Showing posts with label Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000. Show all posts

Two Wheels...Good?

Well, the weather’s finally decided to behave and we in the UK have been blessed (temporarily at least) with a fairly decent few days. No grey mornings, no torrential afternoons and no evenings where you think it might be safer to move your car away from the trees that are swaying dangerously close to the telegraph pole outside the front door. Yes - this happened just a few weeks ago. Granted, our weather here in good old England isn't as severe as in some other countries, but for the past few years it has been consistently shit. But hurrah! The sun has come out and stayed out for the past week, and that can only be good for someone like me...someone who rides a motorcycle! Yes, the recent fine weather has meant that I’ve been riding the highways and byways of Northern England, taking in the sights and sounds. But this ain't no Goddamned travelogue. No, this is the Dreamcast Junkyard: the epicentre/epicenter of all things Dreamcast, depending on where you reside.

So why am I bleating on about weather and motorbikes and all sorts of other unrelated crap? Well, it’s because I got back from my most recent bike ride and suddenly realised that the Dreamcast has a whole host of two-wheeled-mode-of-transport-related titles. Well, three dedicated ones anyway. And I figured it was about damn time that I had a look at them. There’s also another game that features motorcycles, and I'll get around to that. Eventually. But before then...let us cast a critical eye on the Dreamcast’s stable of ‘proper’ bike ‘em ups...

Night(mare)s Into Dreams

This how sad/pathetic/gay my subconscious is: last night I dreamt that I went into a charity shop and found a massive stack of mint condition Dreamcast games hidden in a corner. There were copies of Rez and Resident Evil 3 (?) as well as bizarre games in PAL boxes that I'm certain don't actually exist. I bought a shit-load of them and then got into a faded red bubble car, drove to a factory and then got locked in said factory by an old lady who wanted to see my security pass. That I'd conveniently misplaced earlier in the dream. But I digress. What I actually meant to tell you is that I've got a new game! Well, new-ish. I actually got it a few weeks ago - at roughly the same time that Imperial Star Destroyer towed the McLaren joypad across the galaxy and dropped it off in orbit over Sub-Saharan Africa.

Lock up your daughters, it's Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000! Yeehaw!

Motorbikes! With big spiky tires and blokes called 'Chad' or 'Cory' riding them! RADI-FUCKING-CAL! Yes, Supercross 2000 is one of ill-fated Acclaim's final games and it's based on the real-life sport of rich Americans riding pimped-up scooters over mounds of mud, shit and human entrails. Other titles that have tried to emulate this intriguing past-time include Motocross Madness on the PC and Excitebike on the good old '64...but the similarities between those two games and Supercross 2000 begin and end with the subject matter.


You see, dear and appreciated reader, where Motocross Madness and Excitebike are the shining beacons at the very pinnacle of the motocross genre, Supercross 2000 surely represents the decimated basecamp that has been over-run by a shape-shifting alien that not even a beardy Kurt Russell can stop. A game of truly bargain-basecamp proportions (snigger!).


Now, lets not get too ahead of ourselves comrades: in time honoured fashion, I'll gladly slice open the bowel of this particular cadaver and spread the contents across your grandma's finest tablecloth in an attempt to sift through the shite and half-digested kebab and give you low-down on the features of the game:

  • Music by The Offspring (surely the most DC-featured band of all time?)
  • Clothing by No Fear
  • 16 Tracks (8 indoor, 8 outdoor)
  • 8 Riders
  • 125 and 250cc modes
  • Erm...
So, there's a fair bit to JMSC2000 then. Lots of options, a decent number of tracks, a track editor, rider creator, suitable soundtrack...surely it's a recipe for greatness? Yes. A great steaming turd, that is. Why? Well, just like in Roadsters it seems like the developers had a whole host of great ideas and had this brilliant game planned and then they forgot to code it properly. It looks like a PS1 game. The animation of the riders isn't actually in the game code (I'd imagine). The frame rate is worse than one of those Disney cartoons from 1903 (or whenever). Basically, it stinks like a dead sheep that's been used (for several summer months) as a sexual plaything by Sloth from Goonies. In fact, going back to the Atari Jaguar, Supercross 2000 kind of reminds me of this:



Now compare it to this:



There are some definite similarities if you ask me, and even though the Supercross 2000 video is of the N64 version, the DC one is identical in every way.

Not a great game, then - but still a damn sight better than that reverse bowel movement more commonly known as Ducati World. If you want two-wheeled action on your DC, your best bet is Suzuki Alstare/Redline Racer...and even the bike sections from Head Hunter are better. Still, imagine if Sega had released a port of Manx TT or a Hang On reboot. Now that's a dream worth having...