Rock n' Roll Racing
| Rock N' Roll Racing | |
|---|---|
| Title screen | |
| Developer(s) | Silicon & Synapse (now Blizzard) |
| Publisher(s) | Interplay |
| Platform(s) | SFC/SNES, Mega Drive/Genesis, Game Boy Advance |
| Release | JPN 1993 NA June 4, 1993 EU 1993 |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single player, multiplayer |
Rock N' Roll Racing is a racing video game released for the Mega Drive/Genesis and SNES, published by Interplay and developed by Silicon & Synapse (now known as Blizzard Entertainment) in 1993. The game was rereleased for the Game Boy Advance in 2003.
It is similar in gameplay to the NES game R.C. Pro-Am developed by Rare in 1988.
Game description
The races themselves put the player against two (in 2-player games) or three (1-player games) computer opponents and are viewed from an isometric viewpoint. In the background play instrumental versions of several heavy metal and rock 'n roll songs: "Paranoid" by Black Sabbath, "The Peter Gunn Theme" by Henry Mancini, "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, "Born to be Wild" by Steppenwolf, and "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood. Players are updated on the race by commentator "Loudmouth Larry" (Larry "Supermouth" Huffman) making comments like "The stage is set, the green flag drops!" (or "Let the carnage BEGIN!"), or "Rip: is about to blow!" at appropriate points through the race. (There is a slight pause between a name and action, as each name and each action is its own sound effect, which can be heard in the FX screen).
The tracks are littered with mines, money power-ups ($1,000 for each one you collect), and health power-ups. Similarly, in each lap, each player's frontal weapons (energy weapons or missiles), rear weapons (oil slicks or mines), and turbos (jumps or nitro boosts) are recharged. The number that you get depends on the ammo upgrades you've bought, which maxes out at 7. You get money for blowing opponent cars up and for lapping (gaining a full 1 lap lead on the opposition) your opponents.
The race goes on for 4 laps and the final standings provide rewards: 400 points and $10,000 for first place, 200 points and $7,000 for second, 100 points and $4,000 for third, nothing for fourth. Money is used to buy upgrades and new cars. Points are used to advance to the next racing class or the next planet. In 2-player mode, one player can choose to advance and leave their "loser friend" (as the character in charge of advancement calls players without enough points to advance) behind, kicking him/her out of the game for good. Once left behind, the other player has no choice but to hope that they had written down their password (available fron the F/X screen) and that the other player will reset the game and let them try again at some point.
Passwords are given out at the beginning of each new "racing season" (each planet has their own definition of how many races make up a season, though early advancement will auotomatically start a new season). The passwords are located at the bottom of the F/X screen (accessed by pressing a button while highlighting the box marked F/X while your racer and the planet's boss racer are shown). These passwords are a complex code, consisting of three 4-digit sections and dictate everything about the players' progress (the character used, the color of the vehicle, the vehicle type, weapons and parts upgrades, racing planet, racing class, and money). The password codes only allow you to save $999,990 max (6 digits). If you have more than 6 figures in your bank account, the program chops off the leftmost digits over 6 (e.g., if you have $1,000,050 before you save, you will have $50 after you use the password to continue later). Due to the 2-player password function, it's possible to "cheat" by entering the same password for both players or by entering passwords for players who were at entirely different points in the game. The password with the lowest difficulty setting and on the lowest planet/racing class will be used as the basis for play from then on (which will allow for a Warrior-skill character with a maxed-out vehicle to race against Rookie-class AIs in the Rookie skill mode). Though a password generator QBASIC program exists, the passwords it creates often result in a glitch, which causes the player to race on glitchy planets that exist only as a bug (and can crash the game), after racing on Inferno. In the Rookie skill mode, however, they work perfectly, as long as one doesn't try to take the character beyond the third planet using the password.
Selectable Characters
- Snake Sanders (Earth) (+1 Acceleration, +1 Top Speed)
- Tarquinn (Aurora) (+1 Top Speed, +1 Cornering)
- Jake Badlands (Xeno Prime) (+1 Acceleration, +1 Cornering)
- Katarina Lyons (Panteros V) (+1 Jumping, +1 Cornering)
- Ivanzypher (Fleagull) (+1 Jumping, +1 Top Speed)
- Cyberhawk (Serpentis) (+1 Acceleration, +1 Jumping)
- Olaf from The Lost Vikings (Valhalla) (+1 Acceleration, +1 Top Speed, and +1 Cornering)
Note: Olaf is a hidden character.
There is an eighth character, also hidden, with no picture or name that is actually better than Olaf. However he/she/it is only accessible using specially crafted passwords. Passwords for this character on every track/level can be found here: Play as the Phantom
Rock n' Roll Racing Vehicles
- Dirt Devil ($18,000)
- Marauder ($18,000)
- Airblade ($70,000)
- Battletrak ($110,000)
- Havac ($130,000)