The secrets of Hog Hollow

Hello friends, I hope that you are doing well. Today I wanted to talk about one of my favorite games. I’ve written about NASCAR Rumble on a couple of occasions. I will probably do so again in the future. Today I wanted to mention something that’s a bit of a throw-away detail. Something so minuscule I have a feeling that a lot of players never even caught it in the game. First off let’s talk about the stages. Unlike the other NASCAR games there were no licensed tracks featured in this game. Instead there were courses inspired by regions of the US. The south specifically, but also the midwest, and west coast. Each region featured three courses to race on with heavy theming. One of my favorites was Southern Exposure, and it’s third, and most complex road was called Hog Hollow.

The developers at EA had a lot of fun putting together these roads. There was nothing subtle in the themes that they used, in fact they were heavy handed with the details, and that’s what I especially loved. In this case Hog Hollow took place through a Three Little Pigs theme park, and hog farm. If you looked carefully you would notice that the track was shaped in the outline of a pig. For a few years I thought that it was a particularly challenging course, until one day I looked at the map, and made out the shape. I felt so stupid for not realizing it sooner.

Every course had a shortcut, or series of shortcuts that you could exploit to beat your opponents. As the old saying went in NASCAR “if you ain’t cheating you ain’t winning.” The main shortcuts for Hog Hollow took place just after the gates of the park, there was a barn with a fence, and sign that read Park Closed. Of course you could crash through the gates, and streak through the narrow streets.

Here was one example of the types of details that players would miss. Since the cars are going super fast the audience wouldn’t have time to read the signs in the retail area of the park. They would miss the Porkantile market, or the Piggy’s Bank.

At the end of the street there’s a stage show dedicated to the Three Little Pigs. You can drive down the aisle, and run over the pig standees. Out the back door there is a shortcut that leads under the parking lot.

After you exit the park, and follow the road you will eventually come across a hog farm. If you drive between the pens you can see, and hear pigs squealing. It’s another great touch for one of the last games made on the original Playstation.

The greatest hidden detail in the game is one easily missed. There are three ticket booths at the front gates of Hog Hollow. The booths are themed after the story of the Three Little Pigs. You can easily run over the standees, fence, and booths themselves. Those things are all destructible. That is with the exception of the house of bricks.

No matter how fast you are going, or even what type of car or truck you drive, you simply cannot destroy the house of bricks. You can’t even break through the fence. The best part is that if you run over one of the remaining pig standees then it will immediately appear in the yard of the brick house.

I actually didn’t even catch this detail for years, and years. My focus was on winning the race, and not about seeing what happened to items you crashed through. As in many games those things simply disappeared once they were smashed. Then one day I noticed that there was an extra pig with the brick house. I thought to myself there was no way the studio programmed in this throwaway detail. So I restarted the stage and slowly ran over the sticks, and straw houses just to see. Sure enough nothing happened unless I ran over the standees as well. Then they immediately appeared safely behind the fence.

It was one of the many clever details that the company hid in the game. Did it make the experience any better? Probably not. Was I glad that they went above, and beyond in populating the stages with these Easter eggs? You bet I was! I’d like to know if there were any throwaway details in your favorite games. Something so obscure that chances were many fans never even caught it. I’d like to hear about it on the comments section. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!

NASCAR Rumble, now this is racing - A 1UP classic from May 6, 2009

Nascar Rumble by EA was one of the last great racing titles released for the original Playstation. It captured a number of arcade themes and made them work well for the aging console. Since it was a licensed game the studio was able to put in renders of actual cars from the NASCAR circuit, complete with accurate paint schemes and sponsor stickers. This also included the Craftsman Truck series vehicles and legendary racers like Cale Yarborough, Bobby Allison, and Richard Petty. Mr. Petty is nicknamed the King, and he is on my Mount Rushmore of car heroes. He is up there with Bob Chandler, the father of Bigfoot, Formula-1 legend Ayrton Senna, and drag race pioneer Shirley Muldowney. Each vehicle in Rumble had three versions that the player could unlock. The standard, pro and elite versions not only changed the appearance but the performance as well. These souped-up vehicles owed more than a little debt to hot rod culture. Enormous engine blocks would stick out from the hood, the rear wing spoiler would become larger and more stylized. The profile of the car was more aggressive, the stance a little wider and tires more sporty. These were the types of rides that NASCAR fans that grew up on Hot Wheels would dream of.

The tracks that the cars raced in also got an exaggerated treatment. Rumble was anything but a sim, it was very much an arcade experience. There were no ovals here but instead winding courses that took players through one of several American-inspired environments. Each of these regions were chosen because of their contribution to NASCAR history. The South gave rise to many legendary racers and teams, the coasts had some amazing visuals, while the cities provided some of the most hotly contested races. The soundtrack was southern rock, with a little twang even on the surf ballads. There was even a commentator doing his best Jeff Foxworthy one liners. Everything complimented the theme EA was going for. Each course came complete with shortcuts, some obvious and others well hidden. The diversity in locations, clever use of secrets and ramps helped liven up the genre. The computer AI was forgiving as long as it did not "see" the player use the shortcuts. If it did then the AI would take the same shortcuts and pull out some very close races.

These cars could ram each other off the road or plow through opponents which helped make this game really stand out. However EA also gave players the ability to use special power-ups through the courses. Similar to the function featured in the Mario Kart games, these power-ups could give players a speed boost, make them temporarily invincible or sabotage opponents by zapping their speed and grip. These power-ups could be turned off or set to very high numbers depending on how chaotic players wanted the experience to be. The game was very fun and the secrets kept me coming back for more. Unfortunately it looked very dated when it appeared. The car models were blocky and rough when compared to the 1st generation PS2 titles. The saving grace was the originality, memorable tracks and use of iconic racers to make it stand out.

EA did release an updated version called Rumble Racing on the PS2. Unfortunately it did not use the NASCAR license. The exaggerated car models remained and the shift was more on stunt racing rather than the fantastic narrative of taking NASCAR vehicles to the streets. Rumble Racing did marginally well but most fans were hoping for a true sequel. Perhaps someday it might happen, then my friends on 1UP might be converted into believers. So is this how the car series ends, not with a bang, but with a whimper? Come back tomorrow for the wrap-up.

Were you ever a fan of NASCAR? Whether the realistic sims or the arcade types like above? Let me know in the comments section please. As always if you would like to sponsor me please visit my Patreon page and consider donating each month, even as little as $1 would help make better blogs and even podcasts!