Rock N' Roll Racing
Encyclopedia
Rock N' Roll Racing is a battle-racing
Racing game
A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...

 video game developed by Silicon & Synapse (now known as Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment
Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...

) and published by Interplay
Interplay Entertainment
Interplay Entertainment Corporation is an American video game developer and publisher, founded in 1983 as Interplay Productions by Brian Fargo. The company had been a quality developer until they started publishing their own games in 1988, like Neuromancer and Battle Chess. The company was renamed...

 for the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis
Sega Mega Drive
The Sega Genesis is a fourth-generation video game console developed and produced by Sega. It was originally released in Japan in 1988 as , then in North America in 1989 as Sega Genesis, and in Europe, Australia and other PAL regions in 1990 as Mega Drive. The reason for the two names is that...

 and the Super Nintendo Entertainment System
Super Nintendo Entertainment System
The Super Nintendo Entertainment System is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...

 in 1993
1993 in video gaming
-Events:*March — In Sweden, the Swedish video game magazine Super PLAY starts. The original name is Super Power.*Midway Games embroiled in controversy for its game Mortal Kombat from 1992 when the game is launched for video game consoles in 1993....

. The background music consists of instrumental versions of several heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 and rock n' roll songs, hence the game's title. The game was ported
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...

 to the Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...

 in 2003
2003 in video gaming
-Events:*February 27 — Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences hosts 6th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards; inducts Yu Suzuki of Sega to the AIAS Hall of Fame....

.

Rock N' Roll Racing was initially developed as "RPMII", a sequel to the company's SNES game RPM Racing
RPM Racing
RPM Racing is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System racing game developed by Silicon & Synapse under contract from Interplay Entertainment and published by Interplay....

. At the end of the project, Interplay marketing added licensed music and changed the name to Rock N' Roll Racing. It is also similar in gameplay
Gameplay
Gameplay is the specific way in which players interact with a game, and in particular with video games. Gameplay is the pattern defined through the game rules, connection between player and the game, challenges and overcoming them, plot and player's connection with it...

 to Racing Destruction Set
Racing Destruction Set
Racing Destruction Set is a car racing and motocross computer game that was published in 1985 by Electronic Arts. It was developed for the Commodore 64 computer system, and was advertised as being Commodore 128 compatible...

 where it got its logic/AIi engine and the NES
Nintendo Entertainment System
The Nintendo Entertainment System is an 8-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America during 1985, in Europe during 1986 and Australia in 1987...

 game R.C. Pro-Am
R.C. Pro-Am
R.C. Pro-Am is a racing video game developed by United Kingdom-based company Rare. It was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System by Nintendo at North America in February 1988, and then in Europe on April 15 that year. Presented in an overhead isometric perspective, a single player...

developed by Rare in 1988
1988 in video gaming
-Events:*June — Nintendo releases the last issue of "Nintendo fun club news";*July — Nintendo releases the first issue of Nintendo Power magazine.-Notable releases:*January 8, Konami releases Super Contra....

.

Game description

The game pits four racers against each other, with up to two of them being player-controlled and the rest being AI opponents
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...

. Each race consists of four laps around tracks viewed from an isometric
Isometric projection
Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings...

 perspective, which enables players to discern the presence of frequent sloping sections spread throughout the game's various tracks. In addition to navigating the turns, racers must also maneuver hills and dips without falling or jumping over the guard rail at the track's edge.

While it is a racing game, there is heavy emphasis on attacking competitor's vehicles; since the cars always reappear with full health
Health (gaming)
Health is a game mechanic used in role-playing, computer and video games to give value to characters, enemies, NPCs, and related objects. This value can either be numerical, semi-numerical as in hit/health points, or arbitrary as in a life bar....

 just a few seconds after blowing up, the only "harm" done is falling behind in the race. Players are rewarded with a monetary "attack bonus" each time they provide the finishing blow against another car using their projectile weapons (and a similar "lapping bonus" when they gain a full one-lap lead on an opponent during the race). In accordance with the continual destruction and restoration of the racing vehicles, the tracks are littered with mines and health power-ups, as well as money power-ups. Other hazards include oil slicks, snow drifts, and lava, depending on the planet hosting the race.

Players are updated on the race by commentator "Loudmouth Larry" (Larry "Supermouth" Huffman), who makes comments like "The stage is set, the green flag drops!" (or "Let the carnage begin!"), and "Rip: is about to blow!" in an enthusiastic tone at appropriate moments during the race. (There is a slight pause between a character's name and any given phrase, as each name and each phrase is its own sound effect, which can be heard in the F/X screen.)

Between races, players can spend the money they've earned on more advanced equipment for their vehicle (engines, tires, shocks, and shielding) or on increasing their capacity for the frontal weapon (energy blasts or missiles), rear weapon (slip sauce or mines), and turbo boost (jump jets or nitro boosts), each of which can max out at seven. Despite their limited capacity, every vehicle will have its weapon and boost charges replenished at the completion of each lap in a race. Racers can also buy more advanced car models, and any upgrades already acquired are disregarded when purchasing a new vehicle.

The first three drivers to complete a race are awarded both money and points according to the final standings. Points are required for advancement to the next racing division or the next planet, with two divisions on each planet. A player who has not obtained enough points during a division's racing season must repeat the division, again starting with zero points, but all changes to the player's money and car remain in effect. In two-player mode, when only one player has sufficient points, the character in charge of advancement asks "Leave your loser friend behind?", allowing the leading player to continue alone by removing the other player from the game. The dropped player can continue from that point later by using their most recent password, once the game is reset.

Passwords

Password
Password (video games)
In many video games of the 8-bit and, to a lesser extent, 16-bit eras , after a level was beaten and/or when all continues were used, the game would display a password, that when entered in the game would allow the player to return to this part in the game...

s are given out at the beginning of each new "racing season" (each planet has its own definition of how many races make up a season, but early advancement will automatically start a new season), and they are located at the bottom of the F/X screen (accessible from the menu between races). These passwords are a complex code, consisting of three 4-digit sections, and they dictate everything about the players' progress: the character used, the vehicle type and color, weapons and parts upgrades, racing planet and division, difficulty setting, and money. The Game Boy Advance
Game Boy Advance
The is a 32-bit handheld video game console developed, manufactured, and marketed by Nintendo. It is the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001; in North America on June 11, 2001; in Australia and Europe on June 22, 2001; and in the People's Republic of China...

 version of the game uses an EEPROM
EEPROM
EEPROM stands for Electrically Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory and is a type of non-volatile memory used in computers and other electronic devices to store small amounts of data that must be saved when power is removed, e.g., calibration...

 chip to save
Saved game
A saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped...

 the player's progress in lieu of the password system.

The password codes only allow the player to save a maximum of $999,990 (six digits); if there are more than six figures in the bank account, the password truncates the leftmost digits over six (e.g. if there's $1,002,000 when the player quits, there will be only $2,000 when using the password to continue later). Due to the two-player password function, it's possible to "cheat" by entering the same password for both players or by entering passwords for players who were at entirely different points in the game. The password with the lowest difficulty setting and on the earliest planet and racing division will be used as the basis for play from then on, which allows for a Warrior-skill character with a maxed-out vehicle to race against Rookie-class AI
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...

s in the Rookie skill mode.

Though a password generator QBASIC
QBasic
QBasic is an IDE and interpreter for a variant of the BASIC programming language which is based on QuickBASIC. Code entered into the IDE is compiled to an intermediate form, and this intermediate form is immediately interpreted on demand within the IDE. It can run under nearly all versions of DOS...

 program exists, the passwords it creates often result in a glitch, causing the player to race on glitchy planets—that exist only as a bug and can crash the game—after racing on Inferno. In the Rookie skill mode, however, they work perfectly, as long as one doesn't try to take the character beyond the third planet using the password.

Heroes

The heroes of Rock N' Roll Racing are the player-selectable characters, who each originate from a different planet.
  • Snake Sanders (Terra)
  • Tarquinn (Aurora)
  • Jake Badlands (Xeno Prime)
  • Katarina Lyons (Panteros V)
  • Ivanzypher (Fleagull)
  • Cyberhawk (Serpentis)
  • Olaf from The Lost Vikings
    The Lost Vikings
    The Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling puzzle/platform video game series which was developed by Silicon & Synapse . The first game, The Lost Vikings, was released in 1992 by publisher Interplay Entertainment for DOS, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive and SNES among others...

    (Valhalla)


There are six characters that are readily selectable, each of which has a +1 enhancement for two of the four skills that are related to how well their vehicle handles: acceleration, top speed, cornering, and jumping. Olaf, from The Lost Vikings
The Lost Vikings
The Lost Vikings is a side-scrolling puzzle/platform video game series which was developed by Silicon & Synapse . The first game, The Lost Vikings, was released in 1992 by publisher Interplay Entertainment for DOS, Amiga, Sega Mega Drive and SNES among others...

, another Silicon & Synapse game that was in development at the same time, is a hidden character, requiring a code to access him, and instead of two skills, Olaf has three. At the character selection screen (with Tarquinn showing on the screen), while holding down L, R, and Select, press left then right on the d-pad
D-pad
A D-pad is a flat, usually thumb-operated directional control with one button on each point, found on nearly all modern video game console gamepads, game controllers, on the remote control units of some television and DVD players, and smart phones...

, and Olaf will appear. There is an eighth character, also hidden, who has no picture or name but has the +1 bonus for all four of the available skills. This character is sometimes called the "Phantom", and he/she/it is only accessible using specially-crafted passwords.

Many of the characters, location names, etc. take their name or likeness from hard rock music. Snake Sanders is based on Whitesnake
Whitesnake
Whitesnake are an English rock band, founded in 1978 by David Coverdale after his departure from his previous band, Deep Purple. The band's early material has been compared by critics to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s they had moved to a more commercial hard rock style...

 vocalist David Coverdale, Jake Badlands is named for Jake E. Lee, guitarist for a band called Badlands
Badlands
A badlands is a type of dry terrain where softer sedimentary rocks and clay-rich soils have been extensively eroded by wind and water. It can resemble malpaís, a terrain of volcanic rock. Canyons, ravines, gullies, hoodoos and other such geological forms are common in badlands. They are often...

, and Cyberhawk is most likely a reference to the cover art for the Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...

 album Screaming for Vengeance
Screaming for Vengeance
Screaming for Vengeance is the eighth studio album by British heavy metal band Judas Priest. It was recorded at Ibiza Sound Studios, Ibiza, Spain and mixed at Beejay Recording Studios and Bayshore Recording Studios in Coconut Grove, Florida. It was first released on 17 July 1982...

.

Villains

The villains are the AI-controlled
Game artificial intelligence
Game artificial intelligence refers to techniques used in computer and video games to produce the illusion of intelligence in the behavior of non-player characters . The techniques used typically draw upon existing methods from the field of artificial intelligence...

 opponents. Each planet has its own dominant local racer.
  • Viper Mackay (Chem VI)
  • Grinder X19 (Drakonis)
  • Ragewortt (Bogmire)
  • Roadkill Kelly (New Mojave)
  • Butcher Icebone (Nho)
  • J.B. Slash (Inferno)
  • Rip
  • Shred


Rip and Shred appear on every planet in 1 player mode. Rip is also in every race in 2 player mode, while the second player displaces Shred as the fourth racer.

Music

Song running order (Sega Mega Drive/Genesis):
  • "Paranoid
    Paranoid (song)
    "Paranoid" is a song by the British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, featured on their second album Paranoid . It is the first single from the album, while the B-side is the song "The Wizard". It reached number 4 on the UK Singles Chart and number 61 on the Billboard Hot 100...

    " by Black Sabbath
    Black Sabbath
    Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...

  • "The Peter Gunn
    Peter Gunn
    Peter Gunn is an American private eye television series which aired on the NBC and later ABC television networks from 1958 to 1961. The show's creator was Blake Edwards...

     Theme" by Henry Mancini
    Henry Mancini
    Henry Mancini was an American composer, conductor and arranger, best remembered for his film and television scores. He won a record number of Grammy Awards , plus a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award posthumously in 1995...

  • "Highway Star" by Deep Purple
    Deep Purple
    Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members believe that their music cannot be categorised as belonging to any one genre...

  • "Radar Love
    Radar Love
    "Radar Love" is a song by the Dutch rock band Golden Earring. Music critic Bill Lamb rates this among his "top 10 driving songs" due to its lyrics about driving all night and its pulse-quickening, up-tempo beat. The single version of "Radar Love" reached #13 in the US...

    " by Golden Earring
    Golden Earring
    Golden Earring are a Dutch rock band, founded in 1961 in The Hague as the Golden Earrings . They had international chart success with the songs "Radar Love" in 1973, "Twilight Zone" in 1982, and "When the Lady Smiles" in 1984. In their home country, they had over 40 hits and made over 30 gold and...

     (only in the Mega Drive/Genesis version)
  • "Born to Be Wild
    Born to Be Wild
    "Born to Be Wild" is a rock song written by Mars Bonfire and made famous by the Canadian-American rock band Steppenwolf. It is often used in popular culture to denote a biker appearance or attitude...

    " by Steppenwolf
    Steppenwolf (band)
    Steppenwolf are a Canadian-American rock group that was prominent in the late 1960s. The group was formed in 1967 in Los Angeles by vocalist John Kay, guitarist Michael Monarch, bassist Rushton Moreve, keyboardist Goldy McJohn and drummer Jerry Edmonton after the dissolution of Toronto group The...

  • "Bad to the Bone
    Bad to the Bone
    "Bad to the Bone" is a song by George Thorogood and the Destroyers released in 1982 on the album of the same name. While it was not a major hit on initial release, its video made recurrent appearances on the nascent MTV, which was created a year before...

    " by George Thorogood
    George Thorogood
    George Thorogood is an American blues rock vocalist/guitarist from Wilmington, Delaware, United States, known for his hit song "Bad to the Bone" as well as for covers of blues standards such as Hank Williams' "Move It On Over" and John Lee Hooker's "House Rent Boogie/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One...


Reception

Rock N' Roll Racing was awarded Best Driving Game of 1993 by Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly
Electronic Gaming Monthly is a bimonthly American video game magazine. It has been published by EGM Media, LLC. since relaunching in April of 2010. Its previous run, which ended in January 2009, was published by Ziff Davis...

.

Sequel

A sequel to the original Rock N' Roll Racing was made for the 32-bit PlayStation
PlayStation
The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console first released by Sony Computer Entertainment in Japan on December 3, .The PlayStation was the first of the PlayStation series of consoles and handheld game devices. The PlayStation 2 was the console's successor in 2000...

 console by Interplay
Interplay
Interplay may refer to:* Interplay , a 1957 album by jazz musician John Coltrane* Interplay , Jerome Robbins, 1945* Interplay , a 1962 album by jazz musician Bill Evans...

. The game was sold in Europe as Rock & Roll Racing 2: Red Asphalt and in the United States as just Red Asphalt.

It featured an Underground comix
Underground comix
Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books which are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality and violence...

 style in the character's profiles & ending-videos, a system to upgrading each character's driving/combat skills similar to RPG games and also contained new Hi-Quality soundtracks of Experimental, Electro-Industrial tendencies.

The game didn't become as popular as the first, most likely due to Interplay's closure near the time of the game's release. Also, it retained little of the gameplay that had made the first game so unique and popular.

Red Asphalt Gameplay Soundtrack

  • "Wreck" by Ronald Valdez
  • "Trashed" by Brian Luzietti
  • "Dead Ass meth" and "Holocaust del Puerco" - performed by Nature, mixed by Brian Taylor
  • "Road Killers", "Overkill", "Cleaner", and "Head Voices" - composed and performed by Rick Schaffer, Womb Music Studios
  • "Intensity" and "Slingshot" - composed and performed by Johann Langlie, Guitar: Curtis Matthewson, Bass: Deon Estus, Drums: Dean Butterworth

External links

  • Rock N' Roll Racing in Legacy Games section at Blizzard Entertainment
    Blizzard Entertainment
    Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher founded on February 8, 1991 under the name Silicon & Synapse by three graduates of UCLA, Michael Morhaime, Allen Adham and Frank Pearce and currently owned by French company Activision Blizzard...

     website.
  • Rock N' Roll Racing Password Generator.
  • Rock N' Roll Racing, Brazil
    Brazil
    Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

    ian Fansite
    Fansite
    A fansite, fan site, or fanpage is a website created and maintained by a fan or devotee interested in a celebrity, thing, or a particular cultural phenomenon...

    .
  • Asphalt (RNRR II) information at Answers.com
  • Rock’n’Roll Racing 3D — indie remake (russian)
The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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