From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3180310/Billies_Wheelie/
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"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age..." --Titus 2:11-12. Ant says no incorrectly. :(
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 1/3/2026 9:20 PM, Ant wrote:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3180310/Billies_Wheelie/

A multi-hamster racing game.
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 1/4/2026 7:59 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 1/3/2026 9:20 PM, Ant wrote:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3180310/Billies_Wheelie/

A multi-hamster racing game.

Possibly interesting, local co-op. Might be something to try with my daughter. Thanks Ant!
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Sun, 4 Jan 2026 08:15:38 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 1/4/2026 7:59 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 1/3/2026 9:20 PM, Ant wrote:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3180310/Billies_Wheelie/

A multi-hamster racing game.

Possibly interesting, local co-op. Might be something to try with my >daughter. Thanks Ant!

I reject mostly because I dislike the art-style... but also because it
brings back memories of Skyroads, which is a game I kept-playing-but-never-mastered back in the DOS days. Also, putting
hamsters in those balls always seemed sort of cruel to me. ;-)




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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Sun, 4 Jan 2026 08:15:38 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 1/4/2026 7:59 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 1/3/2026 9:20 PM, Ant wrote:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3180310/Billies_Wheelie/

A multi-hamster racing game.

Possibly interesting, local co-op. Might be something to try with my >daughter. Thanks Ant!

I reject mostly because I dislike the art-style... but also because it
brings back memories of Skyroads, which is a game I kept-playing-but-never-mastered back in the DOS days. Also, putting
hamsters in those balls always seemed sort of cruel to me. ;-)

The game gave me flashbacks of Apogee's Wacky Wheels.
--
"For the grace of God has appeared that offers salvation to all people. It teaches us to say 'No' to ungodliness and worldly passions, and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in this present age..." --Titus 2:11-12. Ant says no incorrectly. :(
Note: A fixed width font (Courier, Monospace, etc.) is required to see this signature correctly.
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://aqfl.net & http://antfarm.home.dhs.org.
/ /\ /\ \ Please nuke ANT if replying by e-mail.
| |o o| |
\ _ /
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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On Mon, 5 Jan 2026 06:33:30 -0000 (UTC), ant@zimage.comANT (Ant)
wrote:

Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

On Sun, 4 Jan 2026 08:15:38 -0800, Justisaur <justisaur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

On 1/4/2026 7:59 AM, Dimensional Traveler wrote:

On 1/3/2026 9:20 PM, Ant wrote:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3180310/Billies_Wheelie/

A multi-hamster racing game.

Possibly interesting, local co-op. Might be something to try with my
daughter. Thanks Ant!

I reject mostly because I dislike the art-style... but also because it
brings back memories of Skyroads, which is a game I
kept-playing-but-never-mastered back in the DOS days. Also, putting
hamsters in those balls always seemed sort of cruel to me. ;-)

The game gave me flashbacks of Apogee's Wacky Wheels.

Which itself was a poor clone of Mario Kart.

Or maybe I shouldn't say it was a poor clone. Wacky Wheels definitely
aped the better known Nintendo game, and I'd argue it didn't match its predecessor in quality... but it wasn't that bad a game. It didn't
quite compete in character or mechanics, but it was still fairly good. Especially considering that it came out on PC.

For all its strengths, the lack of hardware support for sprites meant
that PCs had to work harder to move the damn things around than did
consoles, which either meant you needed a significantly more powerful
PC, or the game had less action happening on-screen. The mid-90s were
when average PC performance started to finally overcome this
limitation, and arcade games on PC started to become competitive with
that found on consoles.

And Wacky Wheels was one of these games that came out in that era. It
didn't quite match Nintendo's best offerings in terms of features, but
it came close enough. It --and other games, like Jazz Jackrabbit--
showed that the PC really was capable of fast and smooth-scrolling
action. (Games like Doom showed this too, of course, but by creating
an entirely new genre. For fans of classic platformers and racers, who
didn't care about 'ultra-violent murder games', you needed games like
Wacky Wheels).

Wacky Wheels is still fun, in a retro sort of way, although it's not a
game I'd recommend anyone run out and play. It's biggest shortcomings
are due more to a lack of resources that were available to the
developers; tiny Beavisoft (the actual developer; Apogee was just the publisher) couldn't afford to put as much effort into the animations
and tracks as did Nintendo. But mechanically and technologically, it
was a fine game for its era.

Not that I enjoyed it much myself. By the time I came across the game,
I was already playing stuff like "Need for Speed" and Sierra's "NASCAR
Racing", and those games made "Wacky Wheels" seem primitive in
comparison. Besides, I never really enjoyed kart-racers, where all
your skill at driving could be wiped out by even the slowest racer
stumbling upon a green turtle shell...




Wait... wasn't this thread about "Billie's Wheels?"





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From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

On 1/5/2026 7:48 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

Wait... wasn't this thread about "Billie's Wheels?"

Yes.
--
I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
dirty old man.
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