Any company that takes it upon themselves to release their older titles as freeware should be commended and celebrated. That is why I am writing this post, separate from The Lost Vikings (another game Blizzard has given away recently). Rock ‘n Roll Racing is a different beast altogether from the puzzle action game that Blizzard just released so it warrants an article all to itself.

For those that do not know their gaming history, Rock ‘n Roll Racing was developed by Silicon & Synapse, later to become Blizzard, for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis. Starting development as a sequel to an earlier title, RPM, that hit the Super Nintendo early on, Rock ‘n Roll Racing is what a sequel should be, better than the original and give the player more intersting things to do in the game while keeping the style similar to the original.

Featuring instrumental versions of many heavy metal hits put Rock ‘n Roll Racing in a class of its own, thanks to Interplay’s licensing department. This focus on background music does make the SNES version edge out the Sega Genesis version for those of you going for a physical copy, though the Genesis version is no slouch.

Here is a track list for those interested in what music was included:

“Paranoid” by Black Sabbath
“The Peter Gunn Theme” by Henry Mancini
“Highway Star” by Deep Purple
“Radar Love” by Golden Earring (only in the Mega Drive/Genesis version)
“Born to Be Wild” by Steppenwolf
“Bad to the Bone” by George Thorogood

Rock ‘n Roll Racing hit the Sega Genesis and Super Nintendo along with a port to the Game Boy Advance. If you want a physical copy, hit Ebay or Game Gavel.  Rock ‘n Roll Racing is free on Blizzard’s Battle.net service where Blizzard has free copies of Blackthorne and The Lost Vikings available.

Carl Williams

It is time gaming journalism takes its rightful place as proper sources and not fanboys giving free advertising. If you wish to support writers like Carl please use the links below. https://www.paypal.me/WCW https://www.patreon.com/CarlWilliams