''Sito Pons 500cc Grand Prix'' is a 1990

racing In sports, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific g ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed and published by the Spanish company Zigurat Software (previously known as

Made in Spain Made in Spain is a merchandise mark indicating that a product is all planned, manufactured and packed in Spain. Agriculture Spain is the biggest exporter of wine and olive oil in the world.Jessica JonesSpain outstrips France and Italy in wine expo ...

) for

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 ...

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few op ...

MSX MSX is a standardized home computer architecture, announced by ASCII Corporation on June 16, 1983. It was initially conceived by Microsoft as a product for the Eastern sector, and jointly marketed by Kazuhiko Nishi, the director at ASCII Corpo ...

and

ZX Spectrum The ZX Spectrum () is an 8-bit computing, 8-bit home computer developed and marketed by Sinclair Research. One of the most influential computers ever made and one of the all-time bestselling British computers, over five million units were sold. ...

. Featuring former Spanish racer

Sito Pons Alfonso Pons Ezquerra (Barcelona 9 November 1959), better known as Sito Pons, is a Spanish former professional Grand Prix motorcycle racer. He studied Architecture at the university of Barcelona, He competed in the FIM motorcycle Grand Prix wo ...

and themed around

motorcycle racing The motorcycle sport of racing (also called moto racing and motorbike racing) includes motorcycle road racing and off-road racing, both either on circuits or open courses, and track racing. Other categories include hill climbs, drag racing and ...

, the game pit players driving the

Honda NSR500 1993 Japanese motorcycle Grand Prix">1993 Japanese Grand Prix The Honda NSR500 is a road racing motorcycle created by HRC (Honda Racing Corporation) and debuted in 1984 for the Grand Prix motorcycle racing's 500 cc class. Honda won ...

with races against AI-controlled opponents across various countries to qualify in the 500cc class of the

Grand Prix motorcycle racing Grand Prix motorcycle racing is the highest class of motorcycle road racing events held on Road racing, road circuits sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM). Independent motorcycle racing events have been held sin ...

. ''Sito Pons 500cc Grand Prix'' was created in conjunction with '' Carlos Sainz: World Rally Championship'' at the end of the golden age of Spanish software by most of the same team at Zigurat who worked on previous licensed sports titles such as ''Paris-Dakar'' (1988) and ''Emilio Sanchez Vicario Grand Slam''. Zigurat approached Pons to act as endorser due to their local market and

motorsport Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of Car, automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and Aircraft, powered aircraft. For each of these vehicle types, the more specific term ...

s being a hobby among Zigurat staff. ''Sito Pons 500cc Grand Prix'' was met with mostly positive reception from critics across all platforms since its release; praise was given to the graphics, realism and sense of speed, while criticism was geared towards the high difficulty level and sound design.

Conversion Conversion or convert may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''The Convert'', a 2023 film produced by Jump Film & Television and Brouhaha Entertainment * "Conversion" (''Doctor Who'' audio), an episode of the audio drama ''Cyberman'' * ...

s 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 ...

and

Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...

were planned but never released. The title was included as part of the ''Pack Powersports'' compilation for all platforms in 1991.

Gameplay

''Sito Pons 500cc Grand Prix'' is a

top-down Top-down may refer to: Arts and entertainment * "Top Down", a 2007 song by Swizz Beatz * "Top Down", a song by Lil Yachty from ''Lil Boat 3'' * "Top Down", a song by Fifth Harmony from ''Reflection'' * "Topdown", a song by Channel Tres from the ...

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

racing game similar to ''Aspar GP Master'' (1988), where players observe from above and race as Spanish motorcycle driver

driving the

across 14 countries conforming the 500cc class

like the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

and

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

.''Sito Pons 500 c.c. Grand Prix'' manual (Amstrad CPC/MS-DOS/MSX/ZX Spectrum, ESP) The game uses a

isometric perspective Isometric projection is a method for visually representing three-dimensional objects in two dimensions in technical and engineering drawings. It is an axonometric projection in which the three coordinate axes appear equally foreshortened and t ...

like '' Carlos Sainz: World Rally Championship'' to portray a TV-style viewpoint. The game has three modes: Race, Practice and Demo. Race is the main championship mode where players are pitted against AI-controlled opponents such as

Kevin Schwantz Kevin James Schwantz (born June 19, 1964) is an American former professional motorcycle road racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships from 1988 to 1995, most prominently as a member of the Suzuki factory rac ...

and

Wayne Rainey Wayne Wesley Rainey (born October 23, 1960) is an American former Grand Prix motorcycle road racer. He competed in the FIM Grand Prix motorcycle racing world championships in 1984 and from 1988 to 1993. He won the 500cc World Championship th ...

to qualify. Finishing each race allow the player to receive a number of standings points, depending on the position the player finishes in; a first-place finish rewards a maximum of 20 points for each track, and the total maximum number of points possible is 280. Players can resume their progress via

password A password, sometimes called a passcode, is secret data, typically a string of characters, usually used to confirm a user's identity. Traditionally, passwords were expected to be memorized, but the large number of password-protected services t ...

. In Practice mode, the player can train in any of the available courses. Demo mode depicts gameplay with an AI-controlled Pons.

Development and release

''Sito Pons 500cc Grand Prix'' was created in conjunction with '' Carlos Sainz: World Rally Championship'' at the end of the golden age of Spanish software by Zigurat Software (previously

), whose team worked on previous licensed sports titles such as ''Paris-Dakar'' (1988) and ''Emilio Sanchez Vicario Grand Slam'' (featuring former Spanish tennis player

Emilio Sánchez Emilio Ángel Sánchez Vicario (; born 29 May 1965) is a Spanish former doubles world No. 1 tennis player. He won five Grand Slam doubles titles and the men's doubles silver medal at the 1988 Olympic Games. Sánchez is the older brother of ...

). The project was handled by three members: Fernando Rada and Carlos Granados acted as co-programmers. Artist Jorge Granados was responsible for the visuals and design for all versions, while all three members served as designers. The team recounted the project's development process through interviews, stating that Zigurat approached to former Spanish motorcycle racer

to act as endorser of the game due to their local market and

motorsports Motorsport or motor sport are sporting events, competitions and related activities that primarily involve the use of automobiles, motorcycles, motorboats and powered aircraft An aircraft engine, often referred to as an aero engine, is the po ...

being a hobby among Zigurat staff. ''Sito Pons'' shares the same isometric perspective as ''Carlos Sainz: World Rally'', but Zigurat placed more emphasis into AI for the opposing racers. Carlos stated that Rada and Jorge were in charge of the game's driving aspect. ''Sito Pons 500cc Grand Prix'' was published exclusively in Spain by Zigurat Software for

and

in 1990. The MSX version was also distributed by Erbe Software. The CPC version featured more colors on-screen compared to the MSX and ZX Spectrum versions, which displayed less colors on-screen. Versions for the

and

were planned but never released. In 1991, the title was included as part of the ''Pack Powersports'' compilation for all platforms.

Reception

''Sito Pons 500cc Grand Prix'' was met with mostly positive reception from critics across all platforms since its release. Spanish magazine ''MicroHobby'' reviewed the

version, praising the realism, sense of speed, television broadcast-style perspective, colorful graphics and addictive playability, describing it as a "neatly carried out" game. ''

Micromanía ''Micromanía'' was a Spanish computer game magazine. It was founded by the publisher HobbyPress, currently a subsidiary of Axel Springer SE. It was created in May 1985 and is one of the first magazines in Europe exclusively devoted to video game ...

''s José Emilio Barbero reviewed the

version, commending the pseudo-3D perspective, detailed visuals, realism, accurate controls and "incredibly good" scrolling, but criticized the excessively high difficulty and sound design due to an unpleasant and continuous sound of the motorcycle's engine. Barbero also gave a brief outlook to the ZX Spectrum version, criticizing the less colorful and detailed visuals, as well as the high difficulty but praised it for retaining the same technical performance as the CPC version. Reviewing the

version, ''MSX Club''s Jesús Manuel Montané drew comparison with titles such as ''Aspar GP Master'' due to its premise, criticizing the monochrome graphics and high difficulty level but remarked that its scheme was valid, stating that the game was moderately entertaining. In a retrospective outlook, ''

IGN Spain ''IGN'' is an American video gaming and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa district and is headed by its former edit ...

''s Víctor Ayora regarded ''Sito Pons 500cc'' as one of the best games released on 8-bit computers. Ayora stated that ''Sito Pons'' successfully implemented isometric perspective and speed but noted its extreme difficulty. When comparing each platform, he noted that the Amstrad CPC version was the best graphics-wise compared to the ZX Spectrum version due to the increased color palette, though he also reported that every version played nearly the same gameplay-wise.

References

External links

''Sito Pons 500cc Grand Prix''
at

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''Sito Pons 500cc Grand Prix''
at

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