Less successful than its sequel (and arguably less enjoyable too), Kikstart was written by Shaun Southern and published by Mastertonic in 1985.

Kikstart is still an enjoyable and innovative game, though. It’s a split-screen, two-player (or single-player) racing game where you have to ride a motorbike over a tricky obstacle course to set the fastest times. In order not to crash, the bike must be used in a particular way when approaching an obstacle. For example: before entering a ramp you would pull back on the joystick to bring the front wheel up, so that the bike enters the obstacle smoothly. Also: on certain obstacles you must ride the bike slowly. Others require approaching at speed. It’s an extremely tricky process and one that does cause a fair bit of frustration.

That said: playing Kikstart now is still brilliant fun – even if all you seem to be doing is crashing and waiting to restart. With practise it is actually possible to complete a course without crashing, although how it’s done can’t easily be explained.

There are eight tortuous courses in total and you must run three in a row to compile a time from all three. The lowest time goes on the high score table.

More: Kikstart on Moby Games