Best of Sega Genesis Games: Road Rash
A popular Sega Genesis game when it came out was Road Rash. It was special because it was an innovative racing game. Prior racing games had cars fixed in the center of the screen. Or flat tracks. Or instant crash upon touching anything.
Road Rash was based on motorcycle racing. Not only was it a great racing game, it also included a little fighting. Being able to hit, kick, or strike other racers with a few weapons added to the fun.
Early Racing Games
Most racing games before Road Rash weren’t that great. Spy Hunter had some shooting and bumping. Pole Position had tires that needed changing. Test drive had a lot of cars and tracks. But most racing games just didn’t have much appeal.
They were redundant, predictable, and notoriously difficult. Simply grazing an obstacle or the edge of the track resulted in an instant crash for most early racing games. Developers eventually caught on and made racing games more forgiving. Who wants to play a racing game where you spend more time recovering because you bumped into something than actually racing?
Pole Position was innovative in that it allowed you to wander past the edge of the track or bump into other racers. Both moves that would punish your tires. A flat tire ended the race if you didn’t pit and change them.
Similarly, Road Rash had a damage meter for you and your bike. However, it takes many, many crashes to total it enough to end a race. It was rare. Taking out other riders wasn’t too hard. Especially with the chain or club.
Another feature found in early racing games were upgrades. Instead of handling, speed, or acceleration upgrades, everything was built into better bikes. Simply upgrading to a newer bike took the hassle of deciding on what attribute to spend money on.
New Racing Features
Road Rash built on many features of early racing games. It also eliminated the worst features of early racing games, such as instant crashes, impossible timers, and lame animations. But it also added innovative new features.
Road Rash allowed the racer to slide around side to side and up and down. Eliminating a fixed position for a racer was a real game changer. Having the racer drift around a little with the track gave it a realistic feel.
Going up with the track, or shift from side to side is standard now. But that was a new with Road Rash. The racer also wasn’t just a fixed image. The rider leaned into curves, moved, and attacked other riders.
Combining racing and battle was nothing new at the time. Old games like Spy Hunter had shooting. But Road Rash had kicking, punching, and swinging with weapons. The detail and amount of animations of the racer was more than anything previous.
Same is true for the crashes. Most games had a generic explosion animation, or the car spinning out. But Road Rash animated the rider and bike going separate ways. Whether you hit a car, tree, another racer, or just crashed due to going too fast, the animations were funny.
Watching a good crash was as much fun as racing. The crash animations were top notch for Road Rash. It was the first racing game with rider and bike animations as far as I know. Being able to watch another racer being pushed into oncoming traffic was glorious.
Sure, in Test Drive you could see a bit of the destruction in the rear view mirror. But watching the devastation in Road Rash was a whole new level. Road Rash definitely represented a huge leap in racing games at the time.
Who wants to play a racing game where you spend more time restarting because of a crash than actually racing? Road Rash lets you crash, get up, and get back racing. The crash animations were so fun it made up for having to recover. .
On the other hand, the crashes were cartoonishly hilarious. As intense and challenging as the racing was, the crashes were silly. They really took things to a new level in Road Rash. Striking riders making their way back to their bikes was hilarious. Hitting trees, buildings, cars, and other riders was a treat.
Conclusion: A Great Sega Genesis Game
Road Rash was to racing what Sonic the Hedgehog was to side scrollers. Both were game changers. I hadn’t got into racing games much before Road Rash. But after playing it, I was hooked.
It was innovative, had great animations, graphics, and the best mechanics of its time. It doesn’t compare much with Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. But the original Road Rash is still a good game worth checking out.
Best of Sega Genesis Games: Road Rash brought to you by: David M.
I’m David M. I’ve been playing video games a long time, my pong game was fire. Now, my kids run circles around me but we always have a good time. We mostly play party and family games. Strategy and battle games are still among my favorites. I like writing about games almost as much as I do playing them. My favorite games are: Moving Out 2, Out of Space and Overcooked All You Can Eat.
