City Connection is a sidescrolling platform Maze Game made by Jaleco that was released in 1985. In the game, you control a female driver named Claricenote , who goes across the world looking for love and painting every section of the roads in her Honda City hatchback. Complicating matters are the various police cars pursuing her and an odd cat who's just... standing on the road like an idiot.
The game was ported to the NES and the MSX. It also had a 2004 sequel for mobile phones called City Connection Rocket that featured Clarice as a spy for a secret organization trying to capture criminals around the world. Clarice herself also appears as a playable character in GUNbare! Game Tengokunote as well as in Game Tengoku CruisinMixnote as DLC. She also made another appearance in a version of Conga Master called Conga Master Cruisin as a playable character.
Also an interesting bit of trivia: there exists a Japanese record/game company that had obtained Jaleco's assets ever since their parent company went belly up and has a subsidiary specializing in rereleasing soundtracks of old games. Their names? City Connectionnote and Clarice Disc.
This game provides examples of:
- Artistic License – Geography: Stage 11 is set on Easter Island, with its signature Moai statues, but also includes Mesoamerican temples.
- Abnormal Ammo: Clarice/The Dude's car has an oil-can cannon that stuns police cars and render them vulnerable to being knocked.
- Drives Like Crazy: Clarice apparently, if the police constantly chasing her is any indication.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: The car explodes if it hits the police cars.
- Excuse Plot: The story is that Clarice is searching around the world for the ideal boyfriend. It has nothing to do with the gameplay proper.
- Hero Antagonist: The police, who are out to stop Clarice or the dude's crazy driving.
- Jump Physics: The car can somehow jump.
- Look Both Ways: The most infamous character in this game is a little cat who's waving a flag. If you hit him he's sent flying into the sky and you'll lose a life.
- Musical Pastiche:
- The Stage 1 BGM uses the intro, rhythm, and bassline of Chuck Berry's "Johnny B. Goode", but the melody of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No.1: Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso".
- Stage 2 and 12’s BGM uses the intro, rhythm and Bassline of Deep Purple’s “Highway Star”, but the melody of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No.1: Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso".
- Stage 3 and 9’s BGM's use the rhythm and bassline of Paul Anka’s “Diana”, but the melody of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No.1: Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso".
- Stage 10 combines The Surfaris' "Wipe Out" and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No.1: Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso".
- No Name Given: The male protagonist in the American version.
- No Smoking: Averted; clearing a level in the American version has a chance of the dude being seen with a cigarette in his mouth. Even in the NES version.
- Public Domain Soundtrack:
- Makes excessive use of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's "Piano Concerto No.1: Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso" as the main game BGM, even if it’s remixed considerably for each level.
- The German folk tune “Flohwalzer” plays when you knock a cat and send it flying. This is an in-joke as the Japanese actually had a song called “Neko Funjatta” (lit “I stepped on a cat”) that’s set to the tune.
- If you get hit by a police car or spike, a few bars of Turkey in the Straw plays.
- Rock Me, Amadeus!: The game's BGM, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto No.1: Allegro non troppo e molto maestoso, is remixed with modern, faster paced rhythm and basslines taken from contemporary Rock music like Chuck Berry's Johnny B. Goode, Paul Anka's Diana, The Surfaris' Wipe Out and even Deep Purple's Highway Star.
- She's a Man in Japan: In the US NES version the main character was changed from a girl named Clarice into a generic male greaser.
- Shout-Out: A woman named Clarice being involved in a car chase with an off-brand Honda City hachback? Where's that been seen elsewhere...
- Suicide Attack: In later levels, there can be police cars that charge at Clarice/The Dude from across the screen in the wrong direction at high speeds.
- Too Dumb to Live: The cat, who decides it's a great idea to stand on the road looking like an idiot, just asking to get hit by Clarise in her car.
- Took a Level in Kindness: In City Connection Rocket, Clarice goes from a mischief maker painting roads to an agent helping catch criminals around the world. Doubles as Took a Level in Badass.
- Villain Protagonist: In the American version, you play as a man who stole a bunch of paint and is now going around painting the highways.
- Wrap Around: Every level loops horizontally.
