You might believe that shovelware based on licensed properties is a relatively new phenomenon. Of course, if you’ve read this blog before, you’d know that you would be wrong.
Knight Rider was first released in Japan in 1989. A lot of times that means it’s some original Japanese concept with a US property tagged on, but that doesn’t appear to be the case here – as far as I can tell, it was always just Knight Rider. It also has this cover art, in which David Hasselhoff is nowhere to be found:
I sure am pumped by the captivating tagline “You Drive the Car From the Hit TV Series.” In truth, driving that car about all the TV show and the game have in common – the TV show Knight Rider was very largely non-violent, where as this…
They kinda got the car right, at least. Much more akin to, say, RoadBlasters, Knight Rider is pretty much your standard late-80s “drive and shoot” fare. As you progress from city to city, you’ll be able to power up your car with more weapons and other power-ups.
I’ll admit that while it fails as a Knight Rider adaptation, this isn’t entirely awful as a racing game – it’s well-paced and looks decent. However, like a lot of games of this type, it is sadistically hard. You aren’t given a reasonable amount of any of the things you need to keep playing, including shields, gas, and available time, both of which deplete surprisingly rapidly. There are yellow cars that you can shoot to replenish these, but there aren’t a lot of them, and there’s a lot to avoid while trying to get to them.
Ugh. A lot of these old games were designed to just suck up quarters, which is understandable, but translating that concept to a home console just feels mean (I’ll also note that this was never an arcade game, despite really feeling like one). The game does mercifully have a password system, as well as a ‘Drive’ mode where there aren’t enemies to deal with and it’s more of a time trial sort of thing. Of course, then you don’t get to talk to Devon…
If you can put up with the difficulty, Knight Rider is a decent amount of fun and certainly not the worst racing game on the NES. A loose copy will run you less than $10. If you do check it out, I recommend doing so while listening to the song “Michael (Jump In)” by No More Kings, easily the best song I know about Knight Rider.
Next week’s game is a 16-bit classic, and one that also has a well-deserved reputation for being brutally difficult. I have fond memories of being awed by (and hating) this one as a child. I’ll see you then!