Biker Mice Gaming

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Just a funny little comic accompanied by some information about Biker Mice from Mars video games. I don't know why I am doing this, because telling you people about these games feels like a waste of time. A waste of time I don't mind, but I quite often blab about stuff nobody cares about. I seriously doubt these discussions will make any of you interested in these games.

I never had Biker Mice from Mars in my childhood, but I've currently watched as many episodes of the 1993 series as I can as well as every episode of the 2006 revival, and I've grown quite attached to it.

Putting aside the comic of Throttle, Vinnie, Modo, and Charley Davidson playing a video game, the point of this description is to talk about all existing Biker Mice from Mars video games and my opinions on them. I haven't played all of them, but that will change soon.

I must warn you that there will be spoilers and that the Biker Mice games I've played, I've done so on an emulator, so please turn away if you're in the boat who considers me irredeemably evil for committing online piracy. I admit to downloading stuff illicitly, but I don't feel guilty because lots of other people do it and I normally obtain media legally. I only use digital piracy as a last resort. Sometimes, you got to learn not to see everything in black and white.

1. Biker Mice from Mars for SNES

In 1994, a game based on the original 1993 Biker Mice from Mars cartoon was developed by Konami and released on the Super Nintendo. A lot of people have fond memories of this game, though the European release is notorious for copious amounts of Product Placement for Snickers candy bars.

The game lacks an actual story, but has you racing through different levels against five other opponents. Aside from Throttle, Vinnie, and Modo, you also have the choice of playing as the show's villains Lawrence Limburger, Dr. Karbunkle, and Greasepit.

In each race, you start off with nothing, but gain a weapon whenever you go through a lap. The game consists of five rounds. Each round consists of five races, and each race has five laps.

You beat the game by winning as many of the races as possible, and it happens to be one of those games where you can't really win unless you beat it on the hardest difficulty, but that's not to say that you have to win the game to enjoy it. Some of the animations for the characters getting damaged by opponent's weapons or obstacles can be quite amusing. For example, Modo does a little dance, while Limburger loses his human disguise and is left in his undies.

The basic controls are as follows: The A button activates your character's weapon, the B button accelerates, the L and R buttons help you maneuver, the X button brakes your vehicle, and the Y button activates your special. Pressing the left and right directional buttons steer, while pressing the down directional button pops a wheelie. If you press the Y button while popping a wheelie, you lay a trap for the other racers.

The more successful you are in a race, the more money you get. You can use the money to upgrade your vehicle. There are four types of upgrades: Engine (improves speed and acceleration), Tire (improves grip and acceleration), Armor (reduces likelihood of vehicle exploding), and Shot (number of weapons you can carry per lap is increased).

I was able to download an emulator of this game, and I must say that my opinions on it are rather mixed.

I know that Konami is a big name gaming company. Heck, I happen to be a Castlevania fan. I even like the Lords of Shadow series!

The SNES Biker Mice game is decent in its own right, but I'm kind of biased because I don't really care for racing games.

2. Biker Mice from Mars for PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS

Yes, the highly contested 2006 revival of Biker Mice from Mars had its own video games, but they weren't as well-received, mainly because of controls and the 2006 show's sizable amount of detractors.

Both games were published by The Game Factory, with the PlayStation 2 version developed by Creat Studios and the DS version developed by Full Fat.

Both games were initially released in Europe in 2006, the PS2 on November 10 and the DS in December 12. Both games were also released in North America in June 2007, which was oddly less than a year before the actual show first aired in America (the 2006 Biker Mice series initially aired from 2006 to 2007 on the British channel CITV and didn't air in America until Summer 2008 on 4Kids, but was pulled from the schedule before the last seven episodes got to air).

I've played an emulator of the DS game even though I have a DS myself. Not even I quite understand my reasons, but I'm opting to actually get a physical copy of the PlayStation 2 game because the PS2 emulator was more trouble than it was worth.

Both the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS games have a similar plot, though it's somewhat inverted in that the PlayStation 2 version takes place mostly on Earth with the last level takes place on Mars, whereas the DS version begins on Mars, but takes place on Earth for the rest of the game. You also have the choice of playing as Throttle, Vinnie, or Modo.

The basic story for both games is kind of a condensed version of the main plot of the cartoon it is based on: The Biker Mice return to Earth to find their old friend Stoker because they need his invention the regenerator to end the drought back on Mars, but they also get into conflict with the Catatonians and Ronaldo Rump, who both want the regenerator for their own evil purposes.

Also, the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS games, dare I say it, better follow what I think a Biker Mice from Mars game should be like: To alternate between racing levels and beat-em-ups. I know I said I don't care much for racing games, but this is Biker Mice from Mars. A Biker Mice game where you don't get to ride your bike is just unthinkable!

While I haven't played the PlayStation 2 version, I have seen videos of its gameplay and one fan even uploaded videos of all the game's cutscenes.

For the PlayStation 2 version, the controls differ between the racing modes and beat-em-up modes.

Racing Controls: You press the X button to move forward, the Square button to stop, the R1 button to use your primary weapon, the R2 button to boost, the L1 button to fire your secondary weapon, and your L2 button to fire weapons from the rear. As you may have guessed, the directional buttons and joystick enable you to steer or pop a wheelie depending on which direction you press them, plus pressing Down and R2 at the same time enables you to jump.

Battle Controls: The X button is for Fast Attack, the Square button is for Strong Attack, the O button is Special Ability, and L1 blocks. Controls for movement should be obvious.

The story of the PS2 game can be best summed up as the Biker Mice trying to get to Stoker while battling the Catatonians and thugs hired by Ronaldo Rump. From what I can tell by context, at least two of the bosses in the game are Cataclysm and Hairball. The Biker Mice manage to get Stoker to build a regenerator, but the Catatonians steal it and attempt to use it to turn Mars into a giant litter box, leaving the Biker Mice no choice but to destroy the regenerator before it's too late.

The Nintendo DS version, as I said before, has a similar story, but there are some notable differences, one being that Ronaldo Rump isn't involved in the story aside from some billboards depicting him seen in the later levels.

In the racing levels, you have a time limit to make it to the end of a level and can collect two types of weapons, the blue standard rockets or the red homing rockets. Having experienced the DS version myself, I can say that the racing levels are the most flawed of the game. You can only get more time to finish the race by blasting enemy racers, and while each race has a standard racing opponent, like Stoker's Night Shift alias and Hairball, the race doesn't automatically end if you manage to deplete their health. Being ahead of your opponent also doesn't matter. You can only win the racing segments by going to the finish line before time runs out.

It would have been better if they had made it easier to steer your bike or at least made it so that trashing your opponent's vehicle automatically counted as winning the race, since with one exception, the races are the closest thing the DS version of the game has to boss fights, which is a big deal to me because the boss battles are my favorite parts of video games.

Racing Controls: The L button fires a homing rocket, the R button fires a standard rocket, the B button is your boost, the left and right D-Pad buttons steer, and pressing A and Y at the same time accelerates your vehicle if you have collected the icon, which resembles the Biker Mice insignia on fire.

The beat-em-up sections, on the other hand, are surprisingly decent, since there are a good variety of enemies and a fair amount of challenge. This also happens to be one of the games where dying yields no consequence other than having to start over.

Battle Controls: Standard D-Pad movement controls, with Down being Duck. The L and R buttons block when pressed individually, but when pressed simultaneously activate a Special Move, the A button attacks, and the B button jumps.

The Y button's function is context-sensitive. Depending on where you're standing, pressing the Y button either enables you to move to locations you can't access through normal movement, control vehicles, pick up weapons, or pick up and throw bombs.

After several levels of poorly-designed racing and beating the crud out of everyone who stands in your way, the game ends with a final boss fight against Cataclysm, who has the predictable pattern of sending out a bunch of enemies to fight you, being momentarily vulnerable to your beatings, leaving while performing an attack that should be avoided, rinse and repeat.

After Cataclysm is defeated, the Biker Mice again are forced to destroy the regenerator before the Catatonians use it on Mars, only instead of the cat-like aliens using it to make Mars their personal toilet, it is implied that they plan to use the regenerator to kill the remainder of the Martian mice population.

3. Biker Mice from Mars game for iOS and Android

A new game based on the original 1993 series being developed by Irish indie developer 9th Impact with the consent of Biker Mice creator Rick Ungar.

Not too long ago, they started a Kickstarter to try and get some more funding for the project, and I tried to raise more awareness by sharing a link in one of my journal entries.

Ultimately, the Kickstarter was canceled 8 days before the deadline with barely a quarter of the goal met, but the game creators assured everyone that the game is still in the works and can be expected to be released as soon as December 2015.

I wasted about four hours making this picture and typing this long description.

Biker Mice from Mars (c) Rick Ungar