Retro Recap: Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX

Would you have ever thought I would write about a bicycle based game? If you thought no, then you’d be wrong. Today’s Retro Recap is another one of my favorite games from my youth, Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX!

As far as this game goes, it plays exactly like a Tony Hawks game (an old school one like Pro Skater) whereby you hit those ramps and mash various combinations of the square and circle buttons whilst holding one of the shoulder buttons for rotation. It even included various challenges like the Tony Hawks games did, but what made this any different from them? Honestly, not a lot, but that’s not a bad thing. The Pro Skater series was very fun and so were the Dave Mirra titles, with the main difference being, of course, the use of Bikes rather than Skateboards.

As far as the main career mode goes, it follows the format of mid to late 90’s extreme sports titles of completing set challenges. Named Proquest, each level started off with beginner challenges, then moving onto advanced, then expert challenges. At certain intervals, a competition mode arises whereby you face off against AI characters in order to achieve the best possible rankings in the leaderboard. One of the reasons why I enjoyed playing this game is how simple, yet engaging it is. Many an hour has been accidentally spent completing challenges and moving onto each of the other levels and striving for perfection. It’s amazing how a game can be put on for 10 minutes, only for you to be on it 3 hours later.

I’m running out of ways to say here are some fun facts about the Dave Mirra series:

• BMX XXX was originally meant to be the 3^rd installment to the Dave Mirra series, however, it got rebranded when Mirra filed a lawsuit stating that the game damaged his reputation
• Upon completing the game with certain characters, special modes become available such as Exorcist and Night Vision Modes
• You can also unlock an Amish boy character and the Slim Jim guy as playable characters

A multiplayer mode did exist within this game, however in its most primitive form. A series of face-offs between you and a friend, taking it in turns to complete the objective which you picked. The major downside was no split screen play, like its rival games. It was down to the trust you and your friend had to pass the controller back and forth without crashing them into a wall first and wasting their time. That was unless you were playing the best multiplayer game mode around – Wipeout. The objective was simple, utilising the hilarious ragdoll physics this game provided, you crash your character as hard and as devastating as possible in order to rack up the most points. The main thing I can say about this game mode is that it was always strangely satisfying.

Oh, and what would an entertaining game such as this be without its soundtrack? I’ll just list it here and you can make up your own mind for a change, although it can only be a positive, right?

Did you play Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX as a kid? Have you played it recently? Let us know what you think of this choice of Retro Recap in the comments section below!