50K Racewalker

50K Racewalker
Description	Left right left right! Buy sell buy sell unngh!
Release date	January 14, 2005
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Box Art

>"Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Left, Right, Right... OOPS!!! You lose!! Alternate left right for about 5 hours without messing up and you could win the gold!!" — Videlectrix

50K Racewalker is a Videlectrix "game" programmed by Jonathan Howe.

Date: Friday, January 14, 2005

Page Title: Take some steps!

Instructions

The game begins with a character customization screen, titled "Choose it out". The color of the racer's hair, shirt, shorts, and shoes can be changed from a selection of ten colors for each; there are ten possible hairstyles to choose from as well. After designing the character, the player is prompted to enter a name ("STEAK STYLES" by default).

The race begins, signaled by a starting pistol. To advance forward, the player must step by alternating the "left" and "right" keys at a walking pace. The track is subdivided into white lines marking .01 kilometers. There are 40 successful "steps" required between each white line, and 50.00 kilometers to walk — a total of 200,000 "steps".

FAULT

A FAULT is caused when the player does not properly racewalk. A buzzer sounds, "FAULT!" flashes on the screen, and the racer stops moving for a few moments.

Faults can be triggered by:

• Alternating the left/right keys too quickly (making the racer "run" rather than "walk")
• Pressing the same key twice
• Pressing any key other than left or right
• Waiting too long without taking a step

Easter Eggs

Multiple Easter eggs can be activated in the "Choose it out" screen.

• "h" toggles "big head mode", making the racer's head 1.5 times its size. This is case-sensitive and must be typed in lowercase.
• "f" toggles "fat walker" mode, making the racer wider. Like "big head mode", this must be typed in lowercase.
• The up and down arrow keys move the arms on the walker.
• There are five unique character designs that, when put together, change the racer's default name:
  • WILT CHAMBERLAIN
    • Hair: Black
    • Skin: Golden Brown (top center)
    • Shirt: Yellow
    • Style: J
    • Shorts: Yellow
    • Shoes: Black
      • The player cannot change the name from WILT CHAMBERLAIN.
  • BRUCE LEE
    • Hair: Black
    • Skin: Blanched Olive (upper right corner)
    • Shirt: Yellow
    • Style: B
    • Shorts: Yellow
    • Shoes: Yellow
  • LUKE SCHENSCHER
    • Hair: Orange
    • Skin: Light Pink (bottom left)
    • Shirt: Yellow
    • Style: B
    • Shorts: Black
    • Shoes: Yellow
  • DR. J
    • Hair: Black
    • Skin: Dark Brown
    • Shirt: Dark Blue
    • Style: D
    • Shorts: Red
    • Shoes: White
  • GARY PALARONCINI
    • Hair: Blonde
    • Skin: Non-pale (center bottom)
    • Shirt: Pink
    • Style: C
    • Shorts: Medium Blue (upper left)
    • Shoes: Black
      • Playing as Gary will start the race at 49.99 km.

Fun Facts

You win!!!

Explanations

• This game is a parody of early Track and Field video games for older consoles, which simulated various track and field events by requiring the player to perform various tricks on the controller such as rapidly pushing the same button, alternating between two different buttons, rotating the joystick a certain number of times, or something similar.
• The "LICENSED BY FUNMACHINE" screen at the beginning pokes fun at classic video games and consoles, especially the Sega Genesis which displayed a "LICENSED BY SEGA" screen before each game, regardless of whether the game was actually licensed or not. (This was because this screen was a crucial part of the game bootstrap sequence, if this screen were not included, the game wouldn't start. Sega's Dreamcast also requires this screen.)

Trivia

Whoa! Pixelated blackness!

• When you approach 1K, your character starts walking into a pixelated blackness. Once you reach 1K, a message pops up, saying "Woah! We didn't think anyone would play for this long. Um, we didn't program this far. Hang on." After a few seconds, the blackness is apparently programmed in, and you can continue.
  • According to The Brothers Chaps Georgia Tech Library Appearance, they added this in when someone emailed them stating that they were already up to 3 kilometers.
• When you get to the end it shows you a screen that says "you came in 3rd place", and shows your character walking up onto a stand that reads "3", with two others on "1" and "2". There is no way to come in 2nd or 1st place.
  • You can view the end screen by right clicking and pressing play or forward in the swf file.
• The signs you walk by say:
  • Walk!
  • Go {entered name}!
  • Farther!
  • These boots were made for it!
  • I've always loved you!
  • Our arms are tired!
  • You're almost there!
  • With your feet!
  • You are mad!
  • Walk it off!
  • Fun sport!
  • Iron Steed!
  • Beware Cheplin!
  • Weapons located in every corner!
  • Why?
  • Play footsie with me!
  • Walk Better!
  • Left! Right! Left! Right!
  • Here!
• You can highlight the text on the signs in the background with your mouse like you would regular text on a word processor.
• The fastest you can walk is approximately 0.04 km per minute, meaning the fastest that one kilometer can be walked is about 25 minutes. It would therefore take over twenty hours to walk fifty kilometers.
• Forty steps per .01 km averages to 25 cm, or about 9.8" per step, practically a tiptoe.
• This game was last seen in Strong Bad's floppy disk container in the email sibbie.
• The font used for most of the text in this game is called "Nokia® 5110 FontSet". It's also been used on Strong Bad's Block computer in other days.
• The music for 50k Racewalker was created with an Atari 2600 Synthcart, created by Paul Slocum. He was also the one working on the Homestar Runner RPG for Atari 2600.
• The 9s on the Km distance meter are actually lower case Gs.
• The crowd cheers every .01km, or about eleven yards.

Remarks

• When the right arrow is pushed on your keyboard, this corresponds to the right arm moving forward, and the left arrow to the left arm moving forward. This would mean that the right arrow corresponds to the left foot taking a step and the left arrow to the right foot taking a step.
• Despite the fact that the Videlectrix synopsis hints that you lose if you press the same button twice or walk too fast, you can keep walking if you get a FAULT having not lost anything other than a few seconds of time.

Glitches

• Sometimes the game will load up incorrect data where you'll start at 0.01k and it will say fault for every step you take.
• When you get to the end and you are on the pedestal you can still walk but you just stay in the same place and one set of lights moves left.
  • Once the cheering in the end stops, this can no longer be done.
• If you cross the 0.10k line or the 0.20 your score will be 0.1k (or 0.2k) for one step and 0.10k (or 0.20k) for the next one. For both steps you hear the cheering.

Real-World References

• The 50K racewalk is an actual Olympic event.
• The cheering sound when you cross a line comes from several games for the Intellivision game system.
• The FAULT noise is the sound of launching a ball in the Atari 2600 game Video Pinball.
• The line "these boots were made for it!" is a reference to the famous Nancy Sinatra song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
• "Beware Cheplin!" and "Weapons located in every corner!" reference a passage from the instruction manual to the NES game The Adventures of Tom Sawyer: "Be very careful, CHEPLIN has weapons located in every corner of the ship!".
• Wilt Chamberlain was a legendary basketball player who holds numerous NBA records and is regarded as one of the sport's greatest players.
• Bruce Lee was a legendary martial artist and film star, creator of the Jeet Kune Do martial art philosophy. He famously wore an all-yellow tracksuit in the film Game of Death.
• Luke Schenscher is a basketball player. At the time of the game's release, he played for Georgia Tech; he later played in the NBA and NBL.
• Julius "Dr. J" Erving is a former professional basketball star, known for his work in the American Basketball Association.

Fast Forward

• In Trogdor Con '97, Homestar Runner walks past Strong Bad and The Cheat's booth, saying, "Left" and "Right" repeatedly, even accidentally saying "Right" twice.
• The racewalker would appear as the image on the step counter in specially marked.

External Links

• play "50K Racewalker"
• play "50K Racewalker" on the old Flash site
• view the Flash file for "50K Racewalker"
• forum thread re: "50K Racewalker"
• listen to the game music

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