SPOGS Racing (WiiWare)

News Article

USA WiiWare Update: SPOGS Racing

Posted Mon, 07 Jul 2008 by Darren Calvert

Neck and neck action in SPOGS Racing

Neck and neck action in SPOGS Racing

A bit of a surprise this week as SPOGS Racing is up for grabs on WiiWare. This actually looks like it could be quite good fun if you like racing games. It doesn’t take itself too seriously from what we can tell. Comparisons to Mario Kart have even been made, so it has a lot to live up to! How will it fare we wonder?

Our review will be up within the next couple of days, so if you are on the fence then you can wait for our verdict. In the meantime, to find out more about the game check out our exclusive interview with D2C Games.

More from Nintendo’s Wii-kly update:

Nintendo adds new and classic games to the Wii Shop Channel at 9 a.m. Pacific time every Monday. This week’s new games are:

SPOGS Racing (D2C Games™, 1-2 players, Rated E for Everyone - Mild Cartoon Violence, 1,000 Wii Points): Coming at you full throttle is SPOGS Racing, an all-new racer from D2C Games featuring classic arcade racing, pick-up-and-play controls, all-new racing vehicles and Crash N’ Grab™ instant upgrades. Jump in, gear up and modify your ride on the fly as you compete head-to-head for a totally outrageous arcade racing experience on your Wii console. Whether you’re a casual gamer or hardcore racer, SPOGS Racing features fun for all and is a must-have download for your WiiWare digital game library.

In other news the Virtual Console gets a new Neo Geo game today in the shape of King of the Monsters. It was a pretty cool game at the time, if you like wrestling with monsters, but in retrospect it’s not as good to play now as it once was. King of the Monsters 2 holds up much better so it might be worth waiting to see if that pops up on VC instead.

Tags: WiiWare, North American Releases.

Game Screenshots

User Comments

Kreegs07

1. Kreegs07 United States 07 Jul 2008, 13:41 BST

This looks pretty fun actually. I may have to get this.

Versus22

2. Versus22 Canada 07 Jul 2008, 13:51 BST

Even though we only get one WiiWare game again, SPOGS Racing is awesome! :)

KnucklesSonic8

3. KnucklesSonic8 Canada 07 Jul 2008, 14:07 BST

What's with all the fighting/Neo Geo Games lately? No N64 love at all!

Anyway, I AM surprised at what came out today (wasn't expecting it for another two weeks) but I'm not getting it unless I can be convinced otherwise that it's a worthy contender.

Jupiter Adept

4. Jupiter Adept Canada 07 Jul 2008, 14:11 BST

Bah, I wanted Strong Bad.

KnucklesSonic8

5. KnucklesSonic8 Canada 07 Jul 2008, 14:15 BST

For the fifth time, Strong Bad won't be out for quite a while.

TokiToku

6. TokiToku United States 07 Jul 2008, 14:45 BST

pretty sweet, im gonna expect more surprises as the months go on. what with all the Neo Geo games, i want some N64 ones! Heck, SNK is releasing SNK Arcade Classic Vol. 1 tomorrow. it has 16 Neo Geo games on a disc for 30$. im getting that cause i wanna play king of fighters and other games.

Boringman54

7. Boringman54 Canada 07 Jul 2008, 14:57 BST

YAY!!! Once I have enough money, I'm getting a Points Card and buying this.

supermario2

8. supermario2 United Kingdom 07 Jul 2008, 15:01 BST

I'd like this heck I like any game where u can crash into another racer with a big explosion but when do u think this will be coming and how much, does it have online plz say YES i'm desperate 4 anther online wiiware game.

thewiirocks

9. thewiirocks United States 07 Jul 2008, 15:03 BST

@KnucklesSonic8 sez... What's with all the fighting/Neo Geo Games lately? No N64 love at all!

Forget the N64. The N64 has been given quite a bit of attention by Nintendo. What about the SNES; a system with a rather massive library of high quality titles? I can't even remember when the system last saw a VC release! The TG-16, NeoGeo, and Sega Genesis (!) have all gotten more attention than the beloved SNES console.

Kreegs07

10. Kreegs07 United States 07 Jul 2008, 15:06 BST

Has anyone played this yet?

BlackFira

11. BlackFira Canada 07 Jul 2008, 15:25 BST

@thewiirocks what in the world are you talking about the snes library is bigger then the N64. what they should do is even it out for all system or give us a couple of GOOD N64 titles like resident evil 2, donkey kong 64, diddy kong racing “if they just take conker out of the game then its possible", james bond golden eye , perfect dark 64, mario party 3 and so on then that will get a variety to stop complaing about lack of n64 titles for a good while. though thats highly unlikely right now. but im so not happy cuz they are definitively giving us nothing but a bunch cr@p for vc.

XCWarrior

12. XCWarrior United States 07 Jul 2008, 15:39 BST

So only one VC and one WW. That's a bit disappointing. I sure hope this is a calm before the storm with E3.

BlackFira

13. BlackFira Canada 07 Jul 2008, 15:51 BST

when is E3 coming and since i figured its in japan how do we view it all i know is my cousin use to have a E3 disc for all 3 systems

Big=Sexy

14. Big=Sexy United States 07 Jul 2008, 15:54 BST

@BlackFira:
Except we already got a Diddy Kong Racing without Conker. That nobody bought. It's on the DS.

Perfect Dark we won't see for sure, and Golden Eye has so many issues that we might as well be hoping that the Tooth Fairy will put some Incan gold under our pillows in exchange for some Inuyasha fanfics. Mario Party would be nice, considering they were (somewhat) enjoyable on the 64, but RE2 is awash as well - why pay $10 for a terrible port when you can pay $10 for the GC one?

I understand the want for more 64 games, because I myself have a list of 64 games that would put me out by at least $100, but we just have to be patient I guess. Why they're not out is beyond me, but you'll have to convince me otherwise that the games on VC now are utter crap.

@supermario2:
This comes out in about an hour.

Wiireview123

15. Wiireview123 Canada 07 Jul 2008, 15:55 BST

what was the last n64 game we got and when did we get it? we NEED another N64 game!!!!

Objection_Blaster

16. Objection_Blaster United States 07 Jul 2008, 15:57 BST

@BlackFira e3 is in about 7 days and goes for around 72 hours. Its not in Japan, its in the USA. Check IGN/Youtube during or after that period as people always put stuff up.
@Knuckles Quite a while? Actually, my ninjas (sources) tell me that uit will be out next Monday! And that would be great. Not that this game isn't. Well, it looks okay...

rjejr

17. rjejr United States 07 Jul 2008, 16:00 BST

to TokiTori - SNK Arcade Classic Vol. 1 is listed on Amazon for $14.99 US which is less than $1 per game, though that is on the PS2. I'll prolly pick it up, my 3 1/2 year old plays all that stuff for free on Gametap.

Thomas

18. Thomas United States 07 Jul 2008, 16:06 BST

I think I'll stick with Mario Kart for now, but I will read the review when it comes.

BlackFira

19. BlackFira Canada 07 Jul 2008, 16:15 BST

@Big=Sexy well i only really mention re 2 cuz i dont even see it in any stores i been to in the past plus i don,t know how to use ebay and dont even know how the hell paypal works lol . i yet to get a prepaid credit card account set up. hopfully i will soon so i can get games i can,t find in stores such as tales of symphonia “ if thats spelled right or not ” and ff7 which i never played for ps1 so i can on my ps3. then i could probably bear the pain of the crap Noa is giving us for a good while lol.

@Objectionblaster thanks for info

TokiToku

20. TokiToku United States 07 Jul 2008, 16:40 BST

E3 is a big gaming event happening between july 14th-17th. its at the LA Convention Center. Its invitation only, so you cant go, but G4 is having live coverage starting july 14th, so dont miss it!

mjordan100

21. mjordan100 United States 07 Jul 2008, 17:01 BST

264 blocks.. downloading it now...

mjordan100

22. mjordan100 United States 07 Jul 2008, 17:13 BST

no online unfortunately, no mii support either. Racing was fun, graphics are not jaw dropping.. but for a wii ware title I am satisfied.. I dont own mario kart, only play it when my buddy comes over, so this will keep my over the top cartoonish racing satisfied. Power ups on track give you weapons, etc... Only raced one track, came in 3rd :( I will leave the review to the pros... but I am going to get my 10 bux worth..

ChocoDK

23. ChocoDK Canada 07 Jul 2008, 17:20 BST

This game looks kind of good but I will hold off until another game is released. Also I got no room due to the storage issue.

mjordan100

24. mjordan100 United States 07 Jul 2008, 17:26 BST

I hear ya.. I am full now too.. this was the last one I can get without deleting or moving to SD card.. any day now bigbother N!!

Atlantis1982

25. Atlantis1982 United States 07 Jul 2008, 17:28 BST

Good games this week, but I don't have any interest in them.

Luigison

26. Luigison United States 07 Jul 2008, 17:31 BST

Will WiiWare-World or VC-Reviews have someone at E3? Is so, do you have any interviews lined up? I've been to E3 twice, but never got a chance to interview anyone important.

Dazza

27. Dazza United Kingdom 07 Jul 2008, 18:00 BST

We were hoping that Corbie could make E3 this year and represent us, but it didn't work out with his schedule. If anyone is going this year (remember its press only) let us know :-p

thewiirocks

28. thewiirocks United States 07 Jul 2008, 18:15 BST

@BlackFira - It's not about the size of the SNES VC library in comparison to the N64 VC library. It's about the diminutive size of the SNES VC library in comparison to the console's full library. Unlike the N64 (which has a very small console library anyway), the SNES is not hard to emulate. Yet we have only 32 titles available.

In comparison, the Genesis has 50 titles and the TurboGrafx has 49!

The last SNES title was also released in March, while we got a great N64 title back in May. Which is just sad when you consider that the SNES has 785 games in its library compared to the N64's 387. Seriously: WHERE ARE ALL THE SNES GAMES?!?

classicmike

29. classicmike United States 07 Jul 2008, 18:50 BST

This looks preety interesting to download. I may have Mario Kart on the Wii, but this looks fun and enjoyable. Sadly, I have no more Wii Points, so I guess I'll just put this on my wish list for the Wii Ware games (it only is this game and mega man 9 on the list though), but anyway, I'll get a Wii Pionts card as soon as I can so I can get this game and mega man 9 when it comes out.
P. S.- So far, I have no interest in any virtual console games that are out.

breaderer

30. breaderer United States 07 Jul 2008, 18:57 BST

KnucklesSonic8
What are you talking about? SBCG4AP is supposed to be out in July. (hopefully next week)

strade32

31. strade32 United States 07 Jul 2008, 19:00 BST

this game looks interesting, but i will wait for the review to see if it is worth it.

PHANTOM93

32. PHANTOM93 United States 07 Jul 2008, 19:13 BST

This game looks pretty good but I'm still going to wait for the review, if the game scores well it may allow me to pass the time between now and when my MK Wii copy arrives. (CURSE YOU FREE SHIPPING!!!!!!!!)

Mario64DStyle

33. Mario64DStyle United States 07 Jul 2008, 19:51 BST

This game looks like it could be fun.. I'll wait for the review.. so I don't blow $10

Ricardo91

34. Ricardo91 United States 07 Jul 2008, 20:03 BST

This actually looks like a pretty fun game, but i'll wait for the review to see if it's worth my 1000 pts/10 bucks.

SRPirate

35. SRPirate United States 07 Jul 2008, 20:58 BST

it looks pretty fun. not bad, but ill wait until the review to find out

Peznaze

36. Peznaze United States 07 Jul 2008, 20:59 BST

Ah, poor Mastiff. Major League Eating gets snubbed yet again. Something must be horribly wrong with their game. Or maybe they got Nintendo mad.

SPOGS is sounding, from what I'm reading, to be a very mediocre title, especially at 1000 points and 264 blocks. But then, I think it is ready for a EU release, too... so next Friday they'll likely get this across the pond along with whatever title NA gets next Monday.

Corbie

37. Corbie United States 07 Jul 2008, 22:33 BST

I won't spoil the whole review for you guys, but this is not very good at all. It looks like it was thrown together in a hurry. Definitely not what I was hoping for. Maybe it will pick up as I play some 2-player. I'm not holding my breath. :(

thewiirocks

38. thewiirocks United States 07 Jul 2008, 22:57 BST

@Corbie - That's disappointing. I didn't expect much, but I was hoping. (Apparently against hope.) WiiWare really needs more good titles. The early titles were awesome. I'd hate to see it turn into another cesspool of XBLA hits and misses. (With more misses than hits.)

KnucklesSonic8

39. KnucklesSonic8 Canada 07 Jul 2008, 23:13 BST

Guys, don't rely on Wiki to tell you when SB is coming out.

Secondly, end of July-August is more likely. If I'm wrong, I'm wrong.

strade32

40. strade32 United States 07 Jul 2008, 23:34 BST

well, with what corbie said, i am probably not getting this. will still wait for review though.

Corbie

41. Corbie United States 08 Jul 2008, 00:16 BST

Who knew they were bringing back the Super Nintendo's Super FX chip all these years later. :)

Stratos

42. Stratos United States 08 Jul 2008, 00:39 BST

That bad, huh?
I was going to ask if there was any video you were going to post.

Corbie

43. Corbie United States 08 Jul 2008, 01:32 BST

At least you guys won't have to worry about me giving out another score of 7. We're short-handed here this week, so the review won't be up for quite awhile. I've almost got it finished but it's got to be proofed and published.

To sum it up, the game play is streaky, the AI is cheap, the visuals look like something some college kids threw together using an old Nintendo 64 development kit, and the music is just so out of place that you'll spend most of your time wishing you could just turn it off and enjoy the nice sound effects.

Ricardo91

44. Ricardo91 United States 08 Jul 2008, 01:52 BST

Okay, I get the picture now. This game sucks. Stupid Nintendo keep giving me crappy games every week mumble mumble mumble...

Is it even worse than critter roundup/My pokemon ranch?

Hey, I just realized it's based on those POG things! I remember POGs! So that makes it a licensed game. Now I understand why it sucks!

PapaSmalls

45. PapaSmalls United States 08 Jul 2008, 02:11 BST

I've written a review of this game elsewhere...but let me just offer this. I was SEVERELY dissapointed in this title after it being such an anticipated endeavor for WiiWare. I've gone so far as to say that Cruis'n USA at $10 is a better value than SPOGS Racing at $10. A lot of you don't know me...but I RARELY ever shun a game and can usually find a couple of things to redeem it. However with SPOGS, I've felt for the first time in a long time that I've actually wasted money. I hate that feeling and while I'm still excited by all WiiWare has to offer, I'm just sour on this poor attempt of a game that could be better if the develepors had spent more time fixing the framerate, weapons, tracks and to some extent, the graphics. That's just my unsolicited take on this, thanks.

Virus

46. Virus United States 08 Jul 2008, 02:11 BST

Oh the humanity... couldn't SPOGS just be okay so I could feel better? Well, I'm hoping E3 will pull a surprise on me and announce a whole bunch of cool new WiiWare games because if they don't, it doesn't look like I'm going to be looking forward to much...

slambert215

47. slambert215 United States 08 Jul 2008, 02:29 BST

SPOGS on IGN got a 1.9. Ouch

worrybomb

48. worrybomb United States 08 Jul 2008, 02:44 BST

I've been looking at the gameplay footage for SPOGS and I got to say that this game is the most plain, dullest looking game I have seen in a while. I think it'll be outright torture for anyone having to subject to this for more than 5 minutes. Of course I haven't played it, but in this case it's one of those games you just look at for a minute and say "pass".

AlexSays

49. AlexSays United States 08 Jul 2008, 02:45 BST

Yay. Corbie isn't giving a game a 7.
I think we all need to join hands and celebrate.

On another note...
@ PapaSmalls
An anticipated endeavor?
Nobody wanted this game.

MasterMario

50. MasterMario United States 08 Jul 2008, 03:05 BST

ign gave SPOGS racing a 1.9
Here is the review
http://wii.ign.com/articles/886/886803p1.html

Luigi

51. Luigi United States 08 Jul 2008, 03:08 BST

Isn't IGN one of the most unreliable sources for anything?

PapaSmalls

52. PapaSmalls United States 08 Jul 2008, 03:12 BST

@x.SuperMario.x: On the contrary, there have been plenty of folks who wanted this game. I don't necessarily listen to critics when determining whether or not I should get a game. Unfortunately my gut instinct on this game proved me wrong and that's a rarity these days. That being said, we all live and learn ;)

Tides of Chaos

53. Tides of Chaos United States 08 Jul 2008, 03:20 BST

@ Luigi
I thought that was Gamespot because of the whole Kate & Lynch thing. I've found IGN good most of the time but maybe I'm in minority for this.

Ricardo91

54. Ricardo91 United States 08 Jul 2008, 03:29 BST

I saw the video @ ign just now, and this game does look and sound horrible. Yeech! :P

@Papasmalls. I don't base my purchasing choices on critics either, but if a game scores a 1 on a 1-10 scale, that's a good sign it's probably not good.

Corbie

55. Corbie United States 08 Jul 2008, 04:21 BST

Well I'm scoring it higher than 1.9, but not by much. :P

WindOnFire

56. WindOnFire Australia 08 Jul 2008, 04:31 BST

OK, the games bad. but what I can't understand is that everyones complaining about the rubbish graphics, yet with Mega Man 9 you're all rejoicing in the "glory" of 8-bit!

Corbie

57. Corbie United States 08 Jul 2008, 04:36 BST

It's actually quite simple. Mega Man is a classic game series and Mega Man 9 looks just like the old Mega Man games. It's nostalgia. And I'm betting the game plays pretty well too. Spogs looks horrible, sounds horrible, and worst of all PLAYS horrible. The trifecta! :P

MasterMario

58. MasterMario United States 08 Jul 2008, 04:40 BST

Cool, a preview of your review.

Corbie

59. Corbie United States 08 Jul 2008, 04:42 BST

Well I knew it might be awhile before the review went up since we're short-handed this week so I thought that given how bad this game was, I'd at least warn people beforehand. :)

TKS144

60. TKS144 United States 08 Jul 2008, 05:01 BST

I find it impossible to knock on a WiiWare title's graphics. There are limitations considering the amount of blocks they can take up and it's not as if you're expecting fantastic graphics from a 10 dollar game in the first place.

Corbie

61. Corbie United States 08 Jul 2008, 05:06 BST

All of the developers have the same limitations, yet we've already seen some fantastic visuals in some WiiWare titles.

Versus22

62. Versus22 Canada 08 Jul 2008, 05:18 BST

@Corbie
WOW! I didn't expect this...
I give this game 3/10!

hamispink

63. hamispink United States 08 Jul 2008, 05:51 BST

@blackfira - G4 TV will show e3 live and g4tv.com will be streaming it live and its on July 14-16

PHANTOM93

64. PHANTOM93 United States 08 Jul 2008, 05:51 BST

@ Corbie

I don't think that you can criticise the graphics for a game like this on one condition, frame rate. F-zero X had terrible graphics but ran at 60 fps. But there is no excuse for bad graphics if there is a low frame rate. What would you say the frame rate for this game is?

Oh and i'm curious exactly how long is "awhile" until you post the review for this game. it would be nice to know :-)

SRPirate

65. SRPirate United States 08 Jul 2008, 06:02 BST

ok with what corbie said, im not getting this game now. saving my wii points for something better...

@Corbie- when is the review for this coming

Corbie

66. Corbie United States 08 Jul 2008, 06:04 BST

@Phantom93 - As for the framerate, it's decent. There are moments it drops, especially during the jumps when the camera swings out and the loop sections. I'm not super critical of graphics, but the visuals in SPOGS Racing are terrible. Even by WiiWare standards. Even by Nintendo 64 standards. Some of the tracks look like they were done using the Super Nintendo's Super FX chip. :P

@Versus - You read my mind! :)

Dazza

67. Dazza United Kingdom 08 Jul 2008, 10:50 BST

Corbie's review is now live. Ouch, its not looking good! :p

PHANTOM93

68. PHANTOM93 United States 08 Jul 2008, 16:06 BST

@ Corbie

Thanks for the feedback :-)

Mickeymac

69. Mickeymac United States 08 Jul 2008, 18:05 BST

Woah! It's Monday already? Well, Tuesday, actually. I had been waiting for this game for a long time, though, now I started to read some of the posts and it sounds like I waited for nothing. I guess I'll have to read the review before I make my assessment, though.

Dazza

70. Dazza United Kingdom 08 Jul 2008, 18:14 BST

@Mickeymac - look just a few posts up! :D

Mickeymac

71. Mickeymac United States 08 Jul 2008, 22:44 BST

Thank you Dazza, that makes up for stealing the only good Shinobi pic I could find for an Avatar. And yes, the game does suck and was not worth the wait.

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