Review #766: Motocross Maniacs Advance

 She's a maniac, maniac!

 Man, Konami was really betting it on the Gameboy Advance back in the day, they developed a ton of games for the little handheld that could. Case in point, Motocross Maniacs Advance, another game I used to play through Emulation, although I never invested much time on it. This game is kinda weird to be honest, it's a horizontal 2-D racing game over all sorts of crazy tracks with multiple routes and levels with a bit of Mario Kart throw in for good measure.

 The game has four main modes: Championship, made up of six different Cups, although with a few repeated tracks between them. Attack Mode, made up of Time Attack and Point Attack. Action Mode, the minigame sub menu which has Bomb Tag, which works like Konami Krazy Racer's bomb chaser, basically, an elimination round in which you must pass a bomb between racers and whoever has it when the timer runs out loses, rinse and repeat until there's a single survivor, Hidden Lab, in which you run on a conveyor belt avoiding obstacles and gathering coins, pretty boring, and Zombie, in which you must use Nitros to defeat monsters. Lastly, there's multiplayer via link cable. There are 13 different tracks as well as 8 racers, with 2 secret racers unlocked by finishing every Cup.

 A is your accelerator, and you can hold back on the dpad in order to perform wheelies or tricks while on air, B is your Nitro, which is a key mechanic in the game in order to gain air and access to other routes aside from the one at ground level. R is your break and L uses whatever item you've got on stock, from missiles and mines, to shields and thunders. There are two elements you must keep track of at every time: Your Nitros and your fuel, both which can be collected on the track alongside your items. Running out of gas loses you the race, and running out of Nitro, well, sucks, because you won't be able to drive swiftly over certain obstacles or reach other routes. Items always spawn at set locations, so as long as you learn where the Nitros and Fuel cans are on the course you should be just fine.

 The game is fine for a short while, but there's not much meat to these bones, once you beat every cup and unlock the bonus racers there's little to keep you coming back for more unless you've got other humans to play the game with. It's over before you know it, but at least it's fun while it lasts.
 6.5 out of 10