Game Review: Speed King (Commodore 16 and Plus/4, Mastertronic)

After the original Digital Integration game Speed King had been re-released for the Commodore 64, Mastertronic thought it would make sense to get the game converted for other systems – with Ed Hickman taking care of the Amstrad and MSX versions, and in this case Shaun Southern of Mr Chip Software handling the conversion for the Commodore 16 and Plus/4.  Whilst not being able to squeeze in the same number of tracks, it would be a good test of what would be manageable on a 16K system and keep the feeling of speed at the same time.

Four Course Meal

When the game loads, you get to choose the circuits available – four of them in this version.  From the top left, you have Monza (Italy), Paul Ricard (France), Hockenheim (Germany) and Silverstone (England) – so you do get some variation.  This screen also shows the lap record for each track and the course records – so you either get a total time and then the position you finished in, or what lap you managed to get to.  You cannot select the number of laps in this version, instead each race is five laps no matter which circuit you select.   You do get to hear a catchy little piece of music, and on some versions, due to the way it was Novaload mastered, the last two bytes of music data mean the last few seconds play incorrectly.  Once you have heard the correct tune, it is hard to go back to the other.

Moving on the Queens Highway

Once a course is selected, a little introductory jingle plays and the game starts.  Acceleration is automatic, and you need to select the gears.  This differs from the Commodore 64 version in that up is up a gear, down is down a gear, fire button puts the brakes on, and left and right steers accordingly.  Once you realise you only need to press up to change the gears to reach top (sixth) gear, you can pretty much cruise along in that gear if you do not crash, which is easier said than done.  The computer opponents tend to home in towards you a little, and some careful steering, especially mid corner, is required.

I’ve Got a Silver Machine

On this version, there are also white bollards on the side of the course.  If you crash into those, the bike shows an explosion of sorts and you get repositioned in the centre of the track with a time penalty – and the same effect happens if you hit another rider.  This of course is exactly the same behaviour as the Commodore 16 and Plus/4 version of Formula 1 Simulator, so it was clear that the main game engine was used, as that did have a good sense of speed, and tweaked to have the bikes speeding towards you – and does feel faster than Formula 1 Simulator because of this.

The screen has two main colours, one for the track itself with its white bollards (Monza and Paul Ricard are green, Hockenheim grey, Silverstone brown), and one for the sky behind the graphics for the course, which are usually hills, mountains, and clouds. The display at the top shows the overall lap time and speed to the left, the gear in the middle (first to top) and the current lap, time for that lap, and your position.  It is clear to read and does give you an indicator of how well you may be doing.  Because of the bollards, you cannot go off track and back on again, which gave you some leeway on the Commodore 64 version, so do bear that in mind.

Taken For a Ride

Five laps do not take so long to complete on this version, but sometimes the opponents tend to home in towards you and some careful changes of steering are needed to avoid them.  Once you get the hang of that and get to first place, it is just memorising the course layout and avoiding the bollards to go full speed and win.  Getting to that point is not always easy, and the feeling of speed and the responsive controls really do help nicely to have that sense of you being in full control.  Managing to get first after five laps on some of the tracks does feel a noteworthy achievement.

Graphics and Sound

The graphics in Speed King are reasonable, with the bike having different animation for heading around corners, with the other bikes coming at you in increased size – like the Commodore 64 version, this works well.  I was not so sure that the bollards are a good idea and the looser feel of being able to go off did help the original version to a fair degree.  However, if you have a working game engine, makes sense to use it and keep the speed to a good standard.  The sound is good too – a nice title theme and get ready jingle, a small jingle when you complete the five laps, and some engine noise sound effect when riding and passing other bikes too.  All in all, solid enough.

Final Thoughts

Speed King is not a straight forward conversion from the Commodore 64 original – more of a reskin of Formula 1 Simulator with bikes, different road colours and style, and an emphasis on the speed element as you reach top speed, with six gears to work with and ride around.  Maybe the corners needed sharpening so some could not be taken in top gear,  but the key thing here is that the playability is very much intact, and that does mean that one more go factor to beat the best lap or overall time is strong here.  Another solid Shaun Southern game for this system and just edges Formula 1 Simulator out of those two games, for me.

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