Old School Video Game Review : Uniracers

[TomCollins]

Uniracers was an underappreciated game made ahead of its time by DMA Design (now known as Rockstar North) produced in 1994 for SNES. Uniracers is best described as a mix between Mario Kart and Tony Hawk. This little known treasure has been often overlooked since Rockstar has moved on to make such more popular games such as the Grand Theft Auto series.

Game Overview:

There isn’t much of a story to this game other than the fact that you have a bunch of unicycles racing on very strange tracks. Somehow the unicycles manage to drive around without anyone pedaling them, but there is no explanation to how this works. As you race through tracks, you can perform various stunts that cause your cycle to go faster. However, if you crash attempting to do a stunt you will have to come to a stop before continuing on.



Game Play:

Users can compete in nine different tours. The tours consist of 5 races that consist of three different styles of races. The first style is a “race” course. Races are fairly self explanatory and consist of going through a series of checkpoints before ending at a finish line. A circuit is similar to a race, although the track ends and begins at the same position and consists of several laps. The final type of course is a stunt course. Players are given a fixed amount of time to earn points by performing as many stunts as possible.

Gameplay is side scrolling and it is difficult to anticipate what is coming up on the track. The track moves very fast in a manner similar to Extreme G as well. Fortunately, the game designers use color coding on the track to identify potential danger areas. For example, a blue/green track represents a safe place to do tricks. A red/blue track represents the course is about to change directions. The red stripes get closer as you approach a danger area where jumping must be avoided. After each race, an analysis is given with lap times of each racer along with stats regarding stunts.

Single Player mode offers competition against various computer controlled cycles of varying difficulties. Creatively named “Bronsen”, “Silvia”, and “Goldwyn” race against you for medals (Bronze, Silver, and Gold, for the slower readers). Vs. Mode allows two players to compete through various tracks on a split screen. Although the visibility is cut down slightly, gameplay is still reasonable when competing.



One mode that sets Uniracers apart from games of its time was League Mode. In League Mode, you could enter up to 20 players in a league and take turns racing. The best times for each race were given points. The ability to play in a party atmosphere with alternating players gives the game a great deal of replay. Uniracers is an underappreciated gem that deserves mention.

Overall Rating: 9/10