Motocross Championship is a motocross racing game for the Sega 32X developed by Artech Studios and published by Sega. First released in the United States in January 1995[1], it was later brought to Europe, Brazil, and Australia in the following months.[3]
The game is a racing game based on the sport of motocross. Players compete in three motorbike classes across twelve indoor and outdoor tracks. The game uses a perspective from behind the biker. Every race has 12 competitors and consists of 4 laps. There are 12 courses in the game, which are littered with obstacles, such as mud puddles, jumps, and whoop-dee-doos (series of bumps). Like motocross, the courses are hilly, and riders bounce and slide. Various stunts can be performed, such as wheelies, speed slides, and acrobatics.
The bike turns with and . It accelerates with and brakes with . The biker can lean forward over the handlebars by holding , which lowers air resistance and increases speed. However, leaning forward when landing from a jump causes the front wheel to land first, causing the biker to wipe out. The biker can pull back on the handlebars by holding , which pops a wheelie, decreasing speed but helping to clear jumps. While in the air, the player can do two stunts, "stepping off" the peg by tapping and then holding or "power saluting" by tapping and then holding .
The biker can punch other bikers while passing them with or kick with +. Ramming another biker's back wheel causes his bike to wobble and lose turning control; hitting another biker's front wheel causes him to fly over the handlebars.
The game has a Practice Mode, where players play a single race on any bike and any course, and a Season Mode that comprises 36 races (3 rounds on all 12 tracks). Players earn cash for winning races in Season Mode, with the winner being the racer with the most money at the end. The player must place in at least third to advance to the next race in Season Mode. A password system is used to save progress. There are three difficulty levels for computer-controlled competitors (Amateur, Expert, and Pro). Either mode can be played with one or two players (in split screen).
Bikes
Players are given the option of one of three bikes to drive.
125 cc
250 cc
Super Bike
Tracks
Track 1
Track 2
Track 3
Track 4
Track 5
Track 6
Track 7
Track 8
Track 9
Track 10
Track 11
Track 12
History
Development
Artech Studios had ordered two Sega 32X development hardware prototypes from Sega of Japan for developing games for the upcoming 32-bit system. Unfortunately, one of the two prototypes was irreparably damaged during shipping (possibly due to the hardware's size - about as large as a mini fridge), forcing Artech to develop Motocross Championship on the remaining unit. Due to this obvious detriment to the game's development schedule, a Windows PC version was produced to assist in the addition of new graphics and testing of gameplay before the final release was published.[5]
The final ROM contains remainders of the PC version's source code, which led to speculation concerning a possible home computer port.[6] However, in April 2022 lead programmer Alexander G. M. Smith confirmed through a Sega Retro discussion post that this version was intended solely for internal development[5] (although the company would later develop the Windows PC game Corel Moto Extreme for publisher Corel using many of the same techniques and experience).
During development, the game went by the name Super Motocross.
and 
. It accelerates with 
and brakes with 
. The biker can lean forward over the handlebars by holding 
, which lowers air resistance and increases speed. However, leaning forward when landing from a jump causes the front wheel to land first, causing the biker to wipe out. The biker can pull back on the handlebars by holding 
, which pops a wheelie, decreasing speed but helping to clear jumps. While in the air, the player can do two stunts, "stepping off" the peg by tapping 
or kick with 
