Mach Rider
System: NES
Release Date: August 1986
Developer: Nintendo
Publisher: Nintendo
Genre: Racing
When I was looking at the upcoming list, I was thinking that Mach Rider would be a cool racing game. What I ended up with was a game that was just a little too ambitious for its abilities. I just don’t think the technology was there to make Mach Rider a very good game. The premise of the game is to ride along on your motorcycle on a strip of road avoiding obstacles and other racers. Once you reach the end of the course, you can choose one of two tracks to follow up on. This continues indefinitely or until you run out of lives.
Other racers ride on what look like ATVs and come in six colors. Pink is the weakest of the bunch, taking only one shot from the Mach Rider to destroy. Other colors take more shots to defeat. You replenish your shots by blocking the other riders into the obstacles on the track. The obstacles include barrels on the side of the road, which will destroy you if you run into them. On the road, you’ll find water puddles, which cause you to skid. Oil slicks, which cause you to skid more. Caltrops, which make you skid the most. Rocks and bomber balls are also on the road and will destroy you if you run into them. Oil barrels and bomber balls can be shot and destroyed, but the others must be avoided.
Mach Rider accelerates with the A button and shoots with the B button. Once you reach the top speed in each gear, you must shift up by pressing up. If you blow up, you start back in first gear and have to get back up to speed. There is no break, so you have to let go of the A button to decelerate. The track also turns to ice on occasion, necessitating the downshifting so you can keep control of your bike. However, you have to be careful, because if the other racers crash into you from behind, they destroy you.
There are other modes of play outside of the Fighting Course, including Endurance Course, Solo Course, and Design. Endurance Course gives you unlimited lives and tasks you with going a certain distance in a certain amount of time. I found this doable when I had 10 clock ticks for every km I had to go, but once that ratio started to fall, I lost. Solo Course is the same as endurance, but without other racers.
There’s also a design mode, like in Excitebike, that allows you to create your own track and play the different modes on it. There are a decent number of track you can lay, but in the end, it’s not that powerful of a tool and the lack of ability to save your track really hurts its replayability.
Graphics: 1.5
I like the animation of the Mach Rider, but everything else is not very good. I appreciate trying the paralax scrolling with the background scenery.
Sound: 1.0
The song that loops got on my nerves, the engine sounds weren’t very pleasing.
Gameplay: 2.0
Gameplay is a mixed bag. Using sound cues to tell you when to shift gears manually is novel. Not being able to see obstacles coming at you because you’re going around a curve is not.
Difficulty: 1.5
The aforementioned not being able to see obstacles or see where on the track they will actually be because of a curve is the difficulty, as well as WAY too many oil slicks.
Fun Factor: 1.0
Did not have fun with this one. The NES needs a good racing game and soon.
Overall Grade: 1.4
Mach Rider earns a D+. It’s got some ideas on where to go, but doesn’t implement them in ways that are fun.