C64 Game Memories - Revisited 30+ Years later : Kikstart 2

Kikstart 2, one of my favourite 2 player games for the C64 was released by the UK budget software house Mastertronic in 1987.

Following on from a less successful first entry, the option of split screen play against a friend or the computer took this to the next level. There was a TV series in the UK by the same name which featured motorcycle trials and the theme tune from that show is used as the music in this game. It's fun to start with, but boy does it get a tad repetitive!

Negotiating the course was actually quite tactical if you wanted to get the best time. For instance wooden beams have to be crossed really slowly and if you went too fast and landed from a jump badly your rider got turfed off the bike causing you a time penalty and in effect losing the race if your opponent made no mistakes.

Many a time I raced against a friend who was slightly ahead and the pressure to gain speed meant going too fast when you needed to slow down and getting bombed from the race. There was also an in-built course builder. Although fairly basic, it was another neat added touch that made this game an underrated C64 classic for me.

Still fun for a quick game today.