Road Rash on the 3DO is a remake of the classic Megadrive/Genesis motorbike racing game. It first came out in 1994 through Electronic Arts and was developed by Monkey Do Productions in association with The EA Advanced Technology Group.

The game uses 3D graphics for the roads and landscapes, and 2D graphics for the riders, cars and the other sprites. All the riders are digitised from real video of actors on bikes, so they look quite realistic.

Road Rash is all about participating in highly illegal and dangerous street racing, and there are five different circuits to race. You can play in either “Thrash Mode” or “Big Game Mode“, the difference being that in the latter you can play as any one of eight pre-made riders (each with their own strengths, weaknesses, motobikes, and starting money). In Thrash Mode the game is more simplified, allowing you to race on any track at any difficulty, as your own character.

Gameplay in Road Rash sticks pretty much to the formula created in the Megadrive original, that is: you can either try to win the race, or you can concentrate on knocking other riders off their bikes to win.

Police motorcycle units will pursue and ‘bust’ you if you’re speeding (which you always are); pedestrians will walk into the street and get in your way, and oncoming traffic will knock you off if you collide with it. You will wreck your bike if you crash too many times. If you don’t complete a race, or get arrested, you’ll lose all your qualifications for the level you’re on.

Winning races nets you money, and if you manage to accrue enough of it you can buy a new motorbike at the shop (called “Olley’s Skoot-A-Rama“). There are three categories of bikes to choose from (Rat Bikes, Sport Bikes and Super Bikes), each with five different models.

What I love about this game are the road graphics. The twists, turns, hills and dips are very dynamic and help give the game some real excitement. What I like less are: the oncoming traffic (which is very pixelly close up), the tilting of the bike (which feels a little overwraught and can easily cause over-adjustment, skids, and then crashes), and also the video segments, which are very cheesy.

3DO Road Rash has a soundtrack consisting of licensed grunge music courtesy of A&M Records, including music from the bands Soundgarden, Monster Magnet, Hammerbox, Therapy? and Swervedriver. The downside is that the music doesn’t play during races, but the game does have a built-in jukebox so you can listen to them from the menu.

Road Rash on the 3DO is still fun to play now, and is also quite challenging. Winning races is not easy and you have to be careful when cornering at high speed, or weaving through traffic, to avoid crashing. The key is to make small adjustments when leaning into turns and only making more pronounced turns when you have no other option.

It’s fair to say that Road Rash was a “hero” title on the 3DO and Electronic Arts definitely put some effort (and money) into it. As a result it sold quite well and was considered impressive for the time. The game was also released for the PlayStation in 1995, and for the Sega Saturn and Windows in 1996.

More: Road Rash on Wikipedia