BC Racers

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BC Racers
Image:BC Racers Coverart.png
Developer(s) Core Design
Publisher(s) Core Design
Platform(s) Sega CD / Mega CD, Sega 32X, PC, 3DO
Release date 1993 (32X, Sega CD, 3DO)
1995 (PC as freeware)
Genre(s) Racing
Mode(s) Single player and Two player (split screen)

BC Racers is a racing game released by Core Design in 1993 and released by the company as freeware in 1995 (PC version).

Contents

[edit] Storyline

BC Racers tries to create a racing simulation by mixing the usual elements of games of this genre with the "prehistoric" theme. Particularly, the game takes place in the world of one of Core's iconic characters, Chuck Rock. The storyline of the game is pretty simple, but it adds much to the general feeling: the millionaire playboy caveman Millstone Rockafella has organized a BC bike race, the winner of which will receive the Ultimate Boulderdash Bike. Six groups of riders -one driving, one deploying weapons from the sidecar- from all around the prehistoric world will use their rock-powered sidecars to compete for this prize.

[edit] Description and Gameplay

BC Racers has four difficulty settings: Easy, Medium, Hard and Rockhard. Each of the settings has eight different circuits, making a total of 32 circuits in the game. There are also eight themes, from desert wastes to active volcanoes and massive jungles. The tracks need four laps to complete, and feature many special elements specific to the circuit's setting. Unusually for a game of this type, there are no power-ups, except for a "turbo" that the bikes can trigger every few seconds.

Other unusual feature of the game is the function of the bikes' riders: both of them can use physical attacks to injure other drivers. If the bike gets beaten enough, it crashes out, giving the player extra points. Of course, the same thing can happen to the player's bike.

The game does not seek to accurately simulate real world bikes, driving conditions, or physics. In fact, many internet reviews consider the bikes quite hard to control, since the steering reacts much stronger than in other racing games.

Some ports of the game include a split-screen two player mode. However, other ports didn't include this modality, namely the Sega/Mega CD version, having instead a two player cooperative mode (one of the players controls the driver, while the other controls the fighting, steering and turbo).

[edit] Trivia

Some of the riders in BC Racers come from other famous Core Design games, such as Chuck Rock and Chuck Rock Junior. Others are obvious references to several real world characters, such as Brick Jagger and Jimi Handtrix (referencing Mick Jagger and Jimi Hendrix).

Designed by Toby Gard, who went on to create Lara Croft.

[edit] Ports

[edit] External links