A Super Nintendo isometric racing game that stacks up with the best racers on the system.
What Is It? Biker Mice From Mars is a 1994 Super Nintendo racing game from Konami that features the titular mice from the animated TV series of the same name. Players choose their racer, each with their own unique stats and special abilities, and play through a few different game modes including two-player options.
The game features four game modes: main, battle, practice, and vs. Practice and vs. are exactly what you think they are. Battle is the same as main, which I’ll dive into below, except that instead of winning races in the traditional way, you can also win by being the last one standing.
Main mode is a series of five races, each of which has you finishing five laps. Your finishing position will earn you points and money. At the end of five races, the lower half of the six racers will miss the cut, while the top three will move on to the next stage of five. The number of stages depends on the difficulty level you’re on. Money is used at the shop between races to upgrade your ride in four different categories; engine, tires, armor, and shot. Engine makes you go faster, tires give better turning, armor allows you more hits before you crash, and shot provides you with an additional round of ammo. Each of these can be upgraded multiple times over the course of the mode.
The long circuits and upgrades are fun additions, but the actual gameplay is where Biker Mice truly shines. The game is played in an isometric view point which is something that has always sounded more fun that it actually was to me (see: Super Off-Road). Biker Mice pulls it off, however, by giving you plenty of room to move on screen as the screen scrolls with you and navigate through fun course designs. The early tracks are fairly bland, but they get interesting pretty quickly as you advance through the stages. They feature jumps, hazards which slow you down or stop you completely, and some fun turns that feel really great to pull off with the controls.
Beyond the tracks, the game features a number of elements which elevates this above a typical racer. After each lap you will receive one of five special items along with a refill of your shots. The special items range from money (boo! This is what you’ll always get if you’re in first place) to nitro boosts, invincibility stars, an earthquake which will slow down opponents or a time stopper which will freeze everyone but yourself. These, except for the money, are all really fun items with strong strategic uses. Pro Tip: save your strong item for late in the last lap and then pass everyone before they can cheese you to catch up.
Another fun aspect comes with the “shots” each character has. These vary based on which character you pick and range from a standard missile which fires in a straight line to bombs you can drop behind you. The net effect of immobilizing anyone you hit for a few seconds is the same, but it is fun to see some variety. The characters themselves vary wildly as well with a standard mix of racing stats such as speed, acceleration, and turning. Biker Mice takes this to the extreme with Limburger who is truly the worst turning character I’ve ever seen in a racing game; but he sure is fast!
The Best Part: This is a really fun racing game which successfully blends battle-racing with pure, strategic laps around the tracks. The power slide and jump-boost actions really add some nice racing depth to what could have been a fairly bland racing experience. Smooth controls are the vital icing on the cake, the driving in this game feels fun. The battle mode doubles down on the action side of things by allowing you to win via knockout instead of by finishing the race. Battle mode is the most fun two player mode here, in my opinion.
The Worst Part: The main mode is a potentially long affair spanning five rounds of five courses each with five laps. The courses are fairly small, at least, and the game does provide you with a password to resume after each of the rounds ends. However, if you aren’t winning races early, you will certainly fall behind on your upgrades and run into a brick wall at some point where you are simply overmatched by the other vehicles. You are only required to finish in the top three of a round to advance to the next group of races, but if you are actually finishing third or fourth most races, with an occasional second or first, you will feel like you’re driving in mud compared to the competition a few rounds in.
The Verdict: Biker Mice From Mars is far better than I had hoped. And this is from somebody who paid a near-retail price on the cartridge in 2026 (thanks for the ding-and-dent discount!) I played a lot of Super Off-Road growing up and tried it again last year, but I could never get over the jankiness of the racing and the random bumps and jumps your vehicle would take. Biker Mice takes a similar isometric approach (not to mention the upgrades) but rounds it out with strong, fun racing mechanics and a silly, but fun, attack system on top.
Is it worth the current asking price? Objectively; no, not even close. Will I enjoy keeping it in my collection and inevitably pop it in the SNES once or twice a year for a few hours of great racing fun? Absolutely.
Biker Mice From Mars instantly entered the conversation for my personal favorite racing game on the Super Nintendo. Mario Kart is certainly more nostalgic but I have no interest in actually playing it today over the later versions in that series. F-Zero remains as the only true competition in my book.
For an isometric racing game based on a mostly forgotten cartoon, Biker Mice From Mars goes well beyond expectations and delivers a truly fun racing experience that holds up today.
How to Play: Super Nintendo*
*console played on for this review
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