Mad Max (NES - 1990) completed in 24:56!
0#speedrun #retrogaming #madmax
Mad Max
Developed by: Gray Matter, Eastridge Technology
Published by: Mindscape
Released: July 1990
My goal for this speedrun was sub 25 and we finally achieved that. There's a lot of time to still save but I'm happy with the run so far. Might come back to this at some point but the RNG for the Arena's are a PITA
This game is brutal casually, especially if you didn't have the manual for it. It's setup as 3 stages with two parts.
The first part is the Road War, the objective here is to make your way to the second objective, the Arena. Getting there requires you to purchase an Arena Pass. As you make your way around the map you'll find mine entrances that lead to strongholds bearing fruits of fuel, ammo, food, and water. It costs 7 food and/or water to purchase a Pass. Once purchased you have to find and make your way to the Arena entrance before running out of gas and getting destroyed by enemy towers and cars. The final Road War has one extra item you need to pick up in order to complete the game and that is the crossbow! This will be used for the final boss fight.
The second part is the Arena itself. Here is a maze filled with pitfalls and steep edges. The goal here is to be the last one standing and make it to the exit before your fuel and lives run out. The first Arena is 30 enemies with each subsequent Arena battle adding another 10 enemies. Leading to 50 enemies needing to be eliminated in the final Arena portion.
After completing the last Arena and eliminating the # 1 car the final showdown between Max and Wez can begin. Take everything you learned about this game and now throw it out the window. The B button locks your character position vertically, which is nice as you can fall off the platform from going to high or too low on the platform. Holding B and pressing UP allows you to jump, while pressing DOWN will allow you to duck. A is the attack button. It takes 8 shots with the crossbow to take off one tick of health. Unfortunately it only take 1-2 hits from Wez to take your health down. If you fail this fight it's an automatic game over.