''Kikstart 2'' is a

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racing videogame released for the

Amiga Amiga is a family of personal computers produced by Commodore International, Commodore from 1985 until the company's bankruptcy in 1994, with production by others afterward. The original model is one of a number of mid-1980s computers with 16-b ...

Amstrad CPC The Amstrad CPC (short for "Colour Personal Computer") is a series of 8-bit home computers produced by Amstrad between 1984 and 1990. It was designed to compete in the mid-1980s home computer market dominated by the Commodore 64 and the ZX Spec ...

Commodore 64 The Commodore 64, also known as the C64, is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer introduced in January 1982 by Commodore International (first shown at the Consumer Electronics Show, January 7–10, 1982, in Las Vegas). It has been listed in ...

and

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. It enjoyed more success than its predecessor, '' Kikstart''. The game allowed 2-player simultaneous (via a split-screen facility) or 1-player, vs-computer play. The basic premise is to control a bike using acceleration, braking, "hopping" and "wheelies" to navigate across a course of various obstacles, from ramps and gates to telephone boxes and tyres. The game was based on the

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Television series '' Kick Start''. An enhanced version of the original ''Kikstart'' was released for the Commodore 128, one of the few native mode game titles for that computer. This was initially titled ''Kikstart 2'', as the initial boot screen shows. Some obstacles only allowed travel across them in certain ways. For instance, fences and wooden beams can only be navigated at low speed, without "hopping" or falling onto them. Tyres would only allow travel at high speeds, driving slowly will "throw" the rider. When a rider lands badly (i.e. with the front wheel first) or "falls off" an obstacle, they are catapulted a certain distance forward, imposing a certain time penalty because the player is not put back into the game until the screen has scrolled to a "safe" (i.e. flat) area of the course on which to restart the bike. Players can either play against their opponent in a straight-out race to the finish post, or they can "win" by aggregated finishing times. Courses are played in sets of five, denoted by a letter of the alphabet and can be edited by the player using the built-in course designer. This allowed the user to place any obstacles on a blank track and later save and share completed courses.

Reception

The game was well received with critics. Many lists of Commodore 128 games included the title, as it was one of the only games released for 128 mode.

References

External links

* *{{WoS game, id=0002694 1987 video games Amiga games Amstrad CPC games Commodore 128 games Commodore 64 games Magnetic Fields (video game developer) games Mastertronic games Motorcycle video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Racing video games Split-screen multiplayer games Video game sequels Video games developed in the United Kingdom Video games scored by David Whittaker Video games with user-generated gameplay content ZX Spectrum games