What do you get if you cross Sonic the Hedgehog with Tony Hawk's Pro Skater? It might seem an odd combination, but it describes Uniracers perfectly. One of the more successful releases of the Super Nintendo's twilight era, Uniracers mixes platform-based high-speed racing, with crazy stunts and tricks. The basic idea in most levels of the game is simple. Get your unicycle from A to B as quickly as possible, and finish ahead of your opponent. It's like Sonic, but with none of those pesky enemies, pointless power-ups and frustrating obstructions. In fact it doesn't sound like much of a game at all... Here's the key, though. Tricks performed and landed during the race increase your speed. The better the trick, the greater your increase in speed will be. Also, some levels are set in areas designed solely for stunts. Such levels require you to earn as many style points as possible, by doing tricks. These levels are against the clock, and a set points score, rather than an opponent. Unicycles are stupid and difficult, and yet fun, once you get the hang of them. Much the same could be said about Uniracers...
Reviews View More
Unicycles. 2D racing. Ugly menus. It’s not something that screams hidden gem right away. But the more you play, the more the influences it had on future games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater or SSX Tricky start to seep in. It may not be polished. It may not be pretty. But its solid gameplay and skill ceiling will surprise you.
Cons: But most of the time you're getting it wrong. Back when I played this game, I didn't realize the track colors indicated what type of turns and loops would be coming ahead (something only the manual tells you, apparently), and as a result, I failed a lot, and couldn't get very far in the game.
What it means to me: This was a common rent, I just really liked the style of this game as a kid, and it was a really great time multiplayer too. The CGI unicycles were cute and fun, and I loved anything CGI back in the early 90s, it was a novelty then, rarely saw it, so it hyped me up. But also just the visuals in general, the colors, the abstract patterns, it's a great, well, vibe. Good vibes here. Fun jammin' tracks, everything wigglin and wobblin, it's groovy! Not a very deep game that I fell in love with or anything, but certainly not a bad time.