Atari 2600: BMX Airmaster
October 13, 2008 - 9:42 am - Posted by Sean
This late-arriving 2600 title released in 1989 boasts some respectable visuals and top-notch music, but it’s not very easy to play.
BMX Airmaster includes three different bike events: half-pipe, quarter-pipe, and a ramp jump.
In the half-pipe you ride from side to side, flying into the air and performing stunt combination’s.
The instructions don’t explain how to perform the stunts, but they don’t take long to figure out.
The controls are not especially intuitive, but with some practice you can pull off an impressive string of mid-air tricks.
Still, no matter how fancy your stunts are, they don’t count for jack unless you manage to land your bike safely – and that’s not easy.
After 90 seconds of half-pipe, you move on to the quarter-pipe. This plays just like the half-pipe, except you only get three jump attempts.
Short and lame, quarter-pipe has “filler” written all over it.
The final challenge, the ramp jump, is definitely the most exciting.
Set on an ocean pier, you fly off one ramp and execute tricks before landing on a second ramp.
It’s a shame you’re not actually jumping over anything – that would have been far more exciting.
BMX Airmaster’s graphics are clean and attractive.
Your rider peddles his bike convincingly, and when he reaches a certain altitude, a second screen with clouds shows him in mid-air.
The graphics are minimal, but the mountain and island backdrops are a nice touch.
I also have to give BMX credit for its terrific music. Its edgy, grinding tunes are quite appropriate for a sport of this “extreme” nature.
BMX Airmaster takes time to learn, but if you can make it past the learning curve, you might have a good time with it.
[...] came across a blog run by a retro gamer who likes to profile games from yesteryear. This is a pretty cool [...]
This looks like a fun game. What company designed it? The graphics look like something Activision would great since it’s so colorful.
@Billy: A company called TNT Games created BMX Airmaster.
Because the market wasn’t very good for new video game design companies in the late 1980′s, this was the only game they created for the Atari 2600.
Atari later acquired the rights to the game, but finding an Atari branded version of the game will be unbelievably hard.
The TNT version I have you can find pretty easily if you are interested in getting this game.