The last of the Top Gear games on N64, and the one that I found myself having the most fun with (despite not liking the catch-up style racing). While the game isn’t on futuristic motorbikes, it’s much more over the top than the Supercross games. The levels are fairly open with lots of shortcuts to discover, and a large part of the game seems to be working out the best route over the terrain, to skip corners and get to the next checkpoint. There’s an interesting sense of freedom.

The controls are also fun, with them being responsive and easy to use. Steering isn’t an issue, and you can zoom around objects really well. You can collect boosts on the track to speed you up. The tracks are also nicely varied, and there’s a few bonus “regular” bike tracks to unlock as well – not to mention a space level.

Hyper-Bike has a unique way of doing textures on N64, in a way that most emulators can’t replicate. In order to provide more detail than you usually get with textures on N64, it’s constantly loading in chunks, which looks messy in screenshots, but is surprisingly smooth while playing the game, and the speed of the game itself certainly helps.

I do wish there was a standard race mode, but Hyper-Bike is good fun.

Fun

A couple of years ago, TGH might have been acclaimed as one of the better racing games on N64. But now it’s up against the might Excitebike – and it just doesn’t have what it takes to compete. Nice try though.

Martin Kitts, N64 Magazine #44. Review Score: 64%

Remake or remaster?

A Top Gear collection would be nice.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official way to get Top Gear Hyper-Bike.