Grand Prix Master
Description
A motorcycle racing game recreating the now-defunct 80cc world motorcycle racing championship. It was licensed around Spanish ace Jorge Martinez 'Aspar', and your (and his) racing rivals including future 500cc World Champion Alex Criville.
The game features a full practice mode as well as qualifying and races. There are only 8 computer bikes, although the real-life championship points system is used, meaning that the penalty for not finishing is bigger than in real life, especially as you only have 5 bikes to last the season. The game is viewed from overhead, and the controls are, unusually, direction-based, so to take a straight which (in the overhead view) involves going up and to the right, you must push the joystick in that direction.
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Screenshots
Credits (Commodore 64 version)
4 People
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Music and FX |
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Reviews
Critics
Average score: 60% (based on 5 ratings)
Players
Average score: 3.2 out of 5 (based on 25 ratings with 1 reviews)
One for motorbike fanatics only
The Good
The music was great in a cheesy sort of way. It was a generally close simulation of a rarely-featured class. All the main options were there.
The Bad
The directional control system is very awkward, requiring far more control adjustment than normal rotational controls. The screen update is slightly sluggish as well, exacerbating this problem.
Itās far too easy to false-start as the race begins, and the qualifying system of taking your last lap rather than the best was potentially infuriating
Compared to contemporaries such as Supercars it was visually quite primitive.
Despite supposedly being 80cc bikes, they didnāt handle especially lightly, and had top speeds of over 200km/h, comparable with 500ccs of the era. Itās as if they wrote it as a general motorbike simulation, then tagged Aspar on at the last minute.
The Bottom Line
Motorbike legend Jorge Martinez āAsparā licensed this overhead view racing game, which ultimately suffered from half-hearted design and bizarre controls. Doesnāt compare well to Super Hang-On, although that was more of an action game, or the later Team Suzuki game.
Amiga · by Martin Smith (81752) · 2004
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Related Sites +
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That Oldskool Beat
Contains, among others, a reconstruction of the PC speaker title music contained in the game.
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Contributors to this Entry
Game added by Verk.
Amiga added by Neepie Lantern. Atari ST, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum added by Kohler 86. MSX, Amstrad CPC added by Martin Smith.
Additional contributors: Trixter, Martin Smith, formercontrib.
Game added July 14, 2000. Last modified January 29, 2024.