1990 · Ocean · Racing

Burnin' Rubber

Burnin' Rubber, a GX4000/CPC plus launch/bundle title (and one of the few exclusives for the range), is an arcade-style racing game, much inspired by the developers' earlier WEC Le Mans.

Released: 1 September 1990
Platforms: Amstrad GX4000 Amstrad CPC
Genres: Racing
Developers: Ocean
Publishers: Amstrad PLC
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: Third person
Themes: Non-fiction

About

Bump 'n' Jump, also known in Japan as Burnin' Rubber, is a 1982 vehicular combat video game developed and published by Data East for arcades. Released in North America by Bally Midway, the arcade version was available as both a dedicated board and as part of Data East's DECO Cassette System. The goal is to drive to the end of a course while knocking enemy vehicles into the sides of the track and jumping over large obstacles like bodies of water.

The arcade game was a commercial success in Japan and North America. It was ported to the Atari 2600, Intellivision, ColecoVision, Nintendo Entertainment System, and Sharp X1. The Famicom version of Burnin' Rubber was published as Buggy Popper (バギー・ポッパー, Bagī Poppā) in Japan in October 1986.

Keywords

cars
street racing

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The enemy vehicles are cars and trucks. Cars can be bumped into obstacles or jumped upon and destroyed. Trucks cannot be bumped and can only be jumped upon to destroy them and will sometimes drop debris that the player has to avoid. Players get points for bumping other cars and causing them to crash.

At the end of each level, players receive 300 points on level 1, and then add 100 each level per enemy vehicle crashed, but making it through the level without wrecking any vehicles results in a special bonus of 50,000 points. Going from one level to another is characterised by a change of seasons.

Reception

In Japan, Burnin' Rubber was the ninth highest-grossing arcade game of 1982. In the United States, Bump 'n' Jump was among the thirteen highest-grossing arcade games of 1983.

Legacy

In 1996, Next Generation listed it as number 65 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time", lauding the innovative jumping and bumping mechanics, the variety of cars, and the strong sensation of speed and tension.

The arcade version was made available on the PlayStation Portable in North America by G1M2 with its original title. The game also appears on the Data East Arcade Classics compilation with its original name.