to make the former tracks.[11][12]

## Reviews

Reception

| Review scores

Publication| Score
Consoles +| 85%[13]
CVG| 67%[14]
EGM| 6.6[15]

Combat Cars received average reviews upon release. Mean Machines Sega described the game as "unexpectedly addictive" and enjoyable due to its variety of tracks and two-player mode, but found the game's graphics to be "competent but unsurprising", the cars to have "lacklustre special powers", and critiqued the lack of track customisation or editing.[16] Computer & Video Games enjoyed the "pop techno" music but found that the "slidey" control system and "bland" sprites spoiled the game's fun.[14] Electronic Gaming Monthly found the game to be "a blast with two drivers", although noting some of the variety of cars had "unfair advantages" over others.[15]

## References

1. ↑ "CTW Games Guide". Computer Trade Weekly (Opportunity Publishing) (494): 23. 4 July 1994. https://retrocdn.net/images/8/83/CTW_UK_494.pdf. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
2. ↑ "Previews: Combat Cars". VideoGames - The Ultimate Gaming Magazine (66): 56. July 1994. https://archive.org/details/Video_Games_The_Ultimate_Gaming_Magazine_Issue_66_July_1994/page/n55/mode/1up. Retrieved January 10, 2022.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Rasher, Road (May 31, 2014). "A couple of mysteries". Sega-16. https://sega-16.com/forum/showthread.php?27781-A-couple-of-mysteries.
4. ↑ Konzack, Lars (May 2015). "Scandinavia". Video Games Around the World. MIT Press. pp. 455. ISBN 9780262527163.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Fun Car Rally & Combat Cars (Mega Drive/Genesis) - Same Game?". Adam Plenty. September 28, 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5H6n3Hs0uE. "Lit Jellyfish (Stefan Holmqvist): It is an alpha build of Combat Cars indeed. I did the graphics. It was development by me and 4 other guys as Scangames (Sweden-Norway), and sold to Accolade through a friend's company (MagiCom, later kind of becoming Funcom). Then Accolade wanted it to be "cooler", so we needed to add weapons and more "cool" characters and change the title. I think that "Fun, Fun, Fun" and "Get Out Of Your Lazy Bed" were removed mainly because Accolade also wanted all the songs to sound techno. I mean, one song is so similar to 2 Unlimited's "No Limit" that we where lucky no one sued us. Then again, at this time games was still not such mainstream form as today, so a lot of "inspired" work passed through the legal magnification glass."
6. ↑ Attack, Arcade. "Matt Furniss (VGM Extraordinaire) – Interview". Arcade Attack. https://www.arcadeattack.co.uk/matt-furniss/.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Games that have more than one soundtrack". Hardcore Gaming 101. September 9, 2021. https://hg101.proboards.com/thread/14839/games-more-soundtrack?page=7.
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Why Does This Soundtrack Go So Hard!? Combat Cars Review". SEGADriven.com. September 20, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mbjKdZ2o0L4. "Lit Jellyfish (Stefan Holmqvist): It's confusing because it actually started out more as classic Micro Machines racing. Also with more normal characters. But when we tried to sell it, the publisher Accolade found it not "cool" enough, so we were forced to slap weapons on it quite quick. And redo the characters to be more "edgy". I as the artist even got character designs faxed over. Like Sadie. Many years later I was reading an old X-Men magazine while waiting at the dentist, and almost choked when I said that Sadie was directly from X-Men. The publisher had just straight up ripped the design and asked me to pixel it. Music was also, as expected, heavily influenced by the Eurotecho hits of that year, such as 2 Unlimited. John Carehag (the composer) informed someone that the Beach track is sampled from "Justify Your Love" by Madonna. About drum "samples", there are no samples. In general, the Mega Drive could not really play those well. Plus, samples eat up a lot of cartridge space. Too expensive. By the way, the original name was "Fun Car Rally"."
9. ↑ "The Dreamcast Junkyard DreamPod - Episode 77: An interview with Headhunter producer Stefan Holmqvist". The Dreamcast Junkyard. May 2, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msiq-Lz39Bs&t=360s.
10. ↑ "Interview with Ziphoid". Amiga Music Preservation. https://amp.dascene.net/detail.php?view=8418&detail=interview.
11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 "Character Select - Combat Cars". SilvaGunner. August 13, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPdvSPjFbwo. "John Carehag: Heh, this was cute. In my defence, I had about 8 minutes to make a track for that character select screen. The track is sampled from "What Is Love" by Haddaway. Also, the rest of the soundtrack does sound like 2 Unlimited for a reason. When going by train from my home town and up to Trondheim where we had the development kit, I had only one cassette in my Walkman, 2 Unlimited... So, sorry about that."
12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 "Combat Cars | SEGA Genesis Full Soundtrack OST (Real Hardware)". Random VGMs. August 13, 2020. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bWwAYUzDLIs. "The soundtrack was composed in around 5/6 weeks from what Ziphoid (original composer) told me. It was inspired by 2 Unlimited, with the exception of the main menu and character select tracks, which were inspired by Haddaway."
13. ↑ "Combat Cars". Consoles Plus (35): 154. September 1994. https://download.abandonware.org/magazines/Consoles Plus/consoleplus_numero035/Consoles+ 035 - Page 154 (1994-09).jpg.
14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Super Shorts". Computer & Video Games (154): 78. September 1994. https://download.abandonware.org/magazines/Consoles Plus/consoleplus_numero035/Consoles+ 035 - Page 154 (1994-09).jpg.
15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 "Combat Cars". Electronic Gaming Monthly 7 (7): 34. July 1994. https://retrocdn.net/images/a/af/EGM_US_060.pdf.
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 "Combat Cars". Mean Machines Sega (22): 70–71. August 1994. https://archive.org/details/mean-machines-sega-magazine-22/page/n69.

## External links

* MobyGames is a commercial database website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes over 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms.[1] Founded in 1999, ownership of the site has changed hands several times. It has been owned by Atari SA since 2022.

## Features

Edits and submissions to the site (including screenshots, box art, developer information, game summaries, and more) go through a verification process of fact-checking by volunteer "approvers".[2] This approval process after submission can range from minutes to days or months.[3] The most commonly used sources are the video game's website, packaging, and credit screens. There is a published standard for game information and copy-editing.[4] A ranking system allows users to earn points for contributing accurate information.[5]

Registered users can rate and review games. Users can create private or public "have" and "want" lists, which can generate a list of games available for trade with other registered users. The site contains an integrated forum. Each listed game can have its own sub-forum.

## History

Logo used until March 2014

MobyGames was founded on March 1, 1999, by Jim Leonard and Brian Hirt, and joined by David Berk 18 months later, the three of which had been friends since high school.[6][7] Leonard had the idea of sharing information about computer games with a larger audience. The database began with information about games for IBM PC compatibles, relying on the founders' personal collections. Eventually, the site was opened up to allow general users to contribute information.[5] In a 2003 interview, Berk emphasized MobyGames' dedication to taking video games more seriously than broader society and to preserving games for their important cultural influence.[5]

In mid-2010, MobyGames was purchased by GameFly for an undisclosed amount.[8] This was announced to the community post factum , and the site's interface was given an unpopular redesign.[7] A few major contributors left, refusing to do volunteer work for a commercial website.{{Citation needed|date=June 2025} On December 18, 2013, MobyGames was acquired by Jeremiah Freyholtz, owner of Blue Flame Labs (a San Francisco-based game and web development company) and VGBoxArt (a site for fan-made video game box art).[9] Blue Flame Labs reverted MobyGames' interface to its pre-overhaul look and feel,[10] and for the next eight years, the site was run by Freyholtz and Independent Games Festival organizer Simon Carless.[7]

On November 24, 2021, Atari SA announced a potential deal with Blue Flame Labs to purchase MobyGames for $1.5 million.[11] The purchase was completed on 8 March 2022, with Freyholtz remaining as general manager.[12][13][14] Over the next year, the financial boost given by Atari led to a rework of the site being built from scratch with a new backend codebase, as well as updates improving the mobile and desktop user interface.[1] This was accomplished by investing in full-time development of the site instead of its previously part-time development.[15]

In 2024, MobyGames began offering a paid "Pro" membership option for the site to generate additional revenue.[16] Previously, the site had generated income exclusively through banner ads and (from March 2014 onward) a small number of patrons via the Patreon website.[17]

On February 13, 2025, Freyholtz stepped down as the site lead to move onto new projects, leaving operations to Tracy Poff, a veteran coder on the site, and Atari staff.[18]

## See also

* IGDB - game database used by Twitch for its search and discovery functions

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Sheehan, Gavin (2023-02-22). "Atari Relaunches The Fully Rebuilt & Optimized MobyGames Website". https://bleedingcool.com/games/atari-relaunches-the-fully-rebuilt-optimized-mobygames-website/.
2. ↑ Litchfield, Ted (2021-11-26). "Zombie company Atari to devour MobyGames". https://www.pcgamer.com/zombie-company-atari-to-devour-mobygames/.
3. ↑ "MobyGames FAQ: Emails Answered § When will my submission be approved?". Blue Flame Labs. 30 March 2014. http://www.mobygames.com/info/faq7#g1.
4. ↑ "The MobyGames Standards and Practices". Blue Flame Labs. 6 January 2016. http://www.mobygames.com/info/standards.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Miller, Stanley A. (2003-04-22). "People's choice awards honor favorite Web sites". Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
6. ↑ "20 Years of MobyGames" (in en). 2019-02-28. https://trixter.oldskool.org/2019/02/28/20-years-of-mobygames/.
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Plunkett, Luke (2022-03-10). "Atari Buys MobyGames For $1.5 Million". https://kotaku.com/mobygames-retro-credits-database-imdb-atari-freyholtz-b-1848638521.
8. ↑ "Report: MobyGames Acquired By GameFly Media". Gamasutra. 2011-02-07. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/game-platforms/report-mobygames-acquired-by-gamefly-media.
9. ↑ Corriea, Alexa Ray (December 31, 2013). "MobyGames purchased from GameFly, improvements planned". http://www.polygon.com/2013/12/31/5261414/mobygames-purchased-from-gamefly-improvements-planned.
10. ↑ Wawro, Alex (31 December 2013). "Game dev database MobyGames getting some TLC under new owner". Gamasutra. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/game-dev-database-mobygames-getting-some-tlc-under-new-owner.
11. ↑ "Atari invests in Anstream, may buy MobyGames". November 24, 2021. https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2021-11-24-atari-invests-in-anstream-may-buy-mobygames.
12. ↑ Rousseau, Jeffrey (2022-03-09). "Atari purchases Moby Games". https://www.gamesindustry.biz/atari-purchases-moby-games.
13. ↑ "Atari Completes MobyGames Acquisition, Details Plans for the Site's Continued Support". March 8, 2022. https://www.atari.com/atari-completes-mobygames-acquisition-details-plans-for-the-sites-continued-support/.
14. ↑ "Atari has acquired game database MobyGames for $1.5 million" (in en-GB). 2022-03-09. https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/atari-has-acquired-game-database-mobygames-for-1-5-million/.
15. ↑ Stanton, Rich (2022-03-10). "Atari buys videogame database MobyGames for $1.5 million". https://www.pcgamer.com/atari-buys-videogame-database-mobygames-for-dollar15-million/.
16. ↑ Harris, John (2024-03-09). "MobyGames Offering “Pro” Membership". https://setsideb.com/mobygames-offering-pro-membership/.
17. ↑ "MobyGames on Patreon". http://www.patreon.com/mobygames.
18. ↑ "An update on MobyGames leadership". 2025-02-13. https://www.mobygames.com/forum/3/thread/269628/an-update-on-mobygames-leadership/#post-269628.

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