Carmageddon is a vehicular combat racer from the British studio Stainless Software, published in 1997 by SCi in Europe and Interplay in North America. It started life as a prototype called 3D Destruction Derby. SCi signed it in 1995 on condition that it carry a licence, tried for Mad Max and then landed Death Race 2000, but the planned sequel to that film was cancelled.
Running over pedestrians was added to set the game apart and to stir controversy, and it worked. Germany and the UK first got a censored version, Brazil banned the game outright, and Buenos Aires banned it in 1998, while Australia passed it uncut. The Splat Pack expansion added tracks, cars and 3Dfx support, and the Max Pack of February 1998 bundled both.
Stainless won the rights back in 2011 and brought the game to iOS and Android; THQ Nordic bought the series in December 2018. The sequels were Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now and Carmageddon TDR 2000.1
Names and releases
| Region | Title on the box | Platform | Date | Publisher | Src |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NA | Carmageddon | MS-DOS | Jul 16, 1997 | Interplay Productions | 1 |
| EU | CarmageddonSweden; the rest of Europe followed on 20 June 1997 | MS-DOS | Jun 13, 1997 | Sales Curve Interactive | 1 |
| WW | CarmageddonMac OS version | Mac | 1997 | Aspyr | 1 |
| WW | CarmageddonWindows version; the 1997 Splat Pack expansion added new tracks, cars, network levels and 3Dfx support | Windows | 1997 | — | 1 |
| WW | Carmageddon Max PackOriginal game plus the Splat Pack | Windows | Feb 17, 1998 | — | 1 |
| WW | Carmageddon Max PackGOG.com re-release of Carmageddon and the Splat Pack | Windows | Sep 27, 2012 | — | 1 |
| WW | Carmageddon | iOS | Oct 17, 2012 | — | 1 |
| WW | Carmageddon | Android | May 10, 2013 | — | 1 |
Also known as: Carmageddon Max Pack WW1
Box art by region
EU Carmageddon
Box art © its publishers, shown to identify each release. Scans: Wikipedia.
Version differences
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CensorshipDOS (Germany)DOS (UK, first release)
In Germany, and for a while in the UK, the game came out censored: pedestrians were turned into green-blooded zombies or robots leaking black oil. The BBFC at first refused a certificate unless all blood and gore was cut, and only passed the original after a ten-month appeal.1
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ContentSplat Pack (1997)Max Pack (1998)
The 1997 Splat Pack expansion added new tracks, vehicles, environments, network levels and 3Dfx support; the 1998 Max Pack bundles it with the original game.1
Where to play legally today
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GOG Purchase
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Steam Purchase
How to run it today
The GOG edition of the Max Pack runs through a preconfigured DOSBox, and a 13 November 2024 update verified it on Windows 10 and 11. Steam sells the same Max Pack.2
Reception
GameRankings averaged 90% for the PC version, GameSpot gave it 8.8/10, and PC Zone readers voted it Game of the Year 1997. NPD Techworld counted 118,500 computer copies sold in the US by December 2002; Stainless says the series sold about two million copies in total.1
In lists
Sources
Checked: 2026-10-13Text reviewed: 2026-10-13
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