Back when they were more popular and more relevant, I used to love reading video game magazines.  I liked them so much it’s even what helped me choose my major in college (not such a good idea now, but that’s a 20/20 hindsight kind of thing).  Some of my favorites included Nintendo Power, Next Generation, and Electronic Gaming Monthly.  One of the cool things EGM would do sometimes was cover games from Japan that we’d never see over here.  One of them I remember was TwinBee Rainbow Bell Adventure for Super Famicom, a cutesy 2D pastel platformer with characters from the TwinBee shooter series.  Another Super Famicom one I remember was a motorcycle racing game that caught my eye because it looked similar to Super Mario Kart, one of my top favorite games of all time.  And now you can play that game on all modern consoles (reviewed on PS4 here).  In Japan the game was originally called Bike Daisuki!  Hashiriya Kon.  I think EGM called it “We Love Motorcycles,” which is probably a more direct translation of the first part of the title.  But here it’s called Rider’s Spirits, which I think is more like the last part of the title.

Anyway, so Rider’s Spirits is a colorful and cartoony motorcycle racing game that uses Mode 7 graphics similar to Super Mario Kart.  Like that classic, it also uses a split screen to either have two players or a rear view mirror, depending on how you play.  Controls are simple and pretty responsive, too.  Almost as good as Mario Kart.  Steer with the control stick and brake and gas with the buttons.  Use the shoulder buttons to lean into the turns and L2 trigger button uses items if you have them.

You can choose to play one or two players, and there are three different modes.  You start off by choosing your character.  I don’t know if these characters are original for this game or if they are based on other properties, but some are named after fruit and one has pink hair so that’s usually who I picked.  The first mode is the standard GP race.  You compete in six tracks, getting points depending on how you place, and whoever has the most at the end, wins.  You can unlock three different difficulty levels with new track layouts for each, but you have to place first to do that so it’s pretty tough.  Like Mario Kart, you can pick up items and weapons you can use, but you must drive through the pit stop area in each lap to get one.

The next mode is Time Trial which is pretty self explanatory and plays pretty much like how it does in Mario Kart and other racers.  The last mode is Endurance Race and here you do a single track but team up with another character.  There are no items, but you can run out of fuel.  So before that happens, you must stop at the pit area on the track and switch characters.

I did have a few problems with this game.  I wish they would’ve done a better job of telling you how to play.  You can view the controls but I wish I knew what the items did.  There is a gallery mode with scans of the instruction manual, but it’s all in Japanese so that doesn’t do me any good.  The other problem I had was the game is REALLY HARD!  It took me quite a few tries just to get to 1^st place on the initial round of tracks!  If you hit a wall you slow to a stop and there is one item the opponents can use that turns your whole screen black for a bit, which can really wreck you!  But even so, I still enjoyed this one because the Super Nintendo is my number one favorite game console so I always love playing games on it I never have before.  And the Mario Kart style gameplay and responsive controls kept me coming back for more.  It’s nowhere near as good as Super Mario Kart, which is probably why they didn’t bring it over here initially, but I still enjoyed it.

Kid Factor:

Rider’s Spirits is rated E-10 with ESRB descriptors of Fantasy Violence and Mild Blood.  I didn’t notice any blood, but you can spin out and crash on your motorcycle.  Reading skill is helpful for the text, but not necessary just to play.  Younger gamers may find this one too difficult, though.

Tags: Game Reviews