Isometric Racing - Rock 'N Roll Racing / Biker Mice from Mars

I've played my fair share of racers overtime, whether it be Pole Position (Atari) Streetrod (Commodore 64), Super Offroad (NES), Gran Turismo (PS), Forza - (Xbox), hell I've even thrown a few grand down on my own fully fledged simulator running Rfactor.

Each of them great, in there own unique way.

But when it comes to isometric racing, I can't pinpoint exactly what it is, however for me it simply oozes fun!

Whether it be the simplicity of the controls or the quirky physics, one things for sure I can't stop myself from turning back to these classic racers.

The titles I speak of are of course SNES based, the first having been developed by a now known powerhouse in the industry Blizzard Entertainment. 

Rock 'N Roll Racing

Such an adrenaline pumping game of its era, with its amazing familiar computerized heavy metal music pushing you to brink against your three interstellar opponents, plus a facade of incredible pixel art at it's best!

Rock 'N Roll Racing was famous for in-race combat, tap the A Button to drop an oil slick or landmine, hit Y to engage your frontal weapons system or X to launch your vehicle into orbit - whilst performing an epic drift around a blind isometric corner! if you like..

Theirs longevity in this title, a strong desire to bash through the races & worlds, curiosity as to what the next purchasable vehicle on offer may be, up and coming opposition or the unique obstacles & circuits offered throughout the universe of Rock 'N Roll Racing.

IGN marked it 72nd on there Top 100 Super Nintendo games, whilst I think it deserved to be higher, im still glad it's being recognized to this present day.

The second mention, three protagonists Throttle, Modo and Vinnie, or anthropomorphic one per centers known as the,

Biker Mice from Mars

A super color packed title, full of cheesy '90s cartoon pop culture.

Race against other key characters in the Biker Mice from Mars universe to win cash and purchase upgrades for your bike throughout story mode.

Upgrades include the usual whiz bang "ENGINE", "TYRE", "ARMOUR" & "SHOT" all integral in your aim to dominate the quirky circuits on offer.

Word of warning to newcomers, there is a slight learning curve to adapting to the unique control style isometric racer's demand, even thinking about it may crucify your skull slightly, but once you grasp the concept that your bike is always facing the same way it will click and the feeling will become second nature.

A special mention, but if you get the opportunity give the European version a go, the in-game advertising for Snickers is uncanny, something rarely seen in early video game titles of this era.

It's time to rock & ride!

The scope of Videogame Character Size

"GENTLEMEN START YOUR SCREAMING"

Your windpipe will get a workout when you see what Konami(r) has prepared for you in the Batman(tm) Returns game for Super NES(tm).  But your screams will be drowned out by crunching bones, cracking skulls, shattering glass and other cool CD quality sounds designed to make you cringe.

Because Batman has rapid-fire fists and is a master of flying body slams, spinning judo kicks, double head knocking and other means of maiming. And check out your hero's humongous size. We're talking big!

In seven 3-D movie-like levels, experience the agony of Catwoman's claws, kicks and whip and the ecstasy of pummeling The Penguin and his clan of delinquent clowns, all talented in terrorism.  Inside your cape of fear are Batarangs and test tubes, essential for battling the Tattooed Strongman, the Organ Grinder and the rocket launching Duck Vehicle.

Blow away renegade bikers with the Batmobile loaded with Batdiscs and catapult yourself to safety with your trusty Grappling Hook.  The frigid fiend is chillin' in his way cool lair waiting to put the Caped Crusader on ice. So put on your cowl and put up your dukes. Can't you hear Gotham City screaming for help?!

OK!, So I discovered this retro double pager advert, Rowan Lipkovits of Videogame Comic Ads scanned in, I've read the blurb, and I'm super excited and ready to roll...  now I'm sure at some point or another in the mid 90's I gave this title a whirl, and if memory serves me correctly the wow factor as portrayed above, was the sheer size of the playable character (Batman).

Sound's like a silly feature in all, but its some real madmen-esque  advertisement technique, for some underlying reason all everyone wanted during this period was GIANT playable characters!!

So having booted the game up for the first time in 20 years - skipping the prompts and diving into the first stage; "Ambush in Gotham Plaza" I am in fact pleasantly surprised or reminded of the size of Batman, before pottering off I decided to screenshot and have a tinker in Photoshop, and the character:screen ratio comes in at a whopping 40% .

Now to put this into perspective, lets step back a generation and take a snap shot of the same game on the predecessor system the 8-bit NES; the character:screen ratio comes in at exactly half or 20% of the screen real estate height.

This is truly yet another reason why I love my platinum era of video-gaming, the SNES takes me back to some awesome comic book spec pixel art, combined with that additional processing power to produce   larger than life playable characters which escape that somewhat prehistoric dinosaur era of Atari/NES spec limitation.

Image Courtesy;
Shilling Epilepsy to Mouth-Breathers: "Batman Returns", SNES, 1993.. 2013.Shilling Epilepsy to Mouth-Breathers: "Batman Returns", SNES, 1993.. [ONLINE] Available at:http://videogamecomicads.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/batman-returns-snes-1993.html. [Accessed 08 April 2013].

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Welcome to Snesy, my rendition of the third & fourth generation of video gaming,  a platinum era - the first phase of the decline of arcade, the introduction of the almighty 16-bit Super Nintendo Entertainment System the best console platform system for its period, and arguably the best to this day.

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the uncanny story-line behind some of the hit characters throughout the revolution video gaming.

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the technology of the time, 16-bit at it's best, animated sprites, iconic tunes, platform physics, emulation plus a multitude of aftermarket hardware.

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