MICRO MACHINES 2: TURBO TOURNAMENT

SEGA MEGA DRIVE, 1994

The next time you’re at breakfast and someone starts making ramps out of breadboards and pots of jam, don’t panic – chances are they just spent too much time in their formative years playing this game based on the supremely swallowable model cars.

Micro Machines 2: Turbo Tournament managed to turn even the most mundane domestic tableau into a dramatic racing circuit, complete with liquid hazards, hastily constructed jumps and the occasional dizzying drop from the table to the linoleum floor below. Lewis Hamilton might be a great driver, but has he ever had to swerve at the last minute to avoid tumbling down the pocket of a pool table? Exactly.

Turbo Tournament built on the original Micro Machines game with the addition of hovercraft and helicopter races and the household locations boasted even more variety than before. This still has to be, to date, the only racing game that has allowed for a NASCAR-style oval race around a toilet seat. And unlike real life, you don’t even have to fish stricken cars out of fetid bog water. Result.

This sequel also kicked things up a notch in the multiplayer department. The brilliant Knockout mode, where the camera follows the leading car and anyone who can’t stay on the screen is eliminated, returned for Turbo Tournament to ruin friendships all over again. This time, though, the game arrived on a custom Mega Drive game cartridge that featured two extra joypad ports built in, helping you more easily inflict your obnoxious post-race victory dance on three mates instead of just one.

Micro Machines 2: all the fun of the Micro Machines toys, none of the shooting pain up your sciatic nerve when you tread on one of the sodding things barefoot. Mike Channell