Have You Played... Moto Racer?

My first racing love wasn't Screamer, but Moto Racer. It was so long ago, I can barely remember the case it came in. Instead of a cardboard sleeve, I think it was one of those slim plastic cases that closed with more of a snap than those chunky ones. What I do remember, though, is that I played the heck out of it.

Released in 1997, Moto Racer's an arcade racer where you zoom around locations on two wheels. Either you ride on a beefy boy built for roads, or you skid through mud on a dirtbike that sounds like a giant bee buzzing in a cavern. As a budding video game-liker, it was simple fun which jetted me off to roasting deserts, snowy slopes and towering cities with zero expectations.

This was my favourite thing about Moto Racer. It's singularly focused on letting you blaze around nice locations on a bike without all the faff that comes with realism. The controls are easy to pick-up and you generously bounce off surfaces if you time something wrong. There's this sense that it wants you to have a good time, no matter what.