Road Avenger, 1992 Wolfteam/Renovation/Data East (20 From Sega/Mega CD #4)
7Wow! This game just completely blew my mind back in the day-- this was originally an arcade laserdisc title with Japanese animation (by Toei) under the name ROAD BLASTER, and the sheer insanity of driving a car through all sorts of seemingly non-drivable terrain is captured perfectly in this port. This is a "reaction" game ala Dragon's Lair in which you react to audio or visual clues (both are present here for each action required) in order to avoid instant death. You do not control your car's forward motion; instead you control its left and right movements (press left or right on the controller to correspond with the left or right arrow you will see) and its turbo function (press A or C) and brake (press B). The left or right arrows appear at the left or right edge of the screen, and both the turbo and brake indicators appear in the same space at the top center (rather confusing). At least early on, accidentally hitting the brake for a second before hitting the turbo or vice versa will not result in a death scene (which are frequently over-the-top or hilarious), so you get a bit of leeway early on.. but definitely don't count on it later! Not losing a life will give you a full 30,000 point bonus at the end of a stage, but one or more deaths drops the value down quite a bit. Nine stages of wacky settings include a canyon, the sewers (!), farmland, and more! This includes driving through a hotel lobby (!), through a flying helicopter (!!), and through a barn with squawking chickens flying all over the place! What a gas! Even if you don't care for reaction/laserdisc games, you will likely be greatly amused at the crazy shenanigans. A must for all Sega/Mega CD collectors. AKA Road Blaster. See you soon for game #3!