Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver (Windows)

Hot Wheels Stunt Track Driver is an FMV game in which Mattel's ever-popular Hot Wheels cars apparently become sentient and do ridiculous backflips of their own accord on tracks constructed by the richest and most overprivileged child in the world, who somehow managed to run a bunch of those flimsy plastic strips through his whole house and an entire sandcastle. It's actually pretty slick for its genre – the stunts are fun, though the physics are occasionally wonky. It also has an excellent rock soundtrack by Mr. Bill King, whose only other known compositions are this game's sequel and Michelle Kwan Figure Skating. Something of a fall from grace, that.

Unused Graphics#

Car Textures#

There are two duplicate sets of car textures. One uses a standard "car[x].bmp" numbering system, while the other has actual names for the cars. Only the first set is used in-game, leaving these files (and car names) unused.

Smiley Face#

Drawn between textures in BLASTER.BMP.

Extra Textures#

There are also several textures that are not used at all, most of them apparently leftovers of earlier designs.

Car 4, Hw500

Three different versions of the texture for Car 4, Hw500. These are arranged chronologically according to the file timestamps, with the far right being the final version. The artist seems to have tinkered with the colors and added an extra decal so that the Hot Wheels logo wouldn't be backward on one side of the car. The text directly below it was not given this treatment, though, so it shows up backward anyway.

Car 6, SHADOW

For some reason, this car and this car only has an older, named version of its texture stuck in the \data\ folder with the numbered textures. Its design changed significantly for the final.

Car 7, FLYER

For some bizarre reason, Cars 7 and 8 alone have duplicate, older versions of their textures stored in PCX format alongside the regular BMPs. Both of these are dated over a month before the final versions.

Car 8, POWER

See above.

Car 11, SPECIAL

These files seem to be left over from an artist's struggle to properly produce the textures for this car.

Miscellaneous#

MAINPAL.BMP

This is a still from the very start of the greenhouse level. It serves no apparent purpose.

thepal.bmp

A pink 81x81 box. It is duplicated as the sole file in the folder \data\cars\junk\. Perhaps a transparency test?

Unused Car#

Watch on YouTube

This car, numbered 0, has no corresponding file with an actual name. Its textures are unused and structured differently from any other car's, suggesting it is a leftover from early in development. It has a corresponding MMD file, and can be accessed by swapping the MMD file with the MMD file of a car accessible in the game. This car is similar in appearance to Speed Blaster.

Watch on YouTube

The car is actually used at the beginning of the Stunt Track Driver demo found on the Hot Wheels World Adventure sampler CD. One more interesting bit is that halfway through the demo, the car switches to car01, Salt Flat, via an FMV transition.

Unused Credits#

The file CREDITS.PCX contains, obviously enough, the credits, but they are never used. There is no credits sequence in the game, even after winning the tournament mode.

Secret Playable Level#

Watch on YouTubeThe game has a secret hidden level. It can be accessed by completing tournament mode, going to the level select menu, and right clicking on the first letter T of the Mattel logo. This causes the music to change to an otherwise unused track (see below). At this point, starting the race will begin the secret level.

The level's FMV has more abstract visuals compared to other levels, with the background consisting of green wireframe hills over a space backdrop. The video does not seem completely synced to the collision model in some points, causing the car to occasionally "float" above the track. Aside from these graphical details, the level is entirely playable. It ends with the car crashing through a dead-end sign.

Unused Batch Files#

car.bat#

copy SALTFLAT.* ..\car01.*
copy SLIDE.* ..\car05.*
copy FLYER.* ..\car07.*
copy SOLAIR.* ..\car03.*

copy BLASTER.* ..\car09.*

copy TOEJAM.* ..\car02.*
copy HW500.* ..\car04.*
copy POWER.* ..\car08.*
copy TWINCOM.* ..\car10.*
copy WAY2FAST.* ..\car12.*
copy SHADOW.* ..\car06.*


copy SPECIAL.* ..\car11.*
REM copy SPECIAL1.* ..\car11.*
REM copy SPECIAL8.* ..\car12.*
REM copy NSPECIAL.* ..\car10.*

This short file is located in the directory \data\cars\. When run, it copies the named textures shown under "Unused Graphics," as well as their corresponding .MMD model files, into the \data\ directory, renaming them to use a sequential numbering format. This is probably a leftover development tool to quickly prepare the graphics data.

Most notable are the three REM'd out lines at the bottom. If uncommented, they would overwrite the data for cars 10, 11, and 12 with the prototype versions of SPECIAL shown above. This might have been used to quickly compare how the different versions of the car looked in the actual game.

CAR.BAK#

This file is almost identical to car.bat. Aside from having a different extension, the line

copy SPECIAL.* ..\car11.*

has been omitted, and the three commented-out lines below it are restored.

ASPS.BAK#

This file's purpose is less clear. It contains the following:

pont data\font.asp
font data\font.asp
spark data\spark.asp
stuff data\stuff.asp
menu data\menu.asp
bolt data\bolt.asp
menu320 data\menu320.asp
boncar data\boncar.asp

Its use is unknown.

Unused Music#

SAG Files#

The music used in the game is stored as .sag files, which are actually IMA-ADPCM files encoded at 22050 Hz. Two of these are unused or otherwise hidden:

wire.sag This is the theme for the secret seventh level. Notably, the last minute or so consists of the music used upon winning the championship mode..

Test.sag A thirty-second loop of a closed hi-hat sample. This may have been used to test a new sound engine – see below.

SIG Files#

Alongside the .sag files are lower-fidelity soundtrack alternatives with the .sig extension. Both formats use Semi Logic's SLAG container and IMA ADPCM compression, but SIG files decode as 11,025 Hz mono audio rather than the SAG files' 22,050 Hz.

The executable selects SIG files when its internal ramtight state is active, indicating that they were intended for a lower-memory audio path. It has not yet been confirmed what retail configuration, if any, activates this path.

base.sig, garg.sig, hous.sig, menu.sig, and wire.sig Despite their different filenames, these five files are byte-identical. They are all copies of the same lower-quality alternate Living Room arrangement, which has a different sequence from hous.sag and is not heard during normal retail gameplay.

Atic.sig A lower-fidelity version of the Attic level's theme.

Atri.sig A lower-fidelity version of the Greenhouse level's theme, with some odd volume issues.

Sand.sig A lower-fidelity version of the Sandbox level's theme.

Toys.sig A lower-fidelity version of the Bedroom level's theme, with the order of some parts slightly rearranged.

WIN.sig The championship victory theme, extended and without sound effects. This appears as the ending of the secret level's theme.

intro.sig An extended, sound effect-less version of the introduction music. This piece does not appear in this form during normal retail gameplay.