So I played MotoRoader for the 1st time

[Warbucks]

So I played MotoRoader for the 1st time....

Game starts up, looks promising, next screen.. oh cool I can upgrade my cars.

See the race track, ok not bad....

3....2....1  WTF

The controls are horrible, I kept getting bounced across the screen.

What are your thoughts on this game?

[HailingTheThings]

Takes a little getting used to. Drink a little before, then during, stay ahead of the pain. lol <3

[CrackTiger]

It's a great game with killer music. So much fun with 3+ humans.

You earn money to upgrade your car so that it controls the way you like. Just think of it as a popular Playstation game and the painful grinding will become cutting edge depth.

Motoroader II and MC are also great party games. All three are must-play games, but you need friends to fully appreciate them.

[Keith Courage]

make sure to buy the correct handling in the upgrades menu before the first race starts. Any of the handling that starts with the letter B will be much like RC Pro Am/Off Road style steering if you are used to that. Otherwise if you select A style steering then you simply just push the direction of which you want your car to go in whether it being north south east or west.

the stock handling is absolutely horrible. I always buy the B +2 handling right away from the beginning of the game to avoid this issue.

[SignOfZeta]

It's one of those things like Micro Machines (MD) where a lot people love it, for the multiplayer of course, but personally I can't stand it. %90 of the game is spent dealing with people falling off the screen. People who are probably having zero fun unless they are of the Mario Kart 64 generation and don't really see a difference between racing and juat getting your ass kicked all over the place for three minutes until the checkered flag waves. Micro Machines did this SUPER annoying thing where when the cars dropped off the edge of the screen (when are they not?) the game would pause and the loser car would bounce annoyingly with a stupid sound effect. When you first get the game and you and all your friends totally suck at it, watching that bouncing motion will be the main event of Micro Machines. It got much better with sequel, but why WAS there a sequel when the original was so suicide inducing?

If they made one of these games in 4k keeping the original 12x12 sprites, I would be very interested. As it is, I can't see WTF is more than 50 feet in front of me and the game seems to move at 200mph so it's just incredibly frustrating.

There are quite a few similar games to this that I actually really enjoy. The Great 1000 Mile Rally is the best. Thrash Rally is great. These are both one player with a camera that tracks the player. That gives you a lot more to work with.

[majors]

I was just playing MR last week. It does have a learning curve for sure, it took me a few years to "get" it. I did manage to beat course 2 tho. First track(s) are painfully slow. I've never had 4 friends over to check out the multi player action.

Trick: When loosing near the finish line, purposefully let yourself drop to last and off screen to "rubber band" you to at least 3rd. CPU does this all the time, albeit not intentionally.

[CrackTiger]

One of the key factors to appreciating Motoroader is accepting that it's not a racing game, it's a battle royale game.

[EvilEvoIX]

I guess it's a good multiplayer game but then I'd rather play the Sega Version.

[Warbucks]

I guess I was playing it wrong...

In order to correct this, I need to grab some beer and some friends and try this as a multiplayer game 

[cr8zykuban0]

I had the same issues. Controls arent that good and if you fall behind the race, you get bounced across the screen. Its not a traditional racing game but more of a multi player racing game from the looks of it? I havent tried it with friends but the single player kinda blows

[kiketonto]

One of the key factors to appreciating Motoroader is accepting that it's not a racing game, it's a battle royale game.

that's right!

[CrackTiger]

I guess it's a good multiplayer game but then I'd rather play the Sega Version.

Sega version of what?

[geise]

^Was thinking the same thing.

[NecroPhile]

Sega version of what?

The arcade game Hot Rod?

[technozombie]

I have no friends so I guess I should skip this game.

[grolt]

I like the idea of the game in theory, but I tried this with a couple friends and we just could not wrap our heads around the control.  It was fun for a time just how comically bad we were, with every little warp suddenly sending us in a completely different direction, but the novelty wore off quickly.  It strikes me as a game that you can probably master and find enjoyment, but the learning curve to me seems steep.  Nice to find out in this thread that there are different control options and upgrades that could increase the enjoyment.  I'll have to revisit this in the near future.  The TurboGrafx version, not the Genesis one.

[Keith Courage]

I absolutely love this game and used to play it much with friends back in the day. Just get yourself the best handling and buy a gas tank for when you warp too much from hitting the back of the screen. From there on out you just need to figure out what the best items are to buy in which order. This will ensure you being able to stay fast enough to compete with the computer players.

maybe I like this game because I was a huge fan of Off Road.

[EvilEvoIX]

Sorry meant this game. 

[Warbucks]

Does that cart allow that game to be played with 4 players?

[JoshTurboTrollX]

I thought I'd love it just like I enjoy the Micro Machines games, but Moto Roader seems like a much slower version of those games.  well, at least at first glance... Honestly I never spent a lot of time with it and should really get in more playtime before damning it to hell!!

TO HELL!!

[johnnykonami]

I absolutely love this game and used to play it much with friends back in the day. Just get yourself the best handling and buy a gas tank for when you warp too much from hitting the back of the screen. From there on out you just need to figure out what the best items are to buy in which order. This will ensure you being able to stay fast enough to compete with the computer players.

maybe I like this game because I was a huge fan of Off Road.

I LOVED Off Road in the arcades.  I wasn't the kind of kid who liked cars/nascar stuff naturally, either - but that game was super fun and we had one at a campground I stayed at often.  Dumped a lot of quarters into it.  I think it would be totally worth having a dedicated cabinet for.

I wanna love Moto Roader too, and I'm not gonna give up on it yet (still don't own my own copy really).  I really like the upgrade system, just didn't have it figured out yet.  I wanna get MR2 and MR: MC (which looks more like Super Sprint or Off Road even in that you seen the whole course in one screen) as well. 

Also, I dunno what it is about low-rez race girls either, but I love em!  Check out those hips man, must be what, like 12 pixels wide?  Ooh mama.

[Keith Courage]

Does that cart allow that game to be played with 4 players?

motor rotor can be a 5 player game

also, the game speed gets very fast once you get some upgrades like a turbo, body, or engine.

[SignOfZeta]

Off Road is infinitely more fun because the camera doesn't move. That's a total game changer.

I played the hell out of that game as a kid. Recently I spent about an hour with it at Galloping Ghost (free play). After a while your truck gets so totally great that you'll lose on purpose just to have the challenge of starting over. That didn't happen to me back when an hour was $15.

[CrackTiger]

Anyone who likes Off Road or Super Sprint should play Motoroader MC. Not only is every track unique, there are unique gameplay elements, like terrain or cows to slow you down, portals, a couple open spots next to train tracks and you can both shoot or drop mines to screw over your opponents. Nothing is more satisfying as fighting for first place and using a weapon at just the right time to send your rival onto the tracks just before the train hits them.

[SignOfZeta]

I do like MC a lot more.

[johnnykonami]

MC is definitely on my mental short list.  I'll probably get it before the other two.

[dallaspattern]

It didn't age very well. Loved it as a kid, threw it in the trash last week.

[esteban]

PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT:

MotoRoader is a totally fun solo experience, but when you are a total newb, without any idea of what you are doing, I am sure it would be potentially frustrating.

(0) left - right steering controls is the only way I can play. It allows precision and faster response times.

(1) YOU HAVE TO STRATEGIZE. Duh! A better body (higher top speed) might be the secret to winning the first track, assuming you are good at staying near the front of the pack. If you suck, then faster acceleration (recovery time, after messing up) might be your ticket. Obviously, on some tracks you will be able to forgo massive spending (to skip to a higher upgrade level on the following track). On some tracks, I know I can use cheap tactics to overcome my slow car. If you don't understand all the attributes of your car, and how each attribute relates to others, then you cannot develop a sophisticated strategy. For example, I had a friend who was really good at driving high speed with crappy tires (this resulted in sloppy, drunk controls)...I could never pull this off—I needed to upgrade tires to handle higher speeds. My friend was able to save money.

(2) If your reflexes suck, you should stay just behind the lead car. I never memorized any courses...sure, I remember some parts, but I really rely on twitch reflexes for 90% of most tracks. I love being in the lead, knowing that one slight mistake can ruin everything. But, I know that easing up on gas is an important strategy when a turn/obstacle is (likely) approaching.

(3) HOPPER is fun as hell.

(4) I am not saying MR was a stellar game upon release. It wasn't. I'm not saying MR was easy to get into back then, or now. But if you don't take the time to explore the rules/relationships in the MR universe, then you are not really going to enjoy how strategic the game is.

(5) I know I am in the minority, but I really enjoyed my time spent with this game. It took some time to beat, back in the day.

(6) Multi-player can go a few ways:
(A) the better players totally crush the less-skilled. In this scenario, the less-skilled should embrace guerrilla tactics to *hopefully* scam into a decent finish. This means equipping your car appropriately.

(B) everyone sucks...it can be fun because it is totally absurd. This is when "Battle Royale" applies to everyone.

(C) everyone has decent skills, so most racers  will try to win "cleanly", but the threat of guerrilla tactics is ever-present (even if only occasionally employed).