Published by Activision in 1985, Tour de France is one of the rare times in gaming history where cycling has proven to be a hit with gamers.

Tour de France was developed by Hungarian Novotrade Software and features a stylised overhead, isometric viewpoint with graphics that change colour if you press the function keys, giving a somewhat pleasing psychedelic effect. Well, maybe not psychedelic, but at least a colour-cyclic effect (possibly because the game is about cycles?)

Anyway, Tour de France is an essentially simple, rhythm/timing game where you push the joystick left and right to push the pedals, and hold fire and push up and down to turn the bike. You of course must stay within the confines of the twisting road, otherwise you’ll crash.

You can do the entire Grand Tour, or take on stages individually, and the aim is to create a cumulative score that beats the other competitors. Unfortunately there’s no peloton – or any other visible competitors on the roads with you (not that I could see anyway and I did look for them) – so it’s a solitary race against the clock.

A jolly tune plays as you peddle, and Tour de France is still enjoyable to play today – if you manage to grasp the control system. It’s not that difficult and it’s worth a go.

More: Tour de France on Moby Games