BMX bicycles were all the rage back in the eighties – mag wheels, dice dust-caps,mushroom grips, trick pegs, pad sets: all these elements and many more filled me with desire and wanton lust as a boy; none of these elements existed on my own rusty blue Raleigh Burner…

So, imagine my excitement when I chanced upon BMX Racers hanging from the Mastertronic stand in that slightly grotty newsagents in town, its cover resplendently featuring two futuristic looking riders locked in exhilarating competition.

Clutching the blister-pack in my trembling hands (I'm probably overdoing it a bit here) and striding firmly towards the counter with my coins, my mind filled with imagined scenes from my prospective purchase – maybe there would be cool chromed BMXs to race, coloured tyres to choose from, half-pipes and ramps to stunt from, and all depicted in near photo-realistic graphics of course (this level of graphical sophistication always seemed possible for my new C16 games before I loaded them for the first time).

Cue to the scene of my disappointment as BMX Racers finally loaded up ( no Turbo-loader, grr), and I looked on in dismay as I once again realised that my Commodore 16 was never going to match up to my imagined visualisations – welcome to my 8-bit world…

Anyways, after getting over the shock of 80's reality not matching up to my mind's-eye of how things really should be, and actually playing the game, I found that it wasn't at all bad, if not a little frustrating – that pulling-your-hair-out whilst smashing the joystick about your forehead kind of frustrating mind you. This game is very hard and very unforgiving – no save game points between levels here I'm afraid.

BMX Racers is a sharp little game with a top-down looking perspective – race against the clock to complete the level – pick up time bonuses, avoid obstacles, memorise the course and be prepared to be very frustrated. There are only five levels, but I've only ever seem three of them.

So there you go – and now I'm off to play Dave Mirra on the PS2…

If ever a bad game was released at the right time this was it. In 1984 BMX's were huge, so any game with BMX in the name was going to sell by the bucket load, especially when it cost £1.99. But even at that price, i can't say much good about this wannabe Retro Shamer.

Basically, you're riding your BMX through a city park (which is an everlasting straight line), all you've got to do is avoid hazards such as: a maniac trying to run you down, an old lady who throws a walking stick through your BMX spokes, oil slicks, dogs, trees and rabbits. You get to do the occaisional jump, which needs to be judged perfectly or it's goodnight vienna.

The controls are simply up, down, left and right, it plays quite well on keyboard or joystick. The game is colourful enough but has very minimal sound.

An article in Retro Gamer Magazine on Mastertronic pointed this game out as one of their best sellers, which is a shame because Mastertronic released some fantastic budget games, but then again BMX fan that i was, i forked out my pocket money on it.

As a big fan of Mastetronic, i'll forgive them this turkey that must of made them a mint.