Road Rash II

When the first installment worked, you do not tear down the recipe, you just improve it. Road Rash II took everything that made the original Mega Drive game so addictive and tightened the screws: faster bikes, a better feel of riding, and above all the chance to fight with a better arsenal. If you loved knocking rivals off their bikes, the second installment gave you more tools and more reasons to do it.

Studio Electronic Arts followed up on the success of the first game, and Road Rash II remained a Sega Mega Drive exclusive. The proven loop returns: win the race, earn money, buy a faster machine, and advance to harder tracks across the American states. Road traffic, the other bikers, and the threat of the police remain your eternal enemies.

The most visible novelty of the second installment is enriched combat. Besides fists and kicks, you can take from rivals or use weapons such as a club or a chain, which makes the fights during a ride an even more entertaining and tactical affair. A cooperative and competitive mode for two players was also added, which made Road Rash II a favorite choice for shared evenings around a single console.

The installment kept its reputation as one of the best racing titles on the sixteen-bit Sega and cemented the standing of the whole series as a synonym for a cheeky, action-packed ride. Together with the first installment, it laid the foundation for later sequels that carried the brand to more powerful hardware and added cinematic sequences and licensed music.

Road Rash II is at its core an example of an honestly made sequel that will not disappoint fans of the original while also offering enough that is new to make it worth returning to. It is pure fun without needless ambition, exactly what you expect from an arcade race on the Mega Drive.

Why play it: A polished sequel with better fights and a two-player mode that perfects the formula of fast and scrappy riding.