It’s Retro Corner today and the game I picked to look at is Rock n’ Roll Racing for the Super Nintendo. It was also available for the Sega MegaDrive/Genesis although I never liked that one for reasons we’ll get into later on so I’m going to be focusing on the Super Nintendo version.
Rock n’ Roll Racing was a game developed by Silicon & Synapse in the early 90′s and was originally intended to be a sequel to RPM Racing which was also a SNES title but towards the end of development publisher Interplay had other ideas. Whilst the core game remained Interplay added licensed music and changed the name to what we now know as Rock n’ Roll Racing.
In 1993 Rock n’ Roll Racing was launched in the market and oddly enough it was the last minute changes that we gamers remember the most. The game featured actual licensed music from popular bands such as Black Sabbath and Deep Purple. Due to cartridge storage limitations the soundtrack was small, I can actually list the entire soundtrack without wasting much time or space.
- Paranoid - Black Sabbath
- The Peter Gunn Theme - Henry Mancini
- Highway Star -Deep Purple
- Radar Love - Golden Earring (Mega Drive/Genesis exclusive track)
- Born to Be Wild -Steppenwolf
- Bad to the Bone - George Thorogood
That’s pretty much it, five tracks for the entire game and six if you played the MegaDrive/Genesis version which is laughable by today’s standards but totally fine back then. What made the soundtrack so impressive is that during those days consoles were not exactly known for it’s sound capabilities so the developers had to make do with MIDI arrangements instead. It never mattered in the end because the soundtrack still ended up being awesome even without the vocals, have a listen to a MIDI arrangement from the SNES version of the game.
Again it may not be anything special these days but during the 16-bit era a soundtrack like this was basically unheard of. Interplay’s decision to change up the game before release gave the title all sorts of attitude and personality that it never had, any time you boot up the game and you hear Bad to the Bone it gets you right in the mood.
Although the soundtrack is probably what makes Rock n’ Roll Racing so memorable and awesome it does indeed have a game holding it all together. Instead of opting to use the Mode 7 technique seen in F-Zero and later Super Mario Kart the developers went with an isometric view of the action which at first is a little jarring but you warm to it eventually. The controls are easy to pick up plus you have a map on your screen so you’re able to see what turns are coming but you won’t even need it as ideally you’ll just want to memorize the tracks anyway.
The game isn’t exactly Mario Kart but there is a combat element to Rock n’ Roll Racing and you’ll be fighting against three other AI racers for 1st place. There’s a few power ups that let you shoot other racers or simply make the track hell for everyone including yourself by placing mines all over the place. Some of the power ups change depending on what planet your racing but the general theme of combat between racers is the same. No need to worry everyone because unlike Mario Kart if you race well then you will win, there’s none of this item rubber banding AI and blue shells punishing the better player.
Unlike RPM Racing the action in Rock n’ Roll Racing is fast & frantic and the soundtrack serves to keep you pumped throughout. Adding to the game’s personality is the in game announcer who gives occasional commentary on the race and can be rather amusing at times, anyone who has ever played Rock n’ Roll Racing will certainly remember the announcer. Best way to describe him would be that he is like Rock n’ Roll Racing’s answer to NBA Jam’s announcer and if you don’t remember that announcer then stop reading, seriously go visit another site we don’t want you here.
There’s nothing wrong with the graphics in Rock n’ Roll Racing, in fact they are pretty good for the time but it’s not going to be remembered in the same way as the soundtrack. The isometric view is probably what everyone remembers most, “hey that’s the game with the side view and the little RC cars” is what I tend to hear the most. It gets the job done, there are no performance issues and it plays well in 2-player mode as well so no complaints from me.
Earlier on I mentioned that I would be focusing on the Super Nintendo version of the game and there’s a good reason for it, whilst the MegaDrive/Genesis had some great ports Rock n’ Roll Racing wasn’t one of them. Well it was in terms of being just as playable but the sound chip wasn’t as good therefore the soundtrack was really crippled in comparison to the Super Nintendo version. What hurt the most was that any time the announcer spoke the game muted the soundtrack as there wasn’t enough channels to have the game do both things at once.
Rock n’ Roll Racing is one of the more memorable games for me during the 16-bit era mainly due to the rocking soundtrack but it was also loads of fun during short bursts. F-Zero and Super Mario Kart were usually my go to racers but Rock n’ Roll Racing provided a nice alternative. If you still have this one be sure to pop it in for a couple of races, it’s not a classic but it’s a very awesome game non the less.
Rock n’ Roll Racing in 2012
So what’s happened to Rock n’ Roll Racing since the 90s? Well not much actually, despite the success of the game the series basically faded away. There was a Rock n’ Roll Racing 2 for the original PSOne handled by a different developer but you want to avoid that one, it’s really shit and has nothing to do with Rock n’ Roll Racing. In 2003 there was a port of Rock n’ Roll Racing for the GameBoy Advance which is really good, the colours are a little washed out and the soundtrack sounds a little worse but other than that it’s fine.
Since 2003 Rock n’ Roll Racing has been dead, there are no plans for a sequel and I don’t think I’d want one as I don’t think it would work too well in these days. What I would like to see is some ports to newer systems such as Virtual Console or XBLA but sadly it’s not happening, licensed music issues no doubt. If you want to play Rock n’ Roll Racing you’ll need a Super Nintendo or GameBoy Advance, MegaDrive/Genesis is also an option but pick up the other two if possible.
So what become of the little developers who made this fun game back in the 90s, they must of closed down by now right Well they are still around these days but they’ve changed their name, I think you might of heard of them.
