Bike Daisuki! Hashiriya Kon – Rider’s Spirits was a fantastic little hidden gem that released only in Japan for the Super Famicom. It was essentially Super Mario Kart but with motorcycles instead of go karts. The similarities are more than surface deep as it used the DSP-1 chip that helped power Super Mario Kart and uses all the Mode 7 tricks the Mario Kart used. Reviews at the time even went as far as calling Rider’s Spirits a straight up Mario Kart clone and I can see why.
Now the game is back and it finally sees a release in the West thanks to Ratalaika Games, now simply known as Rider’s Spirits, on all major platforms. If you’ve played Super Mario Kart then you know what to expect here. The one noticeable difference that can be seen right off the bat is the way the game is displayed onscreen. Super Mario Kart used half the screen to render the action with a map of the racers in action below. This was a really nice way to save processing power while being a unique way to show your opponents and the track layout.
Rider’s Spirits also uses this method, but instead of showing other riders or the map it instead uses the top of the screen to show your side-view mirrors, giving the player a way to see who is coming up from behind. On the surface this is a really cool idea and I’m sure saves render times with so little being on-screen, but in execution is does little to help the racing experience. Thankfully you can set it to show the map for those wanting something more along the lines of Super Mario Kart.
Gameplay consists of choosing one of eight riders, each with their own stats (weight, max speed and acceleration) and racing in a Grand Prix mode across several different environment types across twenty tracks. The big change from Mario Kart comes in the way power-ups work. While you won’t be shooting shells and such from boxes you find them in, you do have access to some abilities to use while racing to attack and hinder other racers.
In order to get an ability you need to break off slightly from the track to the pit-stop area. When you drive through you’ll be awarded a random ability to use from about a dozen or so types. Most of these mimic those from Super Mario Kart only in the form of realistic items. It’s an interesting system that doesn’t make getting power-ups essentially to winning, especially since ever rider gets three boosts to use at any time during the race. What is essential to winning is learning the layout of each track as they aren’t designed like the more simplistic ones in Super Mario Kart.
The driving mechanics are also a lot deeper than you might expect from first look and play. You have a lean left and right button to help you take tighter turns but risk a spin-out, and you also have the wheelie button that looks like a needless addition on the surface. In reality, the wheelie is your most important tool as you can wheelie slide to make turns easier. This mechanic is more advanced and requires skill and precision, more so than most other 16-bit racing games of the time.
Tracks take time to learn with a lot of twists and turns and obstacles that really make them a fun challenge. Rider’s Spirits does a really good job on starting simplistic with its tracks and stepping them up at a good pace making you never feel too comfortable and offers a serious challenge in the later stages. Rider’s Spirits is great at allowing more casual players to have some fun while also giving those that get investing into it a lot of techniques to master, much like the more recent version of Mario Kart have done.
Rider’s Spirits is a surprisingly deep game that will test your gamer skills if you want to unlock all the tracks while also being fun enough for casual Mario Kart fans to enjoy. The game also features a number of modes including Chicken Run that has you braking as close to a line as possible, Battle Race which is a 1v1 race against a friend, Time Trial, and Endurance that sees a team of two racing with fuel depletion that makes you pit-stop strategically to swap players or risk running out of gas. Endurance is something I’d really like other games to take advantage of as it feels fresh even almost thirty years later
Ratalaika Games has done a lot to make this really unique game see a well-deserved release as most everyone missed this game back in the early 90s. And because this is a Japan only game they’ve included a lot of extras in the gallery to give you a little more insight into the game. I really hate a lot of the recent remasters that leave out all the manuals and gallery modes that give players more insights into a game history and I’m glad it’s included here. It shows a studio that really cares about the game and not just turning a quick buck.
Rider’s Spirits is a fantastic hidden gem that fits perfectly onto the Nintendo Switch as its great for some on-the-go fun!
J. Luis is the current Editor-In-Chief here at GAMbIT. With a background in investigative journalism his work encompasses the pop-culture spectrum here, but he also works in the political spectrum for other organizations.
J. Luis is the current Editor-In-Chief here at GAMbIT. With a background in investigative journalism his work encompasses the pop-culture spectrum here, but he also works in the political spectrum for other organizations.
