Vigilante 8

Overview

Vigilante 8, which was released in July of 1998, is a vehicular combat game which and was a spin off of the PC game Interstate '76. Vigilante 8 was later re-released on the Xbox Live Arcade as Vigilante 8 Arcade on November 5th 2008, it features improved graphics and new arenas. The games story is about an oil crisis in the 1970s which causes several vehicle based skirmishes to break out throughout the country using advanced and top secret weaponry. Vigilante 8 was developed by a team of only 5 people, far less than the usual PlayStation development teams.

Character Bios

Vigilantes

Convoy

Vigilantes' righteous leader. Originally a trucker, he decided to take the law into his own hands after being repeatedly ambushed by Coyotes on his transport routes.

Chassey Blue

A beauty queen and secret government agent from D.C., Chassey joined the Vigilantes as part of her undercover assignment to neutralize the Coyotes.

Slick Clyde

A showoff playboy from Texas, Clyde was on his way to an auto show in Alburquerque when Convoy confiscated his truck and forced him to help the Vigilantes. (Now Clyde wants to be the leader.)

Ending: In Slick Clydes ending he stops at a rest stop for a break after defeating the Coyotes. Unfortunately, he happens to reach the same rest stop where Houston broke her mind control device. Slick, being the curious man he is, decides to strap on the fancy looking bracelet. The last scene of the ending shows a newspaper headline, claiming that Slick Clyde has become the new leader of the Coyotes. He reappears as the main villain in the sequel, under the monicker of Lord Clyde.

Dave

Dave believes aliens are his friends and has been tracking them for years. He joined the Vigilantes in hope of entering Site-4 and seeing some aliens first hand.

John Torque

Torque, John Torque. A one-time Vegas hustler, he was recruited by Convoy for the good cause. Now he's Convoy's right-hand man. Vowed never to gamble again.

Ending: John drives off into the sunset claiming never to gamble again, with HIS money. In the back seat of his car he has a suitcase full of cash that he got once he busted Sid. However, the biggest catch is in John's trunk. John caught Sid and is ready to turn him in, swimming in all the cash he needs.

Sheila

Convoy's stubborn 16 year-old niece. Sheila loves all the action. Convoy is furious with her, but she won't let him send her back home.

Y the Alien

(Information Classified)

Coyotes

Sid Burn

A born arsonist, Sid is the Coyotes' ruthless leader. He was promised $100 million by a foreign oil consortium to destabilize the U.S. economy by wreaking havoc in the southwest

Beezwax

An enraged Arizona bee keeper. When his bees were mutated by radiation from government nuclear tests, Beezwax joined the Coyotes in revenge.

Ending: After his victory, Beezwax claims ownership of some Site-4 warheads. The deadly explosives are unfortunately colored yellow and black, the same color pattern of his precious bees. One of his bees lands on the tip of the warhead, accidentally blowing Beezwax up in the process. The same bees that helped Beezwax rise to glory, where the same thing that led to his downfall.

Boogie

A die hard dance fan, Boogie is the winner of several disco dancing competitions. When not shaking his booty, Boogie runs dirty jobs for Sid.

Ending: While riding off after defeating the last of his Vigilante enemies, Boogie receives the most anticlimactic ending of all of the Coyotes. He is pulled over by the police and convicted of his past crimes.

Houston 3

OMAR's scientists turned Houston into a bionic woman against her will. Half human, half machine, she was programmed to aid Sid in his quest for destruction and chaos.

Loki

Former military test pilot of secret craft at Site-4, Loki was released from duty after becoming mentally unstable. He is obsessed with flying and will do anything to pilot one of the saucers again!

Ending: Loki finally finds one of the saucers he was waiting to pilot. However, after a long period of absence from the controls of a flying saucer Loki accidentally crashes. Due to Loki's alien like appearance, once he is found he is declared as an alien that crash landed his ship on Earth.

Molo

An obnoxious kid from New York, Molo was kicked out of school for bad behavior. He stole a school bus and headed west to play bully with the big boys.

Vehicles

Vigilantes' Vehicles

'72 Moth Truck

Convoy's truck is definitely one of the heavier duty vehicles - not only is it one of the larger vehicles in the game, but it is also able to take loads of punishment before it bites the dust. As with all heavy vehicles, one of the key tactics is to ram other vehicles - the faster you're going when you hit, the more damage gets done. In addition, when you're lining yourself up to ram another vehicle, fire some weapons at the same time - as long as you don't blast your victim out of the way, chances are they'll take major punishment.

'67 Rattler

Chassey's car, although quite lightly armored still holds up as one of the better choices of characters, due in part to the Rattlers high speed and effectiveness of 'Gridlock'. The main advantage of the rattler is its speed and maneuverability, so try and run circles round your opponents and be sure to get out of there if your in trouble. On the downside, it's quite light and any kind of serious blast can knock the Rattler for six.

'70 Van

Overall, Daves vehicle is one of the poorer choices in the game - it's not heavily enough armored to make up for it's lack of speed and is too large to provide much avoidance. Its one saving grace, however, is that it has a reasonable ramming ability for such a small vehicle, so it's wise to use this as much as possible.

'69 Jefferson

Torque is a very well-balanced character, even better than other all-rounders. Not too slow , not too poorly armored and with reasonable avoidance, Torque is good for beginners and experts. Because he's pretty good all-round, a variety of tactics are available.

'74 Strider

Sheila has probably the smallest vehicle in the game, so you really need to exploit this to make the most of the strider. As far as long range attacks go, the best tactic is to drive in amongst scenery, zipping in different directions to through of weapons. Up close, run circles round your opponents to confuse opponents, all the time using weapons like the Bruiser cannon. This stays focused on the enemy without the need to aim.

'70 Clydesdale

Slicks vehicle is a pretty good all-rounder, with both reasonable armor and speed . However, it is also chunkier than other all-rounders and this makes it an easier target for weapons '. The flipside of this is that it has ramming potential, especially when up against weaker all rounders. Overall, the Clydesdale is pretty good, but many players prefer the faster and lighter all-rounders. However, Clydes weapon means that you don't need to be near opponents to nail them...

Coyotes' Vehicles

Manta

Sid is a contender for best character in the game, The Manta compares well with Houstons' Palomino, but seems lighter, allowing it to get some serious air and pull off tighter turns. Driving circles round opponents is no problem, as is getting out of sticky situations. The high speed means that you can often just outrun any incoming missiles, or at least hide in amongst scenery. For a great 'run 'n gun' match, put Sid up against Chassey Blue in Canyonlands and watch them tear up the roadside!

'70 Stag Pickup

Beezwax is comparable to Dave, both are reasonably strong, but suffer from being to bulky. This makes them easier targets, although Beezwax can sometimes avoid incoming fire. However, the low speed rating and the fact that he can't really go up against characters like Convoy mean that he'll probably one of you least popular choices.

'76 Leprechaun

As with Loki, there's not too much to recommend Boogie, as the low speed and armor make him a sitting duck in the arena. His only saving grace is that because he's small, he can avoid incoming fire or long range attacks.

'75 Palamino

Houston has the ability to tear around the arenas with ease, as well as powering up inclines to get those vital wrenches. Compared to Sids and Chasseys vehicles, the Palamino is slightly more sluggish and heavier, but this allows you to use it to ram weaker vehicles, so it's a good trade off.

'73 Glenn 4x4

Overall, Loki, isn't the greatest of characters, and if you want a small fast vehicle it's probably best to opt for Sheila instead. However, a good fair-fight deathmatch is if you put Loki up against Sheila. On the plus side, Loki does have a very small vehicle, so, the same tactics apply with Sheila - try not to get into any serious close-combat activity or you'll be totalled.

'66 School Bus

Molo is a killer when it comes to ramming - hell, he can even go up against Convoy with pretty good odds! Obviously, the faster you're going, the more damage will be inflicted, so use the 'down-the-hill' method or the afterburner combo to push that speedometer into the red. In addition, let off a few rockets to do extra damage, just make sure you don't knock your target out the way, or you'll go hurtling past barely scraping them.

Levels

• Aircraft Graveyard
• Canyonlands
• Casino City
• Ghost Town
• Hoover Dam
• Oil Fields
• Sand Factory
• Secret Base
• Ski Resort
• Valley Farms

Special Weapons

Gridlock

Developed for Chassey by government labs, the Gridlock launches an expanding grid of flares. The flares combust on impact in a gaseous discharge, capable of stalling and damaging almost any engine within the grid area.

Steel Belter

Advanced weaponry is all well and good, but for Convoy there's nothing like an old truck tire stuffed full of dynamite. Just let it roll and (as luck would have it), it will bounce after the bad guys.

Invasion

A small radar dish found at Site-4 finally allowed Dave to establish a channel of communication with the aliens. Now, he doesn't hesitate to call for help when the going gets tough. A swarm of these little saucers spells certain death to anyone who isn't fast enough to outrun them.

Bass Quake

Torque bought the best car stereo money could buy and he needed the right speaker box to go with it. This custom-made bad boy has enough bass to ripple the earth!

Tantrum Gun

Sheila loves big guns and this 24mm Gatling is as large as her dune buggy can carry. Features an auto-tracking turret. It can knock weapons off enemies' cars!

White Lightning

When Slick originally found this large 'rod' at Site-4, he had no idea it was a lightning inducing apparatus. He just thought it was a cool looking antenna! Its charge can fry an electrical system!

Gamma Swarm

Don't let Beezwax unleash his mutant killer bees. They will 'sting ya real good!' Can you outrun the swarm?!

Disco Inferno

Boogies own invention. An inflatable disco-ball firing explosive flares! Spin, baby, spin!

Super Fantastic Death Ray 3-Ax

OMAR's scientists spared no expense when creating weaponry for the ultimate assassin. This blue laser will cut through anything and keep on going. It can knock power-ups off enemies' cars!

Scatter Missiles

A rack of three cruise missiles retrofitted by Loki with cluster-bomb warheads.

Bad Day In L.A.

Molo won't say what he put into this old junkyard muffler, but he believes it's his best prank yet. It produces fumes so dense, they plug up most engines for good.

Breath of Fire

When Sid wanted a rapid-fire molotov launcher for his Manta, he had one made to order by the OMAR boys. A direct hit will set enemy cars ablaze!

Banned Vigilante 8 N64 Commercial

Upon release in North America a commercial was released for the game which showed a school bus dropping kids off at school and driving away, after cutting into gameplay the bus would later return to pick the kids up after school but was destroyed. The reason behind it being banned was due to its violent content and was pulled after the Columbine High School Massacre.