#30: Stunt Car Racer (MicroStyle, C64, 1989)

Your turbo is limited and worth conserving for when it counts most. You face only one opponent a race, but there are points on offer for fastest lap as well as victory, meaning an incentive to carry on going even if you get hopelessly behind. It’s not always best to go flat out, though, because the car accumulates damage which lasts across races, represented by an ominous crack in the bodywork which snakes along further with each wince-inducing hit. It’s difficult, but fair. And as well as offering a compelling racing experience, the extent to which Stunt Car Racer gets you concentrating on the fine details of navigating the bumps in the road ahead also leads to another effect.

See, after a while, the extreme aspects of its concept to start to seem… not dull, but a little mundane. Taking racing on tracks called things like “The High Jump” and “The Stepping Stones” and making it appear serious and routine gives Stunt Car Racer an added edge: it’s the deepest, best executed satire we’ll encounter for a while. It doesn’t confront the question of danger entirely head on (and I don’t know if ending seasons prematurely with a message about your character’s death would quite have worked) but it gets pointedly close as you get used to ridiculous risks. Is this so different from what you’re already watching? Isn’t this what you want? it asks, with every crunching impact. Why not just admit it?