Road Avenger
Road Avenger: SCD Arcade
Road Avenger is a full-motion video driving combat game that originally hit the SEGA CD in 1992 in Japan, followed by a North American release not long after. It's essentially a port of the 1985 arcade laserdisc game Road Blaster, adapted for Sega's CD add-on. The genre blends arcade action with interactive movie elements, putting you behind the wheel of a souped-up car during a post-apocalyptic chase. Sega published it, and while the developer isn't widely documented, the game is a faithful console take on the coin-op original.
You control a car racing down a highway while shooting at enemy vehicles and dodging obstacles like roadblocks and oncoming traffic. The backgrounds are pre-recorded FMV footage, with your car and enemies rendered as sprites overlaid on top. At certain junctions, you can choose which lane to take, leading to different scenes and branching paths. The core loop is simple: react quickly to threats, blast anything that moves, and keep the car on the road to survive until the next chapter.
Today, Road Avenger stands as a fun time capsule of early CD-based gaming. It's not deep or refined, but the mixture of cheesy 80s action movie aesthetics and the novelty of FMV makes it a memorable piece of SEGA CD history. Compared to other arcade ports on the system, it's one of the few that tries to replicate the feel of a laserdisc game, and it pulls it off well enough to be worth a quick session for retro enthusiasts.
How to Play Road Avenger Online
When you boot up Road Avenger, you're immediately thrown onto the highway. Use the arrow keys to steer left and right, and press Up to accelerate or Down to brake. The A button (X) fires your weapon, while the B button (S) might trigger a dash or defend - the manual tends to be light on details, but experimentation helps. Your goal is to survive each stage by destroying enemy cars, avoiding obstacles, and making lane choices at branching points.
The game plays out in short chapters, each ending with a boss fight or a dramatic scene. Pay attention to on-screen prompts that tell you when to shoot or dodge. Since the backgrounds are pre-recorded video, timing is critical: react a split second before obstacles appear. If your car takes too much damage, it's game over and you'll have to restart from the beginning of the chapter. There's no save system, so be ready for old-school arcade difficulty.
The pathways you take can alter the order of stages, but the core gameplay remains the same. If you're stuck on a particular section, try memorizing the pattern of enemies and obstacles. The US version has English text, so menus are straightforward; the Japanese version uses kanji, but the options are limited to starting a new game and continuing after a lose, so navigation is still easy enough.
Road Avenger Keyboard Controls
Controls
- Arrow Keys: D-Pad / Movement
- X: A button
- S: B button
- Z: C button
- A: X button (6-button pad)
- Q: Y button (6-button pad)
- E: Z button (6-button pad)
- Enter: Start / Mode
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