Penn & Teller SegaCD game unearthed

by Christopher Grant { Mar 3rd 2006 at 7:30PM }

Last September Frank Cifaldi, the founder of Lost Levels, posted a review of magic/comedy duo Penn and Teller's never-released SegaCD game, Penn & Teller's Smoke and Mirrors. Now Waxy is hosting a torrent of the game, so you can download it, burn it, and just load it up in the old SegaCD... what's that? You don't have a SegaCD? Well, for those couple of you without one on hand, there's instructions for getting it to run with an emulator also.

The game's most notable element is undoubtedly the "Desert Bus" minigame. From Frank's review: "you drive a bus in the desert. Your goal is to go from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas. Your bus never goes more than 45 miles per hour, so the trip takes approximately eight hours (in real time) to make. There is no scenery or even other cars on the road, just plain desert, for 8 hours. Oh, and your bus veers to the right just slightly, so it's impossible to just tape down a button and go do something else. Rumor has it that if you make it to Vegas, you score one point."

Waxy is also hosting an MP3 of Penn talking about the game on his radio show! He confirms the Desert Bus minigame's scoring, and says they had plans to reward high scorers with outrageous prizes. Frank transcribed some of Penn's comments over at GameSetWatch, here's what he had to say about Desert Bus: "...you couldn't take your hands off the controller, and if you did... it didn't have a spectacular crash, it just slowly went into the sand, and then overheated and stopped, and then the game was you being towed backwards all the way back to Tucson."

Sounds like... uh, fun? Anyone gonna try and score a point?

[Via Boing Boing]

Tags: Penn and Teller, Penn Jillette, PennAndTeller, PennJillette

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Kristian @ Mar 3rd 2006 7:34PM

That is the best game I have ever heard of.

Actually, it isn't, but it certainly is unique. It's kinda like that Amazon game where you were in the canoe...

Dustin @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:01PM

Is it at least a BIG 1 point?

Save @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:07PM

If the desert mini-game rewarded a whole bunch of points for your 360 gamer score I'm sure tons of people would play it...seems to be the cool thing to do now.

mercatfat @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:17PM

what's even more fun than the scoring system is that the duo has originally planned to give the person who got the highest score (say, 100) a lavish prize: they would get to take the trip in real life, but on the ultimate party bus complete with booze, babes and music. they would then have some kind of Vegas funfest.

i'd do the 800 hours, no doubt.

spoo @ Mar 3rd 2006 8:42PM

Back in the day EGM had a few previews for this game and I waited, waited, waited for this game. I need to DL ASAP.

vazel @ Mar 3rd 2006 9:12PM

another cruel joke aimed at gamers like that game takeshi kitano made.

Alex K. @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:03PM

some EMUs let you "fast foreward" if there is a sega CD emu, then why not emulate it and run it at 500%?

youd get there in...well...8/5 hours

PsyClerk @ Mar 3rd 2006 11:25PM

I remember one of the gaming rags back in the day got a preview copy and had their editors play the bus trip in shifts. It was Player's Guide to Video Games (at one point anyways...they had several name changes).

dtrain @ Mar 4th 2006 12:06AM

Play a tiny Flash version here:

http://alkem.org/ftuarchive/fattruckersunion/main.html

Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to link to the game itself so you have to click a link on the site. The game's called "Highway Hauler" and it's on the bottom of the page, in the middle, way below the "Golden Age" graphic. Up until now, I thought this was the only 8-hour realtime truck/bus driving sim available!

Samuel McConnell @ Mar 4th 2006 12:14AM

I totally have a Sega Genesis/Sega CD/32x setup in my living room. The ultimate Genesis rig!!

Chris Robinson @ Mar 4th 2006 12:24AM

But what did Teller have to say, THAT'S the question!

Venator2000 @ Mar 4th 2006 1:10AM

I don't know why this was considered a "lost" game, when I owned a similar version of this for the 3DO.

mercatfat @ Mar 4th 2006 3:38AM

"I don't know why this was considered a "lost" game, when I owned a similar version of this for the 3DO."

then you, sir, are magical.

although i'm sure Mr. Jillette would disagree.

Greg2k @ Mar 4th 2006 5:40AM

Anyone know if it works for PAL MegaCDs?

paris @ Mar 4th 2006 5:43AM

Sega CD plays CD-Rs without being modded?

mercatfat @ Mar 4th 2006 1:51PM

"Sega CD plays CD-Rs without being modded?"

do you realize how expensive CD-Rs and recorders were?

(so, to answer your question directly, "no")

mercatfat @ Mar 4th 2006 1:56PM

and by "no", i mean "no modding necessary."

Buzzbomb @ Mar 4th 2006 3:57PM

I downloaded it .It's freaking huge .I tried it on a Sega CD drive and it works fine.The game is poor even by Sega CD standards.It was free though so.......

jason @ Mar 4th 2006 6:54PM

#9 you could totally go over 200+mph in the game and ride on the lane dividers and the cops wont be able to stop you. hahahah

Gonzo @ Mar 4th 2006 9:43PM

I've made that ride from Tucson to Las Vegas and it can be quite eventfull. Why have nothing?
I get their sense of humor but I never thought it was all that funny. Their BS show is pretty interesting though.
Was this really for sega cd? It looks like something from the nes.

Probot @ Mar 5th 2006 1:30AM

The game was a response to the criticsm of video games from people like Janet Reno. It was meant to have no thrill to it whatsoever.

Quote from Penn's podcast where he mentions the game:

"'Desert Bus' was a game we thought would really appeal to people who didn't like unrealistic games, and didn't like violence in their games."