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Current Character Selection Screen

The current character selection as of 12/24/13.

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

File:Wheelchair Guy.png

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

Segway Guy

Segway Guy

Segway Guy.

Main article: Segway Guy

Segway Guy is one of the original four characters.

Default Controls

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

Irresponsible Dad

File:Irresponsible Dad.png

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
  • Up - Accelerate
  • Down - Slow/Reverse
  • Left - Lean back
  • Right - Lean forward
  • Z - Eject both
  • Shift - Eject father
  • Ctrl - Eject boy
  • Space - Brake
  • C - Change camera to view boy
After Ejection
  • Up - Straighten arms and legs
  • Down - Curl into ball
  • Left - Push all joints backwards excluding head
  • Right - Straighten legs and press arms forwards
  • Space - Grab

Effective Shopper

File:Effective Shopper.png

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

Moped Couple

File:Moped Couple.png

Moped Couple.

Main article: Moped Couple

The Moped Couple was added on November 19th, 2010, and was the addition in V1.20.

Default Controls

Before Ejection
  • Up - Accelerate
  • Down - Slow/Reverse
  • Left - Lean back
  • Right - Lean forwards
  • Z - Eject man - The woman will remain holding the man if Z is pressed repeatedly.
  • Shift - Eject woman
  • Space - Speed boost
  • Ctrl - Brake
  • C - Change camera to view woman
After Ejection
  • Up - Straighten arms and legs
  • Down - Curl into ball
  • Left - Push all joints backwards excluding head
  • Right - Straighten legs and press arms forwards
  • Space - Grab

Lawnmower Man

File:Lawnmower Man.png

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 with the blade.

Default Controls

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

Explorer Guy

File:Explorer Guy.png

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

Santa Claus

File:Santa Claus.png

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
  • Up - Accelerate
  • Down - Reverse
  • Right - Lean sled right along with elves
  • Left - Lean the sled a bit left
  • Z - Eject all characters
  • Ctrl- Nothing
  • Shift - Cuts elves loose after they die or lose legs
  • Space - Float
  • C - Change camera to view elves
After Ejection
  • Up - Straighten arms and legs
  • Down - Curl into ball
  • Left - Push all joints up including head
  • Right - Straighten legs and press arms forwards
  • Shift - Take control of the elves, but not Santa
  • Ctrl - (same as Shift)
  • Space - Grab

Pogostick Man

File:Pogostick Man.png

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

Irresponsible Mom

File:Irresponsible Mom.png

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
  • Up - Accelerate
  • Down - Reverse
  • Left - Lean backward
  • Right - Lean forward
  • Z - Eject all characters
  • Shift - Eject Baby
  • Ctrl - Eject Little Girl
  • Space - Brakes
  • C - Change camera to view little girl and baby
After Ejection
  • Up - Straighten arms and legs
  • Down - Curl into ball
  • Left - Push all joints backwards excluding head
  • Right - Straighten legs and press arms forwards
  • Space - Grab

Helicopter Man

File:Helicopter Man.png

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
  • Up - Ascend
  • Down - Descend
  • Left - Tilt left
  • Right - Tilt right
  • Z - Eject
  • Shift - Raise magnet
  • Ctrl - Lower magnet
  • Space - Enable/disable magnet
After Ejection
  • Up - Straighten arms and legs
  • Down - Curl into ball
  • Left - Push arms and legs backwards
  • Right - Straighten legs and press arms forwards
  • Shift - Push out arms
  • Ctrl - Pull in arms
  • Space - 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 the 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 (unofficial name) was an unreleased character that could be found in the

Akira Bike - Shape1842

Akira Bike Guy.

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

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

Demo Characters

The character selection screen from V1.0.

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.

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.

Videos

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, thirteen 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 2 hours and 29 minutes in the game at one point, 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.

Mobile Version

Characters

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

Character selection menu

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

File:IMG 7238.PNG

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

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.
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