Mad Max (NES)

Mad Max

Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System Year: 1990 Developer: Eastridge Technology, Gray Matter Buy: Amazon

Mad Max is a movie based game based on the second Mad Max movie in the series, The Road Warrior, and is loosely based on the computer game, Road Raider. The game was developed by Eastridge Technology with the assistance of Gray Matter. The player starts in Max's Pursuit Special and must locate and explore caves to get food and water to trade for an arena pass. After the player has obtained an arena pass from the shop, they must look around the wasteland for the arena without running out of fuel. If the player takes too much damage or runs out of fuel, they lose the game and will have to start from the beginning of the level they were playing.

The game has three sets of two levels; Road War and Arena. Road War is where the player takes control of Max's Pursuit Special and must do the aforementioned tasks of finding items to trade for an arena pass. Arena is where the player takes control of the Pursuit Special and must destroy all the opposing vehicles. The arena consists of many slim roads filled with opening and closing pits that open randomly when the player gets near them. There are no weapons here, so the only way to destroy cars is to knock them either off the road or into the opening and closing pits. The final car will act as the boss of the level, and after the player disposes of them in the same manner, they move on to the next stage.

The game contains a four-letter password system, which is good for an NES game. However, there is a password for the third and final arena level that is useless because you will not have enough crossbow arrows to kill the final boss, Humungus, even if each and every one hits him. The only way to get enough crossbow ammunition is to explore level 3 from the beginning.

The game was developed by only three people; Nick Eastridge as the programmer, Nick Gray as the graphic artist, and Rich Shemaria as the music composer.

Mad Max received poor reviews from critics for its poor and confusing gameplay.

Screenshots

The title screen. The game's prologue. The main menu, which has an uncanny resemblance to Infiltrator (NES). Playing one of the Road War levels. Exploring a cave for items. Playing one of the Arena battles.

Music

Unfortunately, there are only two songs in the game. One is a song that plays at the title screen, the caves and during the final boss battle and a 2-second loop song that plays when you die or enter the arena. For unknown reasons, the music has been tuned a little sharp. Rich Shemaria wrote the game's score, which was then handed over to Nick Eastridge to convert into his sound driver.

According to Shemaria, he wrote more music for the game, but the songs ended up not making it into the final game. This was likely due to time constraints set by Mindscape.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Listen	Download
01	Mad Max	Rich Shemaria	Nick Eastridge	2:35		Download
02	Death	Rich Shemaria	Nick Eastridge	0:13		Download

Credits

• Ripper: Gil-Galad
• Recorder: Doommaster1994
• Game Credits:
  • Unknown Composer: Rich Shemaria
  • Not Credited Arranger/Programmer: Nick Eastridge

(Source: Verification from composer, game's sound engine; Game lacks credits.)

Eastridge Technology never put credits in their games. However, Rich Shemaria has verified working on the game. The game uses Nick Eastridge's sound driver.

The game's instruction manual has a special thanks list of people who worked on the game, but none of the development staff are credited.

Game Rip

This rip is missing songs.

Format	Download
	N/A

Ripping NES music is an arduous process that is beyond the scope of this site. The recording was made in NSFPlay.

Releases

USA Title: Mad Max Platform: NES Released: 1990-07-?? Publisher: Mindscape Inc.

Links

• mobygames.com/game/nes/mad-max - MobyGames.
• gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587428-mad-max-1990 - GameFAQs.