Wild Coyote Megaways: Slot Overview

Oddly enough, not long before putting this review together, we looked at Buster’s Bones from NetEnt, which instantly brought Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner to mind—then along comes Wild Coyote Megaways, which looks like a near-perfect match for that classic cartoon style. The game is made by OneTouch, a provider that hasn’t made a huge splash on the radar until recently. That may be about to shift, helped in no small part by the Megaways branding, bringing the familiar Megaways staples along with a couple of less common twists.

If you’ve ever watched the Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote shorts, Wild Coyote Megaways will feel instantly recognizable. The action plays out in a desert backdrop with little more than dust, rocky outcrops, and the odd hardy plant. Road Runner meep-meeps down endless-looking roads while Wile E. tries everything imaginable—yet almost never gets close to catching the lightning-fast bird, despite an arsenal of wildly inventive schemes. You’d think he’d quit after attempt number who-knows-how-many, but through sheer determination, questionable obsession, or both, Wile E. keeps going. Supposedly, as the Internet has it, Wile E. did catch the Roadrunner once, in 1980, and then asked the audience, ‘Now what do I do?’

At the center of the screen sits Wild Coyote Megaways’ reel area, built from 6 vertically spinning reels plus a 4 symbol top tracker reel that spins horizontally. When the tracker reel is included, each reel can display up to 7 symbols, resulting in up to 117,649 ways to win. In other words, it’s the standard Megaways framework. With a highly volatile model and a 96% RTP, players can set stakes from 20 p/c to $/€100 per spin on whichever device they prefer.

As usual, the biggest payouts come from 6-of-a-kind combinations, returning 0.5 to 1 times the bet for the 10-A low royals, or 1.2 to 10 times the bet for six bats, bombs, rockets, hammers, or coyote premium icons. Assisting with combinations is the standard wild symbol, though it appears only on the tracker reel since that’s the only place it can land. Wilds of all types replace any regular paying symbol. Finally, Wild Coyote Megaways uses a cascading wins system, where winning symbols disappear and new ones fall in from above. Cascades continue until no further win is created.

Wild Coyote Megaways: Slot Features

Next up, Wild Coyote Megaways starts rolling out its feature set. In particular, this section looks at TNT Symbols, Roadrunner Wilds, free spins, and the bonus buy option.

TNT Symbols

TNT Symbols function as mystery symbols, and whenever they appear, they transform to reveal a random pay symbol.

Roadrunner Wilds

The Roadrunner Wanted symbol shows up only on the top tracker reel and acts as a wild. When a Roadrunner symbol lands, it generates a stacked full reel wild directly beneath it on the main grid, carrying a multiplier of up to x6 in the base game and always x6 in free spins.

Free Spins

The bonus feature starts when 4, 5, 6, or 7 scatter symbols land, awarding 10, 12, 14, or 16 free spins in that order. During free spins, a win multiplier is added, beginning at x1. After winning cascades or spins, the multiplier increases by +1 and does not reset until the feature ends. On top of that, whenever symbols on the main reels match the symbol positioned above them on the tracker, they are converted into wild symbols. Also, when a Roadrunner symbol lands, +4 free spins are added.

To finish, anyone wanting immediate entry to the feature can purchase free spins for 100x the bet. This initiates a spin that triggers the bonus, but it does not award any additional wins.

Wild Coyote Megaways: Slot Verdict

To borrow a line from Weird Al Yankovic in the comedy film UHF: ‘Right now I’d like to show you one of my favourite cartoons. It’s a sad, depressing story about a pathetic coyote who spends every waking moment of his life in the futile pursuit of a sadistic roadrunner who mocks him and laughs at him as he’s repeatedly crushed and maimed! Hope you enjoy it!’ Fair point—George was clearly in a certain kind of mood when he said it—whereas Wild Coyote Megaways is a lively, upbeat slot that does a solid job of channeling that Saturday morning cartoon energy. Interestingly, a quick check suggests neither Road Runner nor Wile E. Coyote has entered the public domain yet, so whether the rights holders will drop the legal equivalent of an anvil from ten stories up is something we’ll have to wait and see.

For as long as it’s around, Wild Coyote Megaways offers a pretty enjoyable play experience. Knowing the classic coyote-versus-bird cartoon will probably make it hit a bit harder, but it’s still easy to get into even with only a vague idea—or none at all—of the source inspiration. That’s partly down to the strong cartoon presentation, and partly thanks to a feature set that leans on proven Megaways favourites, with one or two additions you don’t see quite as often. The mystery symbol plus free spins with a rising multiplier has delivered in plenty of Megaways titles before and will likely keep doing so, for obvious reasons. The less common elements aren’t entirely new either; the spreading Roadrunner Wild echoes mechanics seen in games such as Power of Thor Megaways, and the matching symbol-to-wild conversion during free spins also feels familiar, even if the original example isn’t immediately coming to mind.

That said, none of this is meant as a knock on OneTouch’s work. Even if Wild Coyote Megaways isn’t overflowing with brand-new ideas like a stick of dynamite ready to pop, it’s still an entertaining slot. Add in win potential around 10,000x the bet, and it’s easy to tap into a bit of youthful excitement and enjoy what Wild Coyote Megaways brings to the table.