Micro Machines

Developed by Codemasters, the Micro Machines games took the popular children's toys and turned them into a top-down racer set in a Macro Zone. Whether racing 4x4s on the breakfast table or F1 cars in the games room, the Micro Machines series has a great combination of fun, amusing details (such as the cereal boxes with "100% Artificial Ingredients" written on them) and multiplayer madness.


 * Micro Machines
 * Micro Machines 2 Turbo Tournament
 * Micro Machines Turbo Tournament 96
 * Micro Machines: Military (basically Micro Machines for military junkies, or people who enjoyed the tank levels a lot)
 * Micro Machines V3 (the first 3D game in the series)
 * Micro Machines 64 Turbo (V3 for the Nintendo 64)
 * Micro Maniacs (featured rather than cars).
 * Micro Machines (yes, that's what they called it)
 * Micro Machines V4 (the first game that allowed you to choose your own cars for all races.)

This game series provides examples of:
 * And Now for Something Completely Different: Micro Maniacs is people. Most people don't even know it's part of the franchise at all.
 * Backstory: Micro Maniacs. (There's a lot of accidents)
 * V4 was in a motorcycle accident.
 * Pyra had a lab accident involving combustion.
 * As did Vortex, concering black holes.
 * Maw-Maw is a Mix and Match Critter.
 * Twister was a crazy twit.
 * Beatbox was a DJ who wanted to be able to play more effectively with elements of The Spook.
 * Waldo was a rival scientist who had an accident with his own shrink ray and got picked up by it's inventor.
 * Mesme was a Creepy Child who suffered a Noodle Incident.
 * Dynamo was a crashed alien.
 * Roach was the doctor's nephew and an insect torturer who is suffering karmic punishment.
 * Toxin was a mercenary who tried to steal the Minimizer. Dr. Minimizer gave away the plans in exchange for Toxin's cooperation in the experiment.
 * Project X is All Your Powers Combined with a lot of Cloning Blues.
 * Different As Night and Day: Vortex and Pyra are almost the same, except for the exact details of their accidents.
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin: Anyone with a basic knowledge of the English language would assume that is is indeed about small automobiles/aircraft/combat vehicles/whatever they think are "machines".
 * Excuse Plot: Subverted - while the plot in Micro Maniacs is just a justification for tiny people running around, it's as developed as a real plot and has a resolution for every character.
 * Expy: V4 of Spider. And, by proxy - Vortex and Bonnie, Pyra and Cherry, Waldo and Jethro, Twister and Emilio, Beatbox and Joel, Mesme and Anne, Maw Maw and Chen, Dynamo and Mike, Roach and Dwayne, Toxin and Walter (Project X is closest to Jade from V3, since she's a slight Composite Character, but being literally everyone he probably doesn't need a basis).
 * The Ghost: Dr Minimizer. He does have backstory other than being the inventor of the Minimizer - he's Waldo's rival and Roach's uncle.
 * Level Ate: Several racing environments, from the kitchen to the breakfast table to eating out at restaurants.
 * Level Editor: Included in Micro Machines 2 for the PC, and Micro Machines Turbo Tournament 96 for the Genesis
 * Macro Zone: naturally.
 * Men Are Generic, Women Are Special: Inverted for Micro Maniacs - all the secret characters are men.
 * Multiple Endings: Again, Micro Maniacs - one for every character.
 * V4 goes destiny-seeking with a motorbike Dr. Minimizer made from the rest of the crash parts.
 * Vortex gets honour degrees and becomes an astronaut where she leads the first ever mission into a black hole.
 * Pyra takes a nice holiday in a volcanic lake.
 * Waldo tries to turn himself into a giant with the Minimizer, but accidentally turns himself into a baby and destroys his power suit.
 * Maw Maw escapes and eats cake. (Well, it is Maw Maw.)
 * Twister gets action figures made of, becomes a household name, and gets very rich.
 * Beatbox opens a club with Maximized hi-fi.
 * Mesme brings her teddy bear to life after Maximising it. Now Mesme won't have nightmares anymore...
 * Toxin gets a three year cold and goes to jail.
 * Roach tortures everyone else (so is presumably the first to be Maximized).
 * Dynamo goes home.
 * Project X clones itself and leads a rampage, but Dr. Minimizer decides to stomp the invasion and crush it's megalomaniacal dreams.
 * No Celebrities Were Harmed: Spider is essentially The Fonz.
 * No Problem With Licensed Games: It helps that the licence is for a series of toys rather than a film or something, but the the series were some of the best party games ever produced.
 * Stylistic Suck: Ace Spider and Fab Bonnie eventually becomes Able Chen and Fair Anne, and ultimately Poor Dwayne and Dire Walter.
 * That One Level: The sandpit levels in the first game. If your dune buggy went into the water, it took a very long time to sink - eating up a large period of time while your opponents got ever further ahead. Happily avoided in the later games with water hazards, as the cars would sink much faster.
 * ALL the desktop sportscar levels, due to so many falloff points and the cars moving far faster than most reaction speeds. MM1's finale, "Win This Race To Be Champion", is particularly heinous.
 * The real offender, however, was the Rufftrux levels. Not only are you likely to sink, but it's against an unbelievably stingy time limit. With all the sinking, it's very difficult to actually finish one. To add insult to injury, if you get 1st on all the races, this'll get you a Rufftrux level just after a Formula 1 race, which also qualifies for this trope. If you lost lives falling off the table (or onto the table), you won't be able to get them back (they're the prize for completing a Rufftrux level).
 * Toy Time: Again, several racing environments, from the sandpit to the bedroom to the games room.
 * Vehicular Combat: The tanks in the first game can shoot (meaning the best thing you can do is take an early lead and then run the rest of the race backwards - tanks are equally slow in both directions), and the various weapons in the 3D games.
 * Visual Pun: The races are real world environments - because they're Micro Machines. Most characters have puns based around their character woven into their backstory (mostly because Dr. Minimizer likes to use the cause of death as the motif for the second life, and because said death is often the direct cause of rebirth).
 * V4's bike accident made him a bike character (Dr. Minimizer reconstructed him).
 * Vortex was playing with black holes.
 * Same with Pyra (again).
 * Waldo had a Minimizer copy accident (making him a science themed character).
 * Roach is undergoing Karmic Punishment.
 * Beatbox with his speakers (it was his wish).
 * Toxin was possibly suffering from a cold.
 * Maw Maw, Project X, Twister, Mesme and Dynamo already were how they are, so this trope doesn't apply to them.

"Andrememberifitdoesn'tsay"MicroMachines"... It's not the real thing!"