BC Racers
From Sega Retro
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BC Racers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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System(s): Sega Mega-CD, Sega 32X | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Publisher: Core Design Sega (EU) Front Street Publishing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Developer: Core Design | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Distributor: Time Warner Interactive (US) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Peripherals supported: Six Button Control Pad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Genre: Racing | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Number of players: 1-2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Official in-game languages: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
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BC Racers is a racing game developed and published by Core Design as a spin-off of the then-popular Chuck Rock series. It was originally released for the Sega Mega-CD in 1994, before subsequently seeing ports to the Sega 32X, PC and 3DO the following year. The Mega-CD version was distributed in North America by Time Warner Interactive.
Despite its British roots, the 32X version was released exclusively in North America, where it was published by U.S. Gold's short-lived publishing label Front Street Publishing. A European 32X version was planned for March 1995 (and being mentioned on demo discs for the game), but failed to materialise.
During development the game was known as Chuck Racer and then Chuck Rally: Rocky Racers[5].
Contents
Story
BC Racers takes place in the Chuck Rock universe, where a millionaire playboy caveman, Millstone Rockafella, has organized a bike race. The winner will receive the Boulderdash Bike.
Gameplay
BC Racers is a one or two player bike racing game, similar in nature to F-Zero and Super Mario Kart (and similar "mode 7" titles) on the Super Nintendo. Tracks are flat, with scenery and racers being represented by 2D sprites. There are four difficulty settings; easy, medium, hard, and rockhard, each with their own set of eight tracks (making for a total of thirty-two tracks in the game). Each track needing four laps to complete, and there are eight track themes including desert wastes, volcanic areas, and massive jungles.
Each bike in BC Racers comprises of two characters, one who controls the bike, and another who rides in a side car whose purpose is to attack other players. There are no power-ups in BC Racers, however the sidecar rider can hit opponents similar to the mechanics in Road Rash. Bikes take damage, and if an opponent is forced to crash or break down, extra points are rewarded. Damage to the bike can be reversed by collecting power-ups near the starting line.
In the Mega-CD version of the game, a two player cooperative mode is offered, where player one controls the acceleration and player two controls the sidecar, steering and turbo features. This was replaced in the 32X version by more traditional split-screen play (in which much of the scenery is removed to maintain a high frame rate).
Controls
Basic controls
: Break
/: Handbrake turn
START : Pause/Zoom options
Mega-CD version
32X version
: Acceleration
: Punch right
: Nitro
Heats
Heat 1 - Rock City Race | |
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Heat 2 - Night Rally | |
Heat 3 - Desert Drive | |
Heat 4 - Jungle Rumble | |
Heat 5 - Swamp Stomp | |
Heat 6 - Blizzard Blitz | |
Heat 7 - Cave Rave | |
Heat 8 - Volcano Dash | |
History
Development
In-game graphics were created by Toby Gard (who would go on to design Lara Croft in Tomb Raider). Characters were created as wireframes, all sharing the same bike sprites to ease the development process[6].
Versions
While the the Mega-CD and 32X versions of BC Racers are broadly the same, the 32X conversion is able to maintain a much higher frame rate, which in turn leads to a faster paced game. The Mega-CD version is able to capitalise on full motion video and higher quality audio, but is hindered by longer loading times not present in the 32X game. In addition, the 32X runs at a higher screen resolution and uses a longer draw distance, and alongside the expected increase in colour counts, leads to more detailed visuals than its Mega-CD counterpart.
The 32X version also compares favourably to the IBM PC version (which also lacks music) and the 3DO version in terms of frame rate, however no versions are completely stable, with all four performing noticeably worse than the likes of the Super NES games Super Mario Kart and F-Zero which likely served as an inspiration for the game.
Production credits
Mega-CD version
- Programmed by: Dan Scott
- Graphic Artist: Toby Gard
- Music and SFX: Martin Iveson
- Game Design: Toby Gard, Dan Scott, Guy Miller
- Intro Sequence: Billy Allison
- Intro Support: Stuart Atkinson, Bob Churchill
- Original Concept: Jason Gee, Jon Hilliard
- Creative Manager: Guy Miller
- Produced by: Jeremy Smith
- Additional Design Support: Simon Phipps
- Storyboard: Guy Miller
- Graphics Support: Stu Atkinson
- Product Support: Troy Horton, Jamie Morton, Darren Price, Adrian Smith, David Ward
32X version
- Programmed by: Martin Gibbins, Gilbert The Goat, John Kirkland and Stef Walker
- Graphics by: Toby Gard
- Graphic Support from: Stuart Atkinson, Richard Morton and Joby Wood
- Music and Chip SFX by: Nathan McCree
- Sample SFX by: Martin Iveson
- Game Design by: Toby Gard, Martin Gibbins and Dan Scott
- Produced by: Jeremy Smith
- Special Thanks to: SN Systems
- Carving Out the Code: Sean Dunlevy
- Thanks to: Alyson, Helen, Craig, Richard M., Del, Dan, Captain Black, Jason Goz, Chris, James, Davids' M and L, Troy, Darren, Jamie, Mark, Mac, Roberto, Jeremy, Alison, Guy, Susie, Sharon, Babs, Adrian, Gary, Simon, Mansoor, Jon H., Jason G., Paul, Heather, Andrew and Richard B.
- Special thanks to: Mike Schmitt, Brian Schorr, Mac Senour, Tom Marx, Frank Hom, Dan Wong, Caroline Trujillo, Jill De Maria, Kelly Lindlar, Frank Alizaga Jr., Alison Nichols, Lee Wilkinson, Mr. Free Time
Magazine articles
- Main article: BC Racers/Magazine articles.
Promotional material
also published in:
- Sega Power (UK) #65: "April 1995" (1995-02-16)[9]
Physical scans
Mega-CD version
Sega Retro Average | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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78 | |
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Based on 22 reviews |
32X version
Sega Retro Average | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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75 | |
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Based on 13 reviews |
Technical information
- Main article: BC Racers/Technical information.
References
- ↑ VideoGames, "February 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 54
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Mean Machines Sega, "February 1995" (UK; 1994-12-30), page 72
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Mega, "January 1995" (UK; 1994-12-30), page 48
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 GamePro, "July 1995" (US; 1995-xx-xx), page 50
- ↑ Sega Magazine, "April 1994" (UK; 1994-03-15), page 9
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "April 1994" (UK; 1994-02-28), page 22
- ↑ File:Bcracers mcd us manual.pdf, page 12
- ↑ File:Bcracers 32x us manual.pdf, page 14
- ↑ Sega Power, "April 1995" (UK; 1995-02-16), page 15
- ↑ Consoles +, "Janvier 1995" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 144
- ↑ Computer & Video Games, "January 1995" (UK; 1994-12-15), page 76
- ↑ FLUX, "Issue #4" (US; 1995-xx-xx), page 43
- ↑ GameFan, "Volume 3, Issue 3: March 1995" (US; 1995-xx-xx), page 18
- ↑ GamePro, "April 1995" (US; 1995-xx-xx), page 54
- ↑ Games World: The Magazine, "February 1995" (UK; 1994-12-xx), page 22
- ↑ Game Informer, "March 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 42
- ↑ Hobby Consolas, "Marzo 1995" (ES; 1995-xx-xx), page 92
- ↑ MAN!AC, "02/95" (DE; 1995-01-11), page 54
- ↑ Mega Force, "Janvier 1995" (FR; 199x-xx-xx), page 66
- ↑ Mega Fun, "01/95" (DE; 1994-12-21), page 90
- ↑ Player One, "Mars 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 100
- ↑ Play Time, "2/95" (DE; 1995-01-04), page 110
- ↑ Sega Magazine, "January 1995" (UK; 1994-12-15), page 110
- ↑ Sega Power, "February 1995" (UK; 1994-12-15), page 82
- ↑ Sega Pro, "February 1995" (UK; 1994-12-29), page 42
- ↑ Sonic the Comic, "17th March 1995" (UK; 1995-03-04), page 10
- ↑ Todo Sega, "Marzo 1995" (ES; 1995-0x-xx), page 36
- ↑ Video Games, "4/95" (DE; 1995-03-22), page 91
- ↑ VideoGames, "April 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 76
- ↑ Consoles +, "Juin 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 117
- ↑ MAN!AC, "07/95" (DE; 1995-06-14), page 65
- ↑ Mega, "June 1995" (UK; 1995-05-31), page 12
- ↑ Mega Fun, "06/95" (DE; 1995-05-24), page 91
- ↑ Mean Machines Sega, "May 1995" (UK; 1995-03-28), page 64
- ↑ Player One, "Juin 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 92
- ↑ Sega Power, "July 1995" (UK; 1995-05-18), page 38
- ↑ Sega Pro, "May 1995" (UK; 1995-04-13), page 82
- ↑ Top Consoles, "Septembre 1995" (FR; 1995-0x-xx), page 90
- ↑ Ultimate Future Games, "July 1995" (UK; 1995-06-01), page 75
- ↑ Video Games, "7/95" (DE; 1995-06-28), page 103
- ↑ VideoGames, "July 1995" (US; 1995-0x-xx), page 70
BC Racers | |
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Main page | Comparisons | Maps | Hidden content | Magazine articles | Reception | Region coding | Technical information |
Chuck Rock games for Sega systems |
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Chuck Rock (1991) | Chuck Rock II: Son of Chuck (1993) | BC Racers (1995) |
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