Desert Speedtrap Starring Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote is a Licensed Game based on Looney Tunes, developed by Probe Entertainment and published by Sega in 1994 for the Sega Master System and Game Gear.
You play as Road Runner, and the goal of each stage is to make it to the exit without losing all of your health. Among the hazards that Road Runner must dodge are crabs, scorpions, buzzards, carnivorous plants, and Wile E. Coyote, who appears at the end of each stage with an ACME Gadget he tries to catch Road Runner with. As he travels through the stages, Road Runner can eat bird seed to replenish his health. He can also collect power ups after defeating enemies, which could grant him faster speed, invincibility, or even extra lives.
Not to be confused with Desert Demolition Starring Road Runner and Wile E. Coyote, developed by Blue Sky Software and published by Sega for the Sega Genesis in 1995, or Road Runner's Death Valley Rally, developed by ICOM Simulations and published by Sunsoft for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1992.
This game provides examples of:
- Amusing Injuries: Wile E. suffers these whenever you reach the Exit sign. These range from flying his rocket into a wall, to crashing his bus and coming out holding the steering wheel, to having the engine of his jet pack detach and fly off, causing him to fall. If you beat the game, Wile E. appears bruised and bandaged.
- Bonus Stage: If Road Runner finds a teleporter, it will take him to a bonus stage, where he can collect stars for a short time before the teleporter brings him back to where he was before.
- Game-Over Man: If Road Runner loses all of his lives, Wile E. Coyote appears dressed in a bib and holding a knife and fork before the Game Over screen appears, die anytime and Road Runner will just stand there with the sign that says "that either says "GONE TO LUNCH" or "TIME UP", see Talking with Signs below, if it's on his last life, it appears before the adforementioned Wile E. Coyote scene.
- Goomba Stomp: Road Runner's basic method of defeating his enemies is by jumping on them.
- Hit Points: Road Runner can have up to four in any given time.
- Man-Eating Plant: Carnivorous plants serve as common obstacles.
- Out of Continues: You are given three credits.
- Poison Mushroom: Some plates of birdseed have explosives hidden inside them. If Road Runner eats from them, he takes damage.
- Public Domain Soundtrack: The William Tell Overture is used in this game as both a level theme and the speed up theme.
- Road Runner vs. Coyote: This game features the Trope Namer pair. You play as the former and are being pursued by the latter.
- Scary Scorpions: Scorpions serve as common enemies. They can shoot venom from their tails.
- Talking with Signs: If Road Runner loses all of his health, he holds up a sign that says GONE TO LUNCH before he loses a life. He also holds up a sign saying TIME UP when you run out of time.
- Timed Mission: You have a limited amount of time to reach the goal. Each star collected adds one second to the time limit, while each clock power-up adds thirty.
- Underground Level: "Down and Under" and "Up and Under" take place in a mine.
- Vile Vulture: Buzzards serve as common enemies. If they see Road Runner, they will swoop down at him.
