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Character Selection Screen JS

The character selection screen since December 24, 2013, showing all 11 playable characters.

A character is an interactive entity the player controls during levels in Happy Wheels. Most characters have a special ability that is used for specific purposes, such as Wheelchair Guy's ability to speed up with the help of his jet or Segway Guy's ability to jump with his Segway. Characters may also eject from their vehicles, allowing them to be controlled independent of the vehicle; the default key for this is Z (see ejection for more information). When the character dies, the player can no longer control him/her. The in-game camera will follow the character, but if their torso gets destroyed, it will follow the heart. The camera will fix its position if the heart is somehow destroyed. There are currently 16 character types and 11 vehicles that a character will ride; all can be accessed in the game's level editor. Some playable characters have one rider (e.g. Wheelchair Guy, Segway Guy) and some have multiple riders (e.g. Irresponsible Dad, Santa Claus); characters of the second type are known as Multi Playable Characters.

Currently Released Characters

Wheelchair Guy

Wheelchair Guy

Wheelchair Guy.

Main article: Wheelchair Guy

Wheelchair Guy is the first character created for Happy Wheels, being made in 2006. He rides in a jet-powered wheelchair.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Accelerate Straighten arms and legs
Down Slow/Reverse Curl into ball
Right Lean right Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Lean left Push all joints up excluding head
Z Eject
Shift Rotate jet clockwise Raise arm 1 and leg 2
Ctrl Rotate jet counter-clockwise Raise arm 2 and leg 1
Space Fire jet Grab

Segway Guy

Segway Guy

Segway Guy.

Main article: Segway Guy

Segway Guy is one of the original four characters. He rides on a Segway. He is one of the three characters with the ability to jump over obstacles, and threats like Homing Mines, Landmines, etc.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Accelerate Straighten arms and legs
Down Slow/Reverse Curl into ball
Right Lean right Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Lean left Push all joints up excluding head
Z Eject
Shift Straighten legs Up Bend knee 2, straighten knee 1, shift arms other way
Ctrl Bend legs down Bend knee 1, straighten knee 2, shift arms
Space Jump Grab

Irresponsible Dad

Irresponsible Dad

Irresponsible Dad.

Main article: Irresponsible Dad

Irresponsible Dad is one of the original four characters. He is the first character to have more than one character on the vehicle.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Accelerate Straighten arms and legs
Down Slow/Reverse Curl into ball
Right Lean forwards Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Lean backwards Push all joints backwards excluding head
Z Eject both
Shift Eject father
Ctrl Eject boy
Space Brake Grab
C Change Camera

Effective Shopper

Effective Shopper

Effective Shopper.

Main article: Effective Shopper

Effective Shopper is one of the original four characters. She can only be highlighted in the demo, as she is not playable (this is done to have users visit Total Jerkface for the full game). She rides a motorized scooter packed with groceries.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Accelerate Straighten arms and legs
Down Slow/Reverse Curl into ball
Right Lean forwards Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Lean backwards Push all joints backwards excluding head
Z Eject
Shift Nothing Bend knee 2, straighten knee 1, shift arms other way
Ctrl Nothing Bend knee 1, straighten knee 2, shift arms
Space Jump Grab

Moped Couple

Moped Couple

Moped Couple.

Main article: Moped Couple

The Moped Couple was added on November 19th, 2010, and was the addition in V1.20. This is the second character to have more than one character on the vehicle. Their appearance is based off of characters Nino Quincampoix and Amélie Poulain from the French film Amélie.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Accelerate Straighten arms and legs
Down Slow/Reverse Curl into ball
Right Lean forwards Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Lean backwards Push all joints backwards excluding head
Z Eject man

(The woman will remain holding the man if Z is pressed repeatedly.)

Shift Eject woman
Ctrl Brake
Space Speed boost Grab
C Change Camera

Lawnmower Man

Lawnmower Man

Lawnmower Man.

Main article: Lawnmower Man

Lawnmower Man was added on May 20th, 2011, and was the only addition in V1.40. He rides a lawnmower, and can grind up NPCs and Food Items with the blade.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Accelerate Straighten arms and legs
Down Slow/Reverse Curl into ball
Right Lean forwards Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Lean backwards Push all joints backwards excluding head
Z Eject
Shift Bend knee 2, straighten knee 1, shift arms other way
Ctrl Straighten arms
Space Jump Grab

Explorer Guy

Explorer Guy

Explorer Guy.

Main article: Explorer Guy

Explorer Guy was added on July 22nd, 2011, along with the rail, in V1.45. He rides in a minecart that can attach to rails.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Accelerate Straighten arms and legs
Down Slow/Reverse Curl into ball
Right Lean forwards Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Lean backwards Push all joints backwards excluding head
Z Eject
Shift Lean Explorer Guy forward
Ctrl Lean Explorer Guy backward
Space When held, attaches cart to rails Grab

Santa Claus

Santa Claus

Santa Claus

Main article: Santa Claus

Santa Claus was added on December 22nd, 2011 in v1.51, and is the first triple playable character to be added to the game (the second, Irresponsible Mom, was added later). He is also the largest character. He rides a sleigh that is pulled by two elves. The sleigh also has the ability to float in midair.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Accelerate Straighten arms and legs
Down Slow/Reverse Curl into ball
Right Lean sled right along with elves Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Lean the sled a bit left Push all joints backwards excluding head
Z Eject all characters
Shift Cuts elves loose after they die or lose legs Take control of the elves, but not Santa
Ctrl
Space Float Grab
C Change Camera

Pogostick Man

Pogostick Man

Pogostick Man.

Main article: Pogostick Man

Pogostick Man was added April 13th, 2012 (in version 1.63) and was the first character released in 2012. His voice files were provided by YouTuber UberHaxorNova.*

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Bounce forward Straighten arms and legs
Down Bounce backward Curl into ball
Right Roll forward Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Roll backward Push all joints up excluding head
Z Eject
Shift Straighten body Bend knee 2, straighten knee 1, shift arms
Ctrl Crouch down Bend knee 1, straighten knee 2, shift arms other way
Space Force bounce; hold to charge;

if used while holding up, force bounce forward

Grab

Irresponsible Mom

Irresponsible Mom

Irresponsible Mom.

Main article: Irresponsible Mom

Irresponsible Mom was added to the game on September 21st, 2012 in v1.70. This character is the second to consist of three different characters (the first being Santa Claus). She is also the first character whose vehicle has three wheels, and her baby, seated in the basket on the front of the bicycle, is the first light weight rider to receive a boost upon ejection.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Accelerate Straighten arms and legs
Down Slow/Reverse Curl into ball
Right Lean forwards Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Lean backwards Push all joints backwards excluding head
Z Eject both
Shift Eject Baby
Ctrl Eject Little Girl
Space Brake Grab
C Change Camera

Helicopter Man

Helicopter Man.

Helicopter Man

Main article: Helicopter Man

Helicopter Man is the eleventh character to be added to Happy Wheels, on December 24th, 2013 in v1.72. He flies an autogyro, making him the first character so far to be capable of true and sustained flight. There is also a magnet installed underneath the autogyro, so that Helicopter Man can use it to grab and carry objects around.

Default Controls Before Ejection Default Controls After Ejection
Up Ascend Straighten arms and legs
Down Descend Curl into ball
Right Tilt right Straighten legs and press arms forwards
Left Tilt left Push arms and legs backwards
Z Eject
Shift Raise magnet Push out arms
Ctrl Lower magnet Pull in arms
Space Enable/disable magnet Grab

Vehicles

Characters by Size

Characters have specific sizes which affect their specific physics. A general classification based on this appears below.

Small characters: Irresponsible Dad's son, Irresponsible Mom's children, and Santa's Elves.
Medium characters: Wheelchair Guy , Segway Guy , Irresponsible Dad , Moped Couple, Explorer Guy, Pogostick Man, and Irresponsible Mom.
Large characters: Effective Shopper, Lawnmower Man, Santa Claus and Helicopter Man.

Unreleased Characters

Akira Bike

Main article: Akira Bike
Akira Bike - Shape1842

Akira Bike Guy (note that Irresponsible Dad was the character who was tested with)

Akira Bike (unofficial name) was an unreleased character that could be found in the game before the release of Moped Couple. ThatCanadianGuy was one of the first people to notice the inclusion of this character. Since a level could not be tested using Akira Bike, there are no known controls. It is unknown if Jim will ever officially release this character.

Tuk - Tuk Character

Happy Wheels - Tuk tuk

Tuk-Tuk character is a potential character. If added, he will drive an auto rickshaw. Jim confirmed "Tuk-Tuk character [has been] added to the list of possibilities" when the Happy Wheels Facebook page reached one million likes.

Non-Player Characters

Main article: Non-Player Characters

A Non-Player Character is a non-controllable version of a character found in user-made levels. They may be accessed via the level editor.

Custom Non-Player Characters

Main article: Custom Non Player Characters

A Custom Non-Player Character is a user-created NPC, which most players use in their Levels.

Videos

Happy_Wheels_-_All_character_voices

Happy Wheels - All character voices

Glitches

  • After ejection, when grabbing objects such as the ground, the character's hands may not visually touch the object, giving the appearance of holding onto nothing. It is still possible to move normally if this is the case.
  • On the Character Selection screen, given proper circumstances and time, it is possible for certain characters (namely Wheelchair Guy, Segway Guy, Explorer Guy, and Helicopter Man) to fall off the front of the platform. This can be subject to the user's specific computer specifications and software, as delays and adjustments in calculations are not universal.
  • When the 1.62 update was initially released, levels with the "Hide Vehicle" option on would also hide the character's vehicle on the character selection screen. Santa was the only character who fell off the Stonehenge if this was the case. This was later fixed.
  • When a level starts out with a character having their vehicle hidden, the Shift and Ctrl commands do not work.
  • After ejecting, as soon as the player holds an arrow key and just before a character holds his/her pose, one can hold either Shift or Ctrl, then let go of the arrow key being pressed and as well as Shift or Ctrl. If this is performed, the character will pose regularly (if he/she has to), but he/she will be stuck in that pose and the player will be unable to do anything else until the key that makes him/her hold that pose is pressed. This can work even when the vehicles are hidden.
  • When a character holds onto a shape or object as they die, there is an extremely small chance that they will keep holding onto that object.

Trivia

Changing character

The arrow under "default character:" and the line used to change character.

  • Jim said that he may create an NPC based off of himself in the future.
  • The character selection screen has empty, unused slots which serve as future-proofing for potential new characters and do not suggest extra, unlockable characters. The demo version of Happy Wheels, which does not update, does not introduce new characters.
  • There are twenty-five character slots total, eleven of which are filled.
  • There are eight characters that are capable of coherent speech: Wheelchair Guy, Irresponsible Dad (but not his child), Moped Couple, Moped Guy (though he can only say "No!"), Lawnmower Man, Santa Claus and his elves, Pogostick Man and Helicopter Man.
  • The NPC of a new character is released along with the playable character itself.
  • Update 1.62 added the ability to hide a character's vehicle, allowing the player to always begin outside a vehicle. Before this update, all characters had to eject out of their vehicles before flopping around aimlessly.
  • A character can be changed in the level editor by clicking the character and dragging the arrow left to right.
  • It takes 5 seconds for a character to die when ripped in half or when their pelvis is broken. This does not apply to NPCs.
  • Currently, the main menu screen features a detailed representation of Wheelchair Guy or Effective Shopper as a mascot. Jim has not confirmed future characters for this screen.
  • Although a severed limb is no longer attached to the character, the character can still control the limb and will react to it being damaged further, despite it not being connected to the body.
  • Not one character is able to open their mouth when they speak. This is perhaps due to difficulty with animating such small details, or the fact that moving mouths would be hard to see in game anyway. Helicopter Man's mouth is open, but it does not move.
  • Segway Guy, Pogostick Man, Irresponsible Son, Effective Shopper, Explorer Guy, and Irresponsible Mom and her children, are the only characters not voiced by Jim Bonacci, his friends, or his family.
  • According to debug draw, a character's helmet/hat (Segway Guy, Irresponsible Dad, Explorer Guy, Helicopter Man, etc.) does not physically exist until it falls off.
  • Explorer Guy was accidentally released for two hours and 29 minutes in the game once, before he was supposed to be released officially. Many players theorized who the character was, and the most popular answer was that he was a mail-man, due to him wearing what was believed to be a mail pouch, and because people thought his clothing had been ripped by a dog. Jim later debunked this idea.
  • If Lawnmower Man's heart is destroyed by his lawnmower, the camera's position becomes fixed. It will not move even if the lawnmower moves or is damaged.
  • Secondary characters will not appear if the vehicle is hidden, and they also cannot be selected as playable characters by themselves either. In the mobile version, however, enabling the hide vehicle option will only cause the vehicle to be hidden, with the secondary character actually appearing along with the primary character when testing.
  • If a character is stabbed, they will not become covered in blood or wounds nor will their clothes get ripped.
  • Segway Guy, Effective Shopper, Moped Couple (the man), and Pogostick Man are the only characters that can reattach to their respective vehicles after ejecting from them. This is not true, however, in the mobile version, where none of the available characters are able to reattach to their vehicles.
  • Some of the controls that appear in the flash version have still not been added to the mobile version. These controls are: the "C" key, which allows the player to view a secondary character, and the equivalent of the Shift and Ctrl controls.
  • Wheelchair Guy, Irresponsible Dad, Santa Claus, and Helicopter Man are the only characters with facial hair.
    • Coincidentally, these characters are all voiced by Bonacci (With Helicopter Man being voiced by Jim's brother Joe)
  • The helmet serves a small purpose for the characters as it indeed does protect their head. Bonacci stated on the Happy Wheels Discord that, "The helmet does actually do something, but it's not huge, The head can't get smashed until the helmet is smashed first, but if a huge rock has crushed a helmet on one frame, it could just as easily crush the head on the next. Single impacts though can knock off the helmet but not smash the head."

Gallery

Mobile Version

Characters

In the app, there are only six characters available, five of which have levels specifically designed for them. The characters that are available are Wheelchair Guy, Business Guy, Irresponsible Dad, Effective Shopper, Moped Couple and Pogo Stick Guy.

Character selection menu

The character selection menu itself is quite different from the original character selection menu, in terms of appearance.

Character Selection Screen Mobile

What the character selection menu looks like in the mobile version.

The Stonehenge is placed directly in the middle, instead of being placed to the left, with the slots forming an arch above it. When selecting a character, you tap onto the character you wish to play as, and to confirm the selection, you press a button which is located on the bottom-right corner of the screen. If you wish to go back and exit the character selection menu, you can press a button which is found on the bottom-left corner of the screen.

Trivia

  • Instead of having 25 slots like in the flash version, there are only 13 slots.
  • Unlike in the browser version, a selected character does not move.
  • The character will also be in the middle instead of on the left hand side, unlike the browser.
  • Sometimes the sound of the Wheelchair's wheels, remain in loop.
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