Rider’s Spirits, or Bike Daisuki! Hashiriya Kon – Rider’s Spirits as its known in Japan, originally released for the Super Famicom in 1994. It’s a racing featuring cartoon-ish characters who race around various tracks on motorcycle.

Rider’s Spirits is an arcade racing game akin to Super Mario Kart on the Super NES where players have to win races to climb up the proverbial championship ladder to earn the top spot. One big differences here is that when playing solo the screen is split in two; the top half gives you a behind view so you can see other racers catching up while the bottom screen show you ride around the race track.

Players can choose from eight riders spread across four types of characters. Each of the types has their own specific attributes when it comes to speed, handling and acceleration. The game offers three game modes: Rider’s GP, Time Trial and Endurance race. You also have to keep an eye on your gas consumption and get in to the pit to avoid losing by running on empty.

The game looks like a mess. Even by 1994’s standards, I don’t understand how this game got made let alone pass quality assurance for a full release. While the racers are fine, the characters look like muddled mess on screen; basically as if characters were made from snot the development team sneezed out. The soundtrack is worst; it’s mostly covered by ear stabbing engine noises that’ll make you mute your TV. But tunes wise, it’s fine. Forgettable and Super Famicom-y as all hell.

This game hasn’t aged well. At all. While I never played the original back in the day, controls are fine, but feels a bit stiff. The behind view is more of a nuisance and unnecessary than a perk. They could’ve made better use of the screen by adding an over the top view of the race track to see all racers, à la Super Mario Kart.

Also, similar to other re-releases, from either Ratalaika or PQube, the menu navigation outside the game (if that makes sense) is absolute trash and completely counterintuitive. It could be dealt away with completely so players can immediately jump into the game and simply map the triggers for review, quick save or load; etc…

While I’m all for game preservation, it’s hard to justify this one. Ratalaika and other indie publishers make questionable decision when it comes to re-releasing older, lesser known games. Rider’s Spirits is a prime example of a game that has not aged well. At all. Barely any gameplay options, controls feel off and it’s boring. It’s baffling that this game released TWO years after Nintendo’s classic kart racer and it’s this bad. Unless you have a sentimental attachment to the 1994 original, this is an easy pass.

Overall
  • 40%
    CX Score - 40%
40%

Summary

Pros

  • Ok soundtrack
  • 2 player goodness

Cons

  • Ear-bleeding audio bits
  • Hasn’t aged well
  • So boring you probably won’t finish a single race

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