Although officially it has no connection to Activision's Interstate '76 series,[4] it features several of its themes including auto-vigilantes, the 1970s time frame, and specific fictional vehicle companies.

[5] Three types of special attacks can be made using each of the five standard weapons, at a bigger cost in ammunition, by performing fighting game-style movements and button presses on the control pad.

There are special icons scattered across the playing field; wrenches repair damage and yellow zigzag lines temporarily jam the opponent's homing-based weapons.

The game's protagonists are the Vigilantes, a group of residents from the Southwest who band together to preserve law and order in the light of chaos gripping the country.

He is accompanied in the fight by his rebellious niece Sheila; Las Vegas high-roller John Torque; Slick Clyde, whom Torque coerced into joining the Vigilantes; alien-obsessed hippie Dave, who somehow finds himself fighting with the Vigilantes; and FBI agent Chassey Blue, who was assigned to investigate reports of gun battles in the region.

The game's antagonists are the Coyotes, a group of mercenaries recruited by OMAR to carry out their scheme by destroying commercial installations throughout the region, using weaponry stolen from the top-secret Site 4 military base in Nevada.

His cohorts are disco-loving petty criminal Boogie; mentally-disturbed Site 4 test pilot Loki; Houston 3, a woman brainwashed by OMAR to become one of their assassins; beekeeper Beezwax, who was frustrated by the irradiation of his beehive;[7] and juvenile delinquent Molo, who idolizes Sid Burn and is desperate to join the Coyotes.

In the N64 version of the game, the spaceship Loki flew and crashed is revealed to belong to Y The Alien, who was seeking extra fuel and parts for his ship after being stranded on Earth for some time looking for his friends.

Vigilante 8 was developed by a team of five people - Peter Morawiec, Adrian Stephens, David Goodrich, Jeremy Engleman, and Edvard Toth.

[citation needed] The development company, Luxoflux, received no supporting code or technical assistance of any kind from Activision's in-house teams.

[15] Edge gave the PlayStation version seven out of ten, calling it "a competent and interesting game for anyone who enjoys trashing automobiles.

[19] Major Mike of GamePro said of the PlayStation version in its August 1998 issue, "Overall, Vigilante 8 is worth a test-drive rental for fans of the genre.

"[41][d] Eight issues later, Dan Elektro said that the Nintendo 64 version "could have been a hack-job port of the PlayStation code, but instead, the game's been retooled and tweaked for its new platform – and the effort shows.

"[42][e] Michael L. House of AllGame gave the PlayStation version four stars out of five, saying that it "more than makes up for the shortcomings with the fantastic shooting action and nicely designed arenas.

A remake for the Xbox 360, titled Vigilante 8 Arcade, was created by Isopod Labs, an independent company formed by the founders of Luxoflux.