Coyote vs. Acme challenges the idea that some Looney Tunes characters are born to be screwed over. Yes, there is something bananas about Willie E. Coyote getting his day in court as the “little guy” against an evil mega-corp, but 25 years prior, the Road Runner-chasing wolf’s cousin was exploited in a spoof game show PS1 stealth game with a mean streak.
The star of Sheep Raider (called Sheep, Dog n’ Wolf in Europe) isn’t everyone’s favorite dynamite-wielding, chaotic Coyote. Instead, it’s Willie’s blue-collar cousin, Ralf Wolf, who somehow managed to get his own video game before the Hollywood star. The two are almost indistinguishable, but if you see a big red nose and slightly darker fur, you’re looking at a nine-to-five sheep thief with no interest in Road Runners or lawsuits.
Ralph is perhaps the last Looney Tunes character you’d expect to get his own PS1 game. While trying to catch Road Runner is a vocation for Willie driven by animalistic hunger and obsession, pinching livestock is just a job for Mr Wolf. In the classic '50s Chuck Jones cartoons, he even punches in and out for shifts and has a working relationship with his “nemesis”, Sam Sheepdog. The PlayStation puzzle-stealth platformer shakes up that daily ritual with a satirical take on the false hope of wealth and success propagated by game shows, feeding into the vibe that the Wolf/Coyote family has historically been swindled (or at least has felt hard done by).
Mutton to lose (but your dignity)
Nothing good can come of Daffy Duck rocking up to your abode in a limo wearing a Talking Heads-sized suit. That’s especially true if you’ve just spent a day being bonked in the head for a living by a buff canine, but Sheep, Dog 'n' Wolf sees Ralf forced into what’s essentially unpaid overtime in the guise of a lucrative game show (and a PS1 gameplay loop).
Again, some Looney Tunes characters are destined to be the butt of a joke, and that’s tied to Ralf’s lack of agency. At no point in the game’s intro cutscene does he look thrilled to be dragged from his shack and onto the set of “Who wants to be a sheep stealer?” a game show that’s purposely made to put the wolf back to work and televise the labor for entertainment.
Regardless of whether you’re born for slapstick, you’d think Ralf would simply say no. He’s seldomly speaks, but unlike his cousin, he can indeed spit out a few words when off the clock. Getting caught up in the moment is what grants us one hell of a PS1 puzzler, and while I don’t want to completely spoil the 25-year-old platformer just yet, the whole situation is actually tied to the Wolf’s inner desire for career success and a break from the monotony of the daily grind.
Accurate cartoon role play
I’m not sure Ralf has the same case against whoever’s paying Daffy to run a dystopian game show as Willie E. Coyote vs Acme. Still, part of me feels bad for thoroughly enjoying making the wolf work for the grand prize of catapulting the duck to “super stardom.” Make no mistake, the core loop here is the very same labor carried out by the critter in those classic cartoons, with the core objective being to sneak past Sam Sheepdog with sheep in hand.
The thing that really separates Sheep, Dog, and Wolf from other interactive puzzlers or stealth games is that this is like a cartoon RPG. Almost every mechanic in this platformer draws influence from Looney Tunes tropes, from dressing up as bushes to using Acme mail-order packages and launching sheep with bolder see-saw contraptions. Even the laws of physics conform to Merry Melodies conventions, as you can run over canyon gaps and use rubber bands to slingshot yourself.
This caliber of cartoon caper on the PS1 wasn’t anything new; the console has multiple Looney Tunes outings in its catalogue, including Bugs Bunny: Lost in Time, Bugs and Taz: Time Busters. It’s more than “Sheep Raider” plays more like an animated sequence than those other platformers, drawing even more on interactive tropes and having you play out the slapstick situations that drive the 10-minute episodes.
I also appreciate that while this isn’t a Willie E. Coyote game, Infogrames still incorporates plenty of nods. Yes, that includes racing Road Runner with “Wheel-O-Feet” legs on a treacherous path littered with the usual occupational hazards. The fact that more nods and references are infused into the 18 stages as the game progresses makes for a driving reason to keep playing. You might start off pinching sheep, but you’ll swiftly find yourself role-playing the Rabbit Season / Duck Season saga wearing a bunny costume in a bid to confuse Elmer Fudd.
Yosemite Sam, Toro the Bull, and Gossamer the hairy red monster all make an appearance as “threats” too, which all play into their respective gameplay tropes. The cameos ramp up until you find yourself in space thanks to Marvin the Martian, providing more puzzle-solving playpens beyond the intro farmyard work floor.
I’ll admit that the surprisingly authentic cell-shaded graphics and those aforementioned cartoon trope mechanics dress up what is otherwise just a puzzler. Don’t get me wrong, the conundrums are pretty solid, featuring the same style of “trial and error” as some of the greats like Portal. But it’s those same challenges ramping up in difficulty throughout that will keep you playing for eight hours tops, and once you know what you’re doing, a sub-five-hour completion time is more than achievable.
You’ve just won… a bonk on the head
For the player, the excellent early 3D visuals, the banging electronic and jazz mishmash soundtrack, and environmental puzzles are all the prize. Despite ultimately winning “Who wants to be a sheep stealer?” though, and managing to fetch sheep even from deep space, Ralf’s grand prize is being punched over the head by his colleague Sam. Or, at least it would be if this wasn’t all a post-work dream. Talk about a Christopher Nolan-level twist, huh?
That does mean that Infogrames effectively turned the anxiety dream of a 70-year-old cartoon character into an excellent PS1 romp. It also means that, unlike Willie E. Coyote, Ralf can’t legally challenge the fact he was dragged onto a TV show and put through a slapstick rigmarole for nothing. However, I reckon there’s a deeper-seated issue going on with this Looney Tunes family, as it feels like both characters long for the same level of success as the main Space Jam cast.
This is something that’s even represented in the real world, as Coyote vs Acme was almost shelved as a tax write-off. Sure, Willie’s core objective in the flick is to take on Acme and get reparations for the occupational harm inflicted, but I also like to think the critter simply wanted the same Hollywood break as Bugs and his seemingly immune-to-harm inner circle.
In turn, these are similar ambitions to those of his cousin, with Ralf ultimately dreaming himself into a scenario to attain status within his field. Both Coyote vs Acme and Sheep, Dog, N’ Wolf are arguably just vehicles that’ll take both canines somewhere they can feel vindicated. I’m not so sure that panned out for Ralf since the PS1 game ultimately stands by its mean-spirited tropes, whereas 25 years later, Willie has found an alternate route to respect via the art of courtroom drama.
