Pedestrians are one of the key features of the Carmageddon franchise. They wander around the levels aimlessly, or hang around in groups, just waiting for you to approach them. When they see/hear you, they will panic and start to run. Kill a ped for bonus time and credits. A level can be won by killing every single pedestrian in the area.
Many of the power-ups that can be collected affect peds rather than competitors - one obvious example would be Suicidal pedestrians, which causes them to run towards your car rather than away from it.
Variations
In Carmageddon & Carmageddon Splat Pack, they are 2D sprites based upon digitized photos of actors (the same method used in the Mortal Kombat games) and die when struck. Types of pedestrians include people, Grey aliens & cows. Splat Pack adds rams (sheep), demons and boars.
In Carmageddon II peds are in 3D, made of textured polygons. They can be dismembered, often losing limbs when hit; however, they can lose and arm or a leg and still live. They can plead for their lives, and be scared into jumping off cliffs (using the horn). While boars and demons did not return, dogs, deers, penguins and elephants were added.
In Carmageddon: TDR 2000, pedestrians can attack vehicles with metal bars and molotov cocktails, but don't worry, they're still not much of a threat. These smarter peds can flatten themselves up against the nearest wall to make themselves harder to hit. Animals are limited to dogs and cats.
The console versions vary: The GameBoy Color and 2D Mobile versions are simple sprites; The GameBoy zombies leave a smear of green blood on the road, while the mobile peds disappear in a red splat. Carmageddon 64 has zombies, similar to Carmageddon II's. Carmageddon (PlayStation) are odd in their censorship; They are polygonal zombies, which rise from the ground at the beginning of a race, and instantly fall into it when hit by a car... in a shower of red blood.
Censorship
Due to the controversial nature of killing people for sport, in many regions the games were censored, swapping the humans with red blood for Zombies with green blood. Carmageddon games for sale in Germany received the most censorship, and therefore the strangest things to run over: In Carmageddon it was Robots that leaked black oil, Carmageddon II featured reptilian aliens, and Carmageddon 64 had Dinosaurs!
The Carmageddon Max Pack included an uncensored version of Carmageddon. In their later years of sale, the uncensored versions of the games were available to buy at retail.[confirmation needed]
Trivia
- The flagman waving the chequered flag to start the race is worth more points than a regular pedestrian. If he is still alive after the first lap, his points value goes up.
- The red swimsuit girl was based on the Ridge Racer Race Queen - An image in the game files shows the same girl holding up a sign saying 'start!'.
- Pressing the minus (-) key on the keypad in Carmageddon hides all pedestrians, blood and giblets. Pressing the key again un-hides them.
- In order for pedestrians to die, you must be within hearing distance of their death throes. This is why when the Stella Stunna's Electric Blue is on the track, she doesn’t kill all of the pedestrians.