Wacky Races is a generic 2D platformer but there's still some fun to go for.
The Bad: Generic; repetitive music; too short.
One of the few games that Atlus has ever released for the NES, Wacky Races can be defined as a generic 2D platformer: you can see some Super Mario Bros. 3 here, a little Adventure Island series there, much of Rescue Rangers series here and there and its roots are planted on Atlus' 1-year-older Rockin' Kats. But that doesn't mean you can't spend some good time with it.
The game sends you through three routes around the world: Hip Hop (Europe/Africa), Splish Splash (Asia/Oceania) and Go Go America (no explanation required). Every route has about 3 to 4 stages, each one with 3 sub stages and a boss (one of the wacky racers). The controls work fine, and as you collect bones along the levels you can choose the power-up you want by pressing the select button (just like Konami's power-up system in old shooters)--a good adaptation to platform games. The boss fights are great, especially for those who like to memorize the moves of the enemies (Mega Man fans will know what I'm talking about). And the graphics look great on the NES, with interesting sprites for both the enemies and Muttley and nice clean/bright/colorful backgrounds.
As you can see in the "bad" section, the game loses some points because of the repetitive music, despite the good effects applied to the melodies; and loses many more points because of its low replay value. You can beat the game in about two hours or something, and there's no multiplayer option or even a difficulty selection option to raise the challenge--when you finish the routes you'll wait for some final secret level that never comes.
In the end Wacky Races is a good game to play in a raining afternoon without high expectations, just as I did to write this review.