Nostalgic Vacation: 1985 - Mach Rider

On 09/15/2014 at 12:42 AM by KnightDriver

1985 and home console video gaming makes a huge comback with the release of Nintendo's NES. Disguised as a VCR (that's a videocassette recorder for those who don't know) and coupled with a toy robot so nobody would call it a video game machine, the NES reignited home console gaming. Super Mario Bros. was the big hit that year, but I'd played that and had a copy of Mach Rider waiting for my attention, so I went with that. But before I started, I watched a bunch of video of other games that came out that year like arcade game Tiger-Heli, and PC games: Tau Ceti, Oregon Trail, Ultima IV and The Bard's Tale.

Quadrunner ahead, about to unleash the old bump 'n boom.

Mach Rider impressed me at first as being instantly recognizable as the inspiration behind the Road Rash series. You ride a motorcyle and have to fight off alien attackers in vehicles. You have a gun that shoots out the front of your bike and you can also bump enemies off the road and into objects.

I didn't realize it at first but by pushing up on the d-pad you can switch gears. Gear 3 seemed to be the sweet spot, not too fast to crash yet not to slow to be overtaken, but I found myself being hit from behind way too much forcing me to drive in 4th. But 4th is really fast and I would hit oil slicks or puddles throwing me into barrels on the side of the road. I got the hang of it enough to make it through the first of ten tracks, but I couldn't get past the second one. I found it hard to control my bike and there seemed to be way too many obstacles in the road. I tried to slow down, but then I would be rammed from behind by the Quadrunners.

mroil

Not more oil slicks! Damn Quadrunner's on my butt!

You can play in three modes: Fighting Course (which tells the story of the game), Endurance Mode (which is just a timed version with enemies), and Solo Course (which is a timed race with no enemies). Then there is Design mode where you can create your own tracks. This would've been really cool if I could get anywhere in the game without constantly crashing.

As it is, I'm glad I played this game, but I'd much rather play any of the Road Rash games instead. The controls are better and you can fight hand to hand.

Cary Woodham

09/15/2014 at 05:54 AM

I never played this, but then, I didn't get a NES right away. Super Mario Bros. was all right, but I was perfectly happy playing Pengo on my Atari 5200. I didn't get a NES until Zelda came out. Only racing game I had for the NES was Rad Racer, one of the few games I could get my dad to play. It wasn't that great either. Maybe better than Mach Rider, though.

KnightDriver

09/16/2014 at 02:42 AM

I missed the NES generation all together. I only went back to it in the late 90's. I think I was too busy with school and real world stuff in the early 90's. It was tumultuous time in my life - my tumultous 20s.

My friend just pulled out Rad Racer today. Didn't try it though.

Matt Snee Staff Writer

09/15/2014 at 08:54 AM

yeah it's pretty hilarious they made it look like a VCR. I remember reading this years ago and being astonished. Well, thank God the NES was such a success. All of video games depended on it.

09/16/2014 at 02:48 AM

I was amazed to look at console game releases for 1984. There was like nothing, just a bunch of arcade ports. No original titles hardly at all. Scary. NES really did save console gaming.

Super Step Contributing Writer

09/15/2014 at 12:30 PM

I loved Road Rash on N64. Never heard of this game though.

I never realized they made the NES that way cause they wanted people to think it was a VCR. Didn't seem to fool anyone. lol

09/16/2014 at 03:00 AM

I think it was to fool retailers who were warry of carrying video game consoles after the crash. No one thought it could sell. They though video games was a fad that had gone away. Little did they know.

Alex-C25

09/15/2014 at 04:36 PM

I think not knowing to change gears made me quit everytime I tried the game.

09/16/2014 at 03:17 AM

Yea, at first I was just putzing along and got hit from behind over and over again. I was like "what's up with that?". Then I was reading the wiki page and it mentioned switching gears by pushing up on the d-pad, and I went, "ah! I knew something was wrong."

NSonic79

09/16/2014 at 12:13 PM

I missed out on Mach Rider back then. I think I knew of it but didn't even think it looked like what you've shown right now. Looks like I did miss out.

09/16/2014 at 03:19 PM

It's weird but I was getting frustrated with a lot of old school games this weekend. When I was about to quit one, my last play was a "I don't give two shits" style of wreckless abandonment, and well. . . that was the best round I had every time.

PixlBit