MX 2002 Featuring Ricky Carmichael: 2001
Developer: Tiertex Design Studios
Genre: Racing

The motocross game MX 2002 received a unique adaptation for the Game Boy Advance, with its own selection of tracks and riders, simplified controls and a graphics engine adapted to the capabilities of the handheld platform.

Like the console title, the GBA game features both motocross racing as well as trick-based freestyle competition. Both can be selected in either a full Championship or a Quick Race. Racing is divided into 250cc and 125cc classes, each with its own selection of 16 different professional riders, with Freestyle having another 8 riders. There are 12 racing tracks and 4 freestyle tracks. More racing is available in the US Open mode, which offers a special track not available in the other modes.

Races consist of several heats. The first three in the first and second heat move on straight to the finals, with a third “last chance” heat requiring one to finish first or second to advance to the finals. Freestyle competitions on the other hand involve a two-minute solo run, with the rider with the most points being declared the winner.

The game employs textured-mapped polygonal graphics for the track and 2D bitmaps for the riders, with the camera always behind the player. Controls are relatively simple compared to the console version, with only steering, accelerating and breaking being of importance for races, and slight air control plus pressing shoulder button and D-pad combinations for tricks necessary during freestyle.

The game allows to set dry, wet or random weather, race lengths between two and six laps and also features a tune-up mode, in which tires, muffler, gears, springs and torque tuning can be set before a race. Championship progress is saved via passwords.