Games that remind me of my childhood Number 1 : Action Biker (Commodore 64)

I thought I should start a new feature on my blog to go alongside my "Songs that remind me of my childhood" posts.

It seems only fair to start with quite possibly one of my all time favourite computer games - Action Biker.

Action Biker was released way back in 1985 by Mastertronic.  I was first introduced to the game by my friend Steven Ready.  At the time, I had a Commodore Plus 4 and he had an Atari 800XL.  I was impressed with many of the games on the Atari, and most of them were not available for my Plus 4 - this being one of them.

The game is very simple and is played from a 3D isometric view.  You play Clumsy Colin, (do you remember the KP Skips adverts from the mid 80's?) and the aim of the game is to ride your motorbike around town, picking up collectables which appear one after another.  Some can be found with little effort and are easily obtainable, whereas others are slightly harder to find.  Skill is required, particularly when riding up and down the Rollercoaster and Construction Site.  Some of the collectables improve the performance of your bike, whereas others are just pointless which have absolutely no use whatsoever (two tone horn, lunchbox!)

You also need to watch your fuel level, filling up occasionally at the petrol station.  One of the collectables is a larger tank which allows you to go longer without having to fill up.

When I got my Commodore 64 in 1987, this game came with the computer (yes, thanks to a 'friend' who had compiled me several game tapes... shhhhh).   At only £1.99, it wasn't long before I bought an original copy, and even to this day I still play it.  It's an ideal game to load up when I have 20 minutes or so to kill

And the music...  Such a simplistic tune, but quite often you can still hear me humming the memorable main theme, originally written by Rob Hubbard.

Anyway, as posted previously, here is my remake of the theme tune, complete with me playing (and finishing) the game in high speed.  (Hey, do a google search for Action Biker and my video is number 4!!!!  Woo hoo.)

The Game Map (Atari Version) by Peter

An amazing game which some people will think has not aged very well.  Personally, I think its simple gameplay is what makes me come back to it again and again, even if I have finished it multiple times.  I would recommend this game to anyone - just don't bother with the Spectrum version.  That one is a completely different game altogether, and not a very good one at that!

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge