Riding Hero

Riding Hero (ライディングヒーロー) is an arcade motorcycle racing video game developed and released by SNK. Originally developed for the Neo Geo hardware family, it has since been released in other platforms. The game is notable for being the directorial debut of Hiroshi Matsumoto. It was the first Neo Geo game that used the multi-link function that allowed two systems to be connected for LAN play. The promotional art was drawn by Shinkiro.

Gameplay
Riding Hero has three modes: W.G.P Mode, Story Mode and Multi-Play. The first two are for single player. W.G.P Mode (World Grand Prix Mode) has the player compete against CPU opponents after choosing a rider and a motorcycle with the objective of racing in ten circuits in order to win the Grand Prix. Multi-Play allows two players in linked systems to compete against each other.

Story Mode is an interactive mode patterned like an RPG. The players explore different locations, speaks with different characters and makes several decisions that affect the outcome of the game. For example, the player starts challenging several characters in order to win money by betting and beating them in one-on-one races. With the earnings, the player can improve the motorcycle. By talking to characters in different locations, the player is able to access different races and challenges.

Releases
Riding Hero was released on the NeoGeo MVS on 1990-07-24, while the home version for the NeoGeo AES was released on 1991-07-01. With the launch of the Neo Geo CD on 1994, a CD version of Riding Hero was released on 1995-05-26.

While several SNK collections had been released over the years, it wasn't until Hamster picked up the rights of the game that Riding Hero was re-released in its original arcade version as part of Hamster's ACA NeoGeo line on 2018-06-07 for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. For unknown reasons, the North American PS4 version was released months later on 2019-02-05.

Critical Reception
In North America, it was the top-grossing new video game on the RePlay arcade charts in November 1990. RePlay later reported Riding Hero to be the fifteenth most-popular arcade game in January 1991.

The game had some notable issues, the most common being how easy it was for the AI to put the player in a spin often times unrecoverable. The vehicle movement was too predictable and bike itself ran choppy and the braking was very weak.

Riding Hero was received with a mostly mixed reception from critics and reviewers since its original release.

Legacy
Although Riding Hero never received a sequel or a spiritual successor of sorts, its LAN play feature would be re-used in SNK's own League Bowling and Alpha Denshi's Thrash Rally, the first of which allowed up to four or eight people for multiplayer

Staff

 * Producer: Eikichi Kawasaki
 * Director: Hiroshi Matsumoto
 * Programmer: H.Deep.T
 * Music: Yasumasa Yamada
 * Sound effects: Yoshihiko Kitamura
 * Character design: Koichi Sakita, Takurin.K, Kimie.M, Masayo.S
 * Special thanks: Kura, Masapee.K, Pao-Pao, Mr.Noric, Takayuki Matsuyama, Cock-A-Doodle-Doo