''BC Racers'' is a

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

released by

Core Design Core Design Limited (known as Rebellion (Derby) Ltd between 2006 and 2010) was a British video game developer based in Derby. Founded in May 1988 by former Gremlin Graphics employees, it originally bore the name Megabrite until rebranding as Co ...

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which Sinking of the MS Estonia, sank in ...

for the

Sega CD The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, ...

, and in

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

for the

Sega 32X The 32X is an add-on for the Sega Genesis video game console. Codenamed "Project Mars", it was designed to expand the power of the Genesis and serve as a transitional console into the 32-bit era until the release of the Sega Saturn. The 32X us ...

, the 3DO, and

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few ope ...

. The game was designed by

Toby Gard Toby is a popular, usually male, name in many English speaking countries. The name is from the Middle English vernacular form of Tobias. Tobias itself is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew טוביה ''Toviah'', which translates to ''Good i ...

, who later created

Lara Croft Lara Croft is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the video game franchise ''Tomb Raider''. She is presented as a highly intelligent and athletic British archaeologist who ventures into ancient tombs and hazardous ruins around th ...

. ''BC Racers'' mixes a racing simulation by mixing with a "

prehistoric Prehistory, also known as pre-literary history, is the period of human history between the use of the first stone tools by hominins 3.3 million years ago and the beginning of recorded history with the invention of writing systems. The use of ...

" theme. It is the third game in the ''

Chuck Rock ''Chuck Rock'' is a 1991 slapstick side-scrolling platform video game developed and published by Core Design for the Atari ST and Amiga computers. A Commodore 64 port followed in 1992 and an Amiga CD32 version in 1994. The game was subsequentl ...

'' series, despite the Chuck Rock connection not being prominent.

Plot

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 A sidecar is a one-wheeled device attached to the side of a motorcycle, scooter, or bicycle, making the whole a three-wheeled vehicle. A motorcycle with a sidecar is sometimes called a ''combination'', an ''outfit'', a ''rig'' or a ''hack''. ...

- from all around the prehistoric world will use their rock-powered sidecars to compete for this prize.

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-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

s, except for a "turbo" that the bikes can trigger every few seconds. Both of the bikes' riders can use physical attacks to injure other drivers. If the bike gets beaten enough, it crashes out, giving the player extra points. The same thing can happen to the player's bike. Some

ports A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...

of the game include a split-screen two player mode. The Sega CD version instead has a two-player cooperative mode (one of the players controls the driver, while the other controls the fighting, steering and turbo). Some of the riders in ''BC Racers'' come from other famous

games, such as

and Chuck Rock Junior. Others are obvious references to several real-world characters, such as Brick Jagger, Sid Viscous and Jimi Handtrix (referencing

Mick Jagger Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English singer and songwriter who has achieved international fame as the lead vocalist and one of the founder members of the rock band the Rolling Stones. His ongoing songwriting partnershi ...

Sid Vicious John Simon Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. Despite dying in 1979 at age 21, he remains an icon of the ...

and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Development

Jeremy Smith of Core Design said the original Sega CD version took "eight or nine months" to develop. Its working title was "Chuck Rally".

Reception

Reviewing the Sega CD version, ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' criticized the

pixelated Pixelization (British English, pixelisation) or mosaic processing is any technique used in editing images or video, whereby an image is blurred by displaying part or all of it at a markedly lower resolution. It is primarily used for censorship ...

landscapes, minimal sound effects, and difficult controls when using a three-button controller, but praised the comical graphics and "lightweight" tone, and recommended it as a decent title for younger gamers. ''Digital Press'' gave the Sega CD version 7 out of 10, praising the controls and music, but they criticized the graphics. In their review of the 32X version, ''GamePro'' commented that the graphics are sharper than in the Sega CD version, but look much worse during actual gameplay due to the choppy

frame rate Frame rate (expressed in or FPS) is the frequency (rate) at which consecutive images (frames) are captured or displayed. The term applies equally to film and video cameras, computer graphics, and motion capture systems. Frame rate may also be ca ...

and prominent slowdown, especially during two-player mode. They nonetheless concluded that ''BC Racers'' will appeal to the gamers due to its numerous tracks, humorous attacks, and simultaneous two-player action. '' Next Generation'' reviewed the PC version of the game and gave it two out of five stars, deeming it inferior to another kart title ''Super Karts''. Reviewing the 3DO version, a ''Next Generation'' critic rated it as the worst racing game on the 3DO to date, citing the lack of depth to the car handling, the ugly-looking courses, and overall outdated feel of the game. He gave it one out of five stars.

References

External links

* {{Core Design 1994 video games 3DO Interactive Multiplayer games Core Design games DOS games Prehistoric people in popular culture Racing video games Sega 32X games Sega CD games Vehicular combat games Video games scored by Nathan McCree Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games set in prehistory Split-screen multiplayer games Multiplayer and single-player video games