Population: Tire

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Game Category: New Game
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Population... TIIIRREEE!

Population: Tire is a game by Videlectrix where you use your mouse cursor to keep The Tire bouncing in the air as long as possible. Increase your score multiplier by hitting birds, balloons, The Cheat and Strong Sad, and beware of wind changes and flying Cold Ones!

Date: Monday, June 23, 2003

Page Title: I FEEL ASLEEP!

Viidelectrix Page Title: pop_tire

Contents

Premise

IN THE YEAR 19xx, THE CITIZENS OF
STRONGBADIA ARE TERRORIZED BY A
FACELESS FOE. AS A TOP SECRET CRACK
COMMANDO OPERATIVE, IT IS YOU JOB TO
PROTECT THE LAST REMAINING CITIZEN FROM
TOUCHING THE TAINTED SOIL. YOU ARE
SOLDIER!

SCORE POINTS BY BOUNCING TIRE WITH
MOUSE. HIT INFIDELS TO INCREASE THE
VALUE OF EACH BOUNCE. STRING COMBOS TO
PREVENT THE VALUE FROM DROPPING OVER
TIME.

YOU ONE ARE OF BRAVE FEW. ACCEPT YOUR
MISSION AND STEP FOURTH.
AND REMEMBER; NEVER, EVER BREAK A COLD
ONE.

Note: In the Viidelectrix version of the game, "MOUSE" has changed to "TIP OF POINTY FINGER THINGY", a reference to using the Wii Remote.

Scoring Chart

The main objective of this game is to keep the Tire in the air as long as possible. You earn one point times your Multiplier for each bounce, and your score resets to 0 when the Tire hits the ground. The Multiplier appears when it is 2x or higher — otherwise, it is always 1x and never falls below this value. The Multiplier decreases by 1x every 5 seconds if you don't hit any objects.

You can increase your Multiplier by hitting various objects:

  • Balloon: +1x
  • Bird: +2x
  • The Cheat: +1x
  • Cold One: -5x

The Cheat can be hit repeatedly, but each time you hit him, he reverses direction and starts walking faster.

Strong Sad Effects

Strong Sad occasionally appears from behind the fence. Hitting him will award the effect indicated in his thought balloon:

  • 2X: Your multiplier is increased by 2.
  • -2X: Your multiplier is decreased by 2.
  • BIG: The Tire increases in size.
  • FLY: The Tire falls more slowly.
  • SAD: Your multiplier is reduced to 1. (The word in the thought balloon changes to 0x, but you can still score 1 point per bounce.)

Fun Facts

Explanations

  • The bad grammar in the introduction is a reference to the language found in old video games that were poorly translated from Japanese to English.

Trivia

  • When the Tire hits the ground, your Multiplier resets to 1x, and the effect you receive depends on your score:
    • 0-2: Nothing.
    • 3-99: A sad-sounding sound effect.
    • 100-499: A quick, energetic sound effect.
    • 500-999: A more complicated sound effect, and a plane flies by towing a random message.
    • 1000+: A dramatic tune plays, and a plane flies by towing a random message.
  • The possible messages you can see behind the plane are:
    • YOU RULE
    • PURE FUN
    • GIVE IT UP
    • FHI-FIVE
    • POP:YOU
    • ROCK/ROLL
    • GOOD ONE
    • TIRE-TASTIC!
    • JAM ON IT
    • LET GO
    • PARTY.WOO!
    • PARDON ME?
    • X-L-NT
    • GROW IT OUT
    • PARENTAL!!
    • GOSH!
    • LOVIN' IT
    • SPANKIN'!
    • YOU 4 EVA
    • YOU.COM
    • YOU.CALM
    • WISHIWASU
    • WHO'S THAT?
    • THE BOUNCA!
  • The background changes with the time of day. For example, if you play this game at 2 in the morning, you will see a night sky.
  • In the game Awexome Cross '98, The Cheat can fit inside the tire and roll along in it. In this game however, The Cheat appears too large to be able to fit in the tire.
  • Cold Ones start appearing when you reach a x5 multiplier, and become more frequent when you reach x10.

Inside References

  • The bird in this game also flies across the screen in take-a-break.exe, which appeared in huttah!
    • The same bird is also seen flying over Bubs's baloney Sammich truck in Weclome Back.
  • The title screen is of the second-to-last shot in flag day.

Real-World References

  • This game's loading screen is a spoof of the Commodore 64 boot screen:
  • The loading screen used to read "9,1", but was later changed to read "8,1". In the C-64, "9,1" told the computer to access the second floppy drive, if one was connected. The ",1" meant the program had a machine code component (for the technically-minded, it indicated that the loaded program shouldn't be relocated in memory).
  • This game plays in stereo, even though the C-64 was not capable of stereo sound.
  • In the Viidelectrix version of this game, the word "Compydore" on the loading screen was changed to "Compiidore" to refer to the Nintendo Wii.
I'M GETTING SLEEPY!!
  • The page title "I FEEL ASLEEP!" quotes the game Metal Gear for the NES.
    • There is a C-64 version of Metal Gear, based on the NES version, but it appears to lack this quote. The Japanese version also lacks this scene.
  • The seagull graphic and several of the sound effects are taken from the game California Games (1988).
  • Other sound effects (including hitting The Cheat and breaking a Cold One) are taken from the game Wizball, a surrealistic shooter game for the C-64.
  • Hitting a balloon makes the same sound as running through an explosion in the C-64 game "Paradroid".

External Links


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