RoadBlasters (1987)

Roadblasters. You find yourself beyond the Bubbledome in the Motorlords' Territories. This is where it happens and where it ends... For you!
It's our track and not an easy ride!
Or do you think you can actually make it to 50 and win the Megadrive?

Some jokingly but appropriately describe Fallout 3 as "Oblivion with guns". In the exact same way it's on point to describe Roadblasters (Another postnuke-dystopian classic you might die playing after the bomb) as "OutRun with guns", right on down to the fact you mount these guns on your car and could call them... Well... Roadblasters!

I've rose tinted memories of the game with it's garish poster and cabinets having played the arcade and the NES versions. it's art worth collecting

The NES is actually a rather awful port and not a good 'un. It does however, impress one a bit with some of it's video effects, a few tricks you dont often see on the NES that emulate parralax scrolling pre mode7, etc. For this reason it's understandable why some might have fond memories of it.

The Atari Lynx is also intersting in how the game is essentially reworked from the ground up, there are a lot of game play changes and feel changes that are quickly noticable (it's also notable that at this point Atari had been selling off their own IP. MATCHBOX who made some pretty cool collectible cars off this franchise now is the owner? So sad!) this version is fugly but it has some interesting color cycling and sound effects that straight up feel like throwbacks to the 2600. This is the very first time i've played a game on the Lynx (yes, the game is known for not emulating correctly, though it's a minor grievance)

The Genesis however is something that I had not before encountered, and this is beautiful beast. Not only do you get recreations of the music that sound very close to the arcade, but the visual representation of the game is also like the arcade. The only fault here is the lack of the digitized voice (which is a bit irritating and unneeded imo) i'm rarely a fan of most things on genesis (being mostly a SNES fanboy due to the soundchip and other factors) but every now and then i do come across a port or title for Genesis that wins by a landslide and that makes me appreciate the console more.

I'd say this is up there for a genesis game.

The game is hard on any port after a certain point and is essentially classic supercharged quarterstealer. This is too bad because few would get beyond the areas of 10-15, and some of these maps explore a few variations. You can also warp to different areas with different background sceneries. The game really is a classic, complete with a flying S.T.U.N. RUNNER that helps rearm you.

+Video tricks predating mode7 (comparable to Space Harrier 2 [genesis], a bit better than 3d world runner [nes])
+old original manages to look decent on a newer genesis port
-quarterstealer mechanics = have to cheat
-mines suck
-it aint S.T.U.N. RUNNER
-Rip off of Outrun. Really. It is Outrun with guns circa 1987 (and really dont look as nice either)
-yes. repetitive x50
+fun in minutes. short levels.
+good music.
+good playstyle
+generally replayable game time to time.

Yeah appropriately made by Atari, this is one of those games that at some point nobody will ever understand the context of in the future. The whole mad max thing. A fear of running out of gasoline. Cruise missile on a car.

Best played while wearing kamen leathers, like a true Motorlord!

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/roadblasters/roadblasters.htm