Bike Daisuki! Hashiriya Kon – Rider's Spirits

Bike Daisuki! Hashiriya Kon – Rider's Spirits
Developer(s)Genki
Publisher(s)Masaya
Platform(s)Super Famicom
Release
  • JP: September 30, 1994
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer

Bike Daisuki! Hashiriya Kon - Rider's Spirits (バイク大好き！走り屋魂, lit. "I Love Bikes! Race Ya Soul")[1] is a 1994 video game for the Super Famicom. It is a racing game that allows players to race on motorcycles.

Gameplay

Gameplay screenshot

The bottom of the screen can serve two purposes in the game. In single-player mode, it can show the map race or it can show a simulated rearview mirror showing action behind the player. Like a real bike, it shows two rear-view mirrors.[2]

There are eight characters with four types of characters. Each of the four character types has its attributes for speed, handling, acceleration.[2]

Tracks in the game include various attributes such as ice, dirt, asphalt, and cobble-stone.[2]

"Chicken Race" is a mode in the game where the player goes down a ramp and must stop as close to the edge without going over. Going over results in wrecking the motorbike.[2]

It is possible to play in two or four player mode.[3]

There are items when going through a "pit-stop" on the track and the racing itself is complex, with drifts and wheelies. The player can choose from eight characters of various appearances and has a fuel gauge to watch while playing the game. Two views are present; a first-person view through the motorcycle rear-view mirrors and a second view using a more conventional third-person view. Other than the number of laps and the lap time, all other information is in Japanese.

Development

The game uses the DSP-1 chip, which is the same chip used by Super Mario Kart.[3][4] The DSP chip provides fast support for the floating point and trigonometric calculations needed by 3D math algorithms.[5]

Release

The game was released on September 30, 1994 in Japan for the Super Famicom, and was published by Masaya.[6] The game was never released outside of Japan, but in 2019 it was translated into English.[7]

Reception

Previews and reviews for the game noted the resemblance between Rider's Spirits and Super Mario Kart.[10][3] Mega Fun went so far as to call the game a "Mario Kart Clone".[8] EGM said it wasn't a Mario Kart sequel, but it "may as well be".[2] Both EGM and Super Console noted that aside from using motorcycles the games are very similar.[2][3]

Upon release, four reviews for Famitsu gave the game a score of 24/40.[6]

Video Games 74%[4]

Mega Fun 89%[8]

CVG gave it a score of 82 out of 100.[9]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Japanese title". Super Famicom. Archived from the original on 2011-09-11. Retrieved 2011-07-15.
  2. ^ a b c d e f EGM staff writers (August 1994). "International Outlook: Rider's Spirits". Electronic Gaming Monthly. Vol. 7, no. 8. p. 74.
  3. ^ a b c d Super Console staff writers (October 1993). "Super Console News Network". Super Console (in Italian). No. 8. Futura Publishing. p. 17.
  4. ^ a b c "Reviews - Super Nintendo - Rider's Spirits". Video Games. April 1995. p. 114.
  5. ^ Byuu. "SNES Coprocessors — The Future Has Arrived". Archived from the original on 2012-03-07.
  6. ^ a b c "バイク大好き！走り屋魂 [スーパーファミコン] / ファミ通.com". www.famitsu.com. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  7. ^ "Bike Daisuki! Hashiriya Tamashii - Rider's Spirits". ROMhacking.net. Archived from the original on 2019-01-07. Retrieved 2019-05-11.
  8. ^ a b c Noak, Philipp (December 1994). "Test: Super Nintendo - Rider's Spirits". Mega Fun.
  9. ^ a b CVG staff writers (December 1994). "Review: Rider's Spirits". Computer+Videogiochi (in Italian). No. 43. Gruppo Editoriale Jackson. pp. 124–125.
  10. ^ Sega Power staff writers (January 1995). "News: Rider's Spirits". Sega Power. No. 62. Future Publishings. p. 7.