Population: Tire

Game Category: New Game

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Population... TIIIRREEE!

Population: Tire is a game by Videlectrix that takes place in Strong Badia in which you use your mouse cursor to keep the Tire bouncing in the air as long as possible. Increase your score multiplier by hitting birds, balloons, The Cheat and Strong Sad, and beware of wind changes and flying Cold Ones!

Date: Monday, June 23, 2003

Page Title: I FEEL ASLEEP!

Viidelectrix Page Title: pop_tire

Premise

IN THE YEAR 19xx, THE CITIZENS OF
STRONGBADIA ARE TERRORIZED BY A
FACELESS FOE. AS A TOP SECRET CRACK
COMMANDO OPERATIVE, IT IS YOU JOB TO
PROTECT THE LAST REMAINING CITIZEN FROM
TOUCHING THE TAINTED SOIL. YOU ARE
SOLDIER!

SCORE POINTS BY BOUNCING TIRE WITH
MOUSE. HIT INFIDELS TO INCREASE THE
VALUE OF EACH BOUNCE. STRING COMBOS TO
PREVENT THE VALUE FROM DROPPING OVER
TIME.

YOU ONE ARE OF BRAVE FEW. ACCEPT YOUR
MISSION AND STEP FOURTH.
AND REMEMBER; NEVER, EVER BREAK A COLD
ONE.

Note: In the Viidelectrix version of the game, "MOUSE" has changed to "TIP OF POINTY FINGER THINGY", a reference to using the Wii Remote.

Scoring Chart

The main objective of this game is to keep the Tire in the air as long as possible. You earn one point times your Multiplier for each bounce, and your score resets to 0 when the Tire hits the ground. The Multiplier appears when it is 2x or higher — otherwise, it is always 1x and never falls below this value. The Multiplier decreases by 1x every 5 seconds if you don't hit any objects.

You can increase your Multiplier by hitting various objects:

• Balloon: +1x
• Bird: +2x
• The Cheat: +1x
• Cold One: -5x

The Cheat can be hit repeatedly, but each time you hit him, he reverses direction and starts walking faster.

Strong Sad Effects

Strong Sad occasionally appears from behind the fence. Hitting him will award the effect indicated in his thought balloon:

• 2X: Your multiplier is increased by 2.
• -2X: Your multiplier is decreased by 2.
• BIG: The Tire increases in size.
• FLY: The Tire falls more slowly.
• SAD: Your multiplier is reduced to 1. (The word in the thought balloon changes to x0, but you can still score 1 point per bounce.)

When you get FLY or BIG, the sound is different when you hit the tire.

Fun Facts

Explanations

• The bad grammar in the introduction is a reference to the language found in old video games that were poorly translated from Japanese to English.
• The tire could not be hitting any of the bonus entities except The Cheat; the tire's shadow is in a separate plane from the bird, balloon, and Strong Sad.

Trivia

• When the Tire hits the ground, your Multiplier resets to 1x, and the effect you receive depends on your score:
  • 0-2: Nothing.
  • 3-99: A sad-sounding sound effect.
  • 100-499: A quick, energetic sound effect.
  • 500-999: A more complicated sound effect, and a plane flies by towing a random message.
  • 1000+: A dramatic tune plays, and a plane flies by towing a random message.
• The possible messages you can see behind the plane are:
  • YOU RULE
  • PURE FUN
  • GIVE IT UP
  • FHI-FIVE
  • POP:YOU
  • ROCK/ROLL
  • GOOD ONE
  • TIRE-TASTIC!
  • JAM ON IT
  • LET GO
  • PARTY.WOO!
  • PARDON ME?
  • X-L-NT
  • GROW IT OUT
  • PARENTAL!!
  • GOSH!
  • LOVIN' IT
  • SPANKIN'!
  • YOU 4 EVA
  • YOU.COM
  • YOU.CALM
  • WISHIWASU
  • WHO'S THAT?
  • THE BOUNCA!
• The background reacts to the computer system time, similar to how the alarm clock reacts in 12:00. For example, if you play this game at 2 in the morning, you will see a night sky. It alternates within 24 hours, starting with midnight:
  • Dark Blue (Beginning)
  • Dark Indigo
  • Dark Brown
  • Orange
  • Bright Cyan Blue
  • Bright Blue
  • Dark Brown
  • Orange
  • Dark Indigo
  • Dark Blue (End)
• This is the first Videlectrix game to have the Videlectrix Mascot appear.
• In the game Awexome Cross, The Cheat can fit inside the tire and roll along in it. In this game, however, The Cheat appears too large to be able to fit in the tire.
• Cold Ones start appearing when you reach a x5 multiplier, and become more frequent when you reach x10.

Glitches

• If you disable play, the multiplier will be frozen. You will not be able to hit any other objects or obstacles, and no new objects or obstacles will appear.
  • The tire will still be able to bounce, and you will still be able to score points.

Inside References

• The bird in this game also flies across the screen in take-a-break.exe, which appeared in huttah!.
  • The same bird is also seen flying over Bubs's Baloney Sammich Truck in Weclome Back.
• The title screen is of the second-to-last shot in flag day.

Real-World References

• This game's loading screen is a spoof of the Commodore 64 boot screen:

*** COMPYDORE 64 BASIC V2 ***
64K RAM SYSTEM 38911 BASIC BYTES FREE
READY.
LOAD "*",8,1
SEARCHING FOR *

READY.
RUN

• The loading screen used to read "9,1", but was later changed to read "8,1". In the C64 BASIC, "9,1" told the computer to access the second floppy disk drive, if one was connected. The ",1" meant the program had a machine code component (for the technically-minded, it indicated that the loaded program shouldn't be relocated in memory).
• This game plays in stereo, even though the C-64 was not capable of stereo sound.
• In the Viidelectrix version of this game, the word "Compydore" on the loading screen was changed to "Compiidore" to refer to the Nintendo Wii.

I FEEL ASLEEP!!

• The page title "I FEEL ASLEEP!" quotes the NES version of the game Metal Gear. An infamously poorly-translated line, the phrase (which should read "I fell asleep!") is spoken by enemy soldiers when they awake from sleep.
• The seagull graphic and several of the sound effects are taken from the game California Games.
• Other sound effects (including hitting The Cheat and breaking a Cold One) are taken from the game Wizball, a surrealistic shooter game for the C64.
• Hitting a balloon makes the same sound as running through an explosion in the C64 game Paradroid.
• When the tire drops and you have 3-99 score, the sound effect played is from the C64 game Park Patrol.
• When the tire drops and you either have 100-499 or 500-999 score, respective sound effects played are from the C64 game Nebulus.
• When the tire drops and you have 1000+ score, the sound effect played is from the C64 game The Sentinel.
• The title screen's MIDI music uses the "Square Lead" instrument from the General MIDI specification and uses the Roland Sound Canvas soundset.

Fast Forward

• In 8-Bit is Enough, Strong Bad says "Load PQuest,8,1" when entering Peasantry.
• A Nintendo DS homebrew version of this game created by Phlip was featured as a Weekly Fanstuff in 2007.

External Links

• play "Population: Tire"
• play "Population: Tire" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "Population: Tire"

• play the Wii version of the game
• view the Flash file for the Wii version of the game
• listen to the game music