The Collection Chamber: B.C. RACERS

BC RACERS - It's pre-hysterical

Millionaire playboy caveman Millstone Rockafella arranges a wild n' wacky BC bike race and the winner receives the ULTIMATE BOULDERDASH BIKE. Cool n' crazy CLIFF ACE has had his sunglasses set on a Boulderdash Bike since he was knee-high, so he signs up for the race - taking his cave-babe ROXY along for the ride! But he faces some rock-hard competition in the form of Sid Viscous, Granite Jackson and several other fast n' fierce opponents!

Features
Choose from 6 different pairs of rally racers.
Race over 32 tracks, compete against 13 stone-age opponents and choose from 4 difficulty levels.
Fast action, multi-view 3D perspective.
1 or 2 player action.

~ from the back of the PC CD jewel case

After Super Mario Kart entered the zeitgeist in 1992 (or 1993 for us Europeans), a glut of copycats would enter the race though being such a new gameplay concept we wouldn't see many of them until 1994. And in the December of that year Core Design entered the fray with a prehistoric kart racer for the SEGA CD called B.C. Racers, with ports to the 3DO, PC-DOS and SEGA's 32X in the new year.

From a choice of 6 racing duos - including Chuck Rock and his son Junior - you can race across 32 varied tracks spread across 4 increasingly difficult heats. On Easy, the races are short and unimaginative mostly consisting of circular rings or figures of eight. Towards the end you will come across ramps and fall hazards but overall they are unremarkable. When you get to Hard or Rockhard, the designs become more involved with short cuts, more confusing layouts and environmental hazards.

There are no Mario Kart style powerups to get ahead. Instead, your only offensive is to punch. On the SEGA CD, the main character can target other racers on their left while their sidekick in the side car can swing away to their right. When you do, the HUD will show their health letting you know how ling it is until they crash out of the race. It's worth doing as each time you do this you earn points, potentially ranking you 1st even if you came in second. Unfortunately, this is nerfed in the other ports where you can only punch right. Somewhat understandable for the 3DO and its limited buttons, but with a full keyboard available for the PC-DOS port, it's unacceptable. As for the 32X which uses the same base hardware as the SEGA CD, only supporting the 3-button controller is a crime. At least the Nitro Boost, which you get automatically after each lap, is there no matter the version.

Despite Cliff Ace and his girlfriend Roxy being the face of the game (left)

famed platform stars Chuck Rock and his son Junior are the real MVPs (right).

It's worth noting that none of these ports came out on standard 16-bit consoles. The high number of detailed sprites scaled to give the illusion of three dimension meant that they just couldn't handle it. Even the slight upgrade the SEGA CD gave the Genesis wasn't enough. The game chugs along with a choppy frame rate that mars what would otherwise be the most complete version. As it is, the SEGA CD original is both the best and worst way to play. Frame-rate wise, the DOS port and 32X version reign supreme, though the 3DO surpasses them due to some emulation trickery. Ironically the smoother frame rate makes these much more challenging to play.

Regardless of which version you boot up, BC Racers is a looker. It features dome expressive cartoon art by none other than Tony Gard who worked on this just before he went on to conceptualised Lara Croft. The sprite-scaled visuals are bright and inviting like a cross between the Flintstones and Wacky Races, but there is something about its design that lets it all down. Track design are wildly inconsistent in terms of interest and imagination. One moment you're in a thrilling race in an underground cave, the next you're chugging through a boring trip through a barren desert. With 32 tracks - a massive number for the time - I guess you can expect a few duds here and there.

It's not just other racers you have to watch out for, crash too much and you will wreck your bike (left).

Fall off the track into a river or chasm and a pterodactyl will fly you back into the race (right).

I also found the controls to be a bit off. As you screech around corners, you can put on the breaks for a sharper turn - necessary for the sheer corners that are all too common - but I found myself spinning out of control bumping back and forth between the roadside objects until my car's health wore out (represented by a disintegrating rock or decaying dinosaur depending on the version). It's even worse when using anything other than the keyboard for the DOS port. Using the joystick which I've remapped to both the keyboard and a modern joypad, you are supposed to tilt up to accelerate. Yet, you never can drive straight, instead veering off the side with abandon. The mouse controls are a little better in this regard, but turning is still digital. No matter how subtly you move the mouse, you will careen in said direction pinballing off the sides until you face backwards or completely your BC-bike. You can regain the health of these dino-powered vehicles by collecting meaty drumsticks found just past the starting line but with such sensitive controls you might not want to risk it and instead focus on what's in front of you.

With the differences in framerates, controls, technical limitations and game mechanics - however minor - there is no single definitive version of B.C Racers. The frame rate is better in some, but missing cinematics or CD music in others. I would say that those on SEGA's ill-fated add-ons are the best, with the SEGA CD offering up the most complete package while I the 32X plays as smooth as it is difficult. The 3DO has the best visuals making use of the 32-bit colour palate, but with some unrelenting enemy AI, I found it to be the most difficult to play. If you play with the keyboard only, the DOS port is pretty decent, being a smooth way to play, but any other input method is unplayable. Yet none of these can punch left like the SEGA CD original. Regardless, there is still enough going for each port to have a good time but I can't shake the feeling that there's something missing. A tightening of the difficulty curve or some more emphasis on characters (who rarely get to show off the personality their designs hint at) - a little of that special sauce that would elevate it to classic status. Alas, the inconsistent releases and lack of depth mean that B.C. Racers it is resigned to the annals of (pre)-history.

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses the DOSBox-X build of DOSBox to bring the game to modern systems. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 146 Mb. Install Size: 243 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download

To download the game, follow the link below. This custom installer exclusive to The Collection Chamber uses Retroarch with the PicoDrive and Opera cores to emulate the SEGA CD, 32X and 3DO respectively. Manuals for each port included. Read the ChamberNotes.txt for more detailed information. Tested on Windows 10.

File Size: 384 Mb. Install Size: 594 Mb. Need help? Consult the Collection Chamber FAQ

Download

PC DOS

SEGA CD

SEGA 32X

3DO

PC DOS