Grand Prix Master

aka: Aspar GP Master, Aspar Master Grand Prix
Moby ID: 1941
Atari ST Specs

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.

Groups +

Screenshots

Credits (Commodore 64 version)

4 People

Program
Graphics
Music and FX
  • Maniacs of Noise

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.

It’s 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 didn’t handle especially lightly, and had top speeds of over 200km/h, comparable with 500ccs of the era. It’s 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 ‘Aspar’ licensed this overhead view racing game, which ultimately suffered from half-hearted design and bizarre controls. Doesn’t compare well to Super Hang-On, although that was more of an action game, or the later Team Suzuki game.

Amiga · by Martin Smith (81669) · 2004

Analytics

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Related Sites +

  • That Oldskool Beat
    Contains, among others, a reconstruction of the PC speaker title music contained in the game.

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 1941
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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Verk.

Amiga added by Neepie Lantern. ZX Spectrum, Atari ST, Commodore 64 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.