The long strange story of Motocross Challenge is one that makes this game very unique. Montreal developer DHG took 3 years developing Motocross Challenge only to be told that it would never debut on the Gameboy Advance system.
The reason?
Declining Gameboy Advance sales. So, sadly, despite their effort the game was abandoned.
Not wanting their game to vanish without a trace, DHG decided to give Motocross Challenge away for free as a GBA ROM in 2007.
Numerous Gameboy Advance enthusiasts really enjoyed this game as it offered 10 tracks, a variety of modes, e.g. Beat the Clock, Trick Attack and World Tour in conjunction with 8 unlockable bikes.
However, since it was only available as a downloadable ROM many were left to play this on their PC’s.
Certain homebrew companies took it upon themselves to port this game into a GBA cartridge and packaged it to look exactly like an official GBA release: although it was not. Hence the picture above with a game case, cover and instruction manual. This was done so that more GBA enthusiasts could play the game on their hand held systems and enjoy it on the go.
Motocross Challenge is often compared to the NES classic, “Excite Bike” as it offers a similar, yet more enhanced experience. It uses parallax scrolling and animated backgrounds for a truly immersive and impressive side scrolling racing game.
In 2010 Motocross Challenge was released and sold on the IPhone and IPad Touch for .99 cents. It incurred low to moderate sales but at least it finally found a legitimate home in the hands of gamers.
Although, not a terribly expensive or exceptionally rare title; to find one complete with box and manual is unusual. Many collectors gravitate towards this title because of the unique story behind it. But the best part about it is, it’s a really good game.
