Road Rash 3 Remake

Road Rash 3 Remake — v1.0.5 Playtest

This is an entire remake of Road Rash 3 built in Unity 6, with a real 3D world underneath the original-style pixel graphics.

The roads have actual curves, hills, intersections and jumps. Motorcycles, riders, cars and scenery retain their 2D sprite appearance to preserve the Genesis look.

This is not a ROM recompilation or a Genesis emulator. Unity runs newly written gameplay systems. Original sprites, music, sound effects and course data have been extracted and researched to recreate the game’s appearance and behavior. You do not need to supply a ROM to play this build.

Racing and progression

• All seven countries: Brazil, UK, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Australia and Japan.

• Five campaign levels, with country availability changing as you progress.

• Finish in the top three in each of the level’s five required races to advance.

• Qualification wreaths show which races you’ve completed.

• The game automatically suggests a race you still need to qualify in.

• Courses use researched original-game data for race lengths, turns, hills and scenery.

• Opponents fight, overtake, chase and use catch-up behavior. Their performance increases in later levels.

• Previously completed races can be replayed to earn more money.

Combat, crashes and recovery

• Punches, stronger backhands and kicks that shove opponents sideways.

• Clubs, chains, crowbars, cattle prods and throwable oil cans.

• Weapons stay hidden until used. A properly timed counterattack can steal an opponent’s weapon.

• Stolen weapons carry between races.

• Rider stamina recovers between hits. Empty stamina knocks you off rather than immediately ending your game.

• After a stamina knockout, you remount with 25% stamina and can recover to 75%.

• Bikes can coast ahead without their riders, wobble and fall.

• Riders get thrown, slide, become dazed and run back to their motorcycles.

• You can take control while on foot; releasing movement resumes the automatic return.

• Separate motorcycle damage, wrecks and explosions.

The world

• Country-specific backgrounds, skies, buildings, vegetation, traffic, pedestrians and animals.

• Moving traffic and crossing cars at intersections.

• Collisions involving riders, police, vehicles, pedestrians and animals.

• Ramps and hills that launch motorcycles into the air.

• Oil and other road hazards that affect control.

• Destructible signs and roadside posts.

• Motorcycle police with pursuits, sirens and nightstick attacks.

• Collisions remain active after finishing, so crossing the line doesn’t guarantee a graceful stop. Your finishing result still counts.

Motorcycles, upgrades and money

• Fifteen purchasable motorcycles across Rat, Sport and Super Bike categories.

• One owned motorcycle at a time, with trade-in credit toward a replacement.

• Different acceleration, top speed, handling and durability.

• Four upgrade types:

  • Performance: improves acceleration and top speed.

  • Suspension: improves response and stability.

  • Tires: improves grip.

  • Protection: reduces motorcycle crash damage.

• Equipped bikes have limited five-second nitro boosts. The Banzai retains its original no-nitro behavior.

• Race prizes, repair costs and arrest fines.

• Running out of money doesn’t permanently end your campaign—you can keep racing.

Presentation and quality-of-life additions

• Widescreen presentation with a fixed 30 FPS target.

• Proper aspect-ratio borders on ultrawide displays.

• Animated remake intro with synchronized impact sounds.

• Original soundtrack and game sound effects.

• Working rear-view mirrors showing the world and riders behind you.

• Original-style dashboard with speed, tachometer, rolling odometer, race timer, position, bike damage and rider stamina.

• Speed-driven tire animation, launch wheelies, tire smoke and jumping effects.

• Animated menus, blinking map locations and waving country flags.

• Race-ending movies, rider comments and level-clear scenes.

• Automatic saving, New Game and Continue—no passwords.

• Custom player name, motorcycle color and rider outfit color.

• Lifetime statistics for mileage, completed races, hits, wrecks and arrests.

• Controller vibration with an On/Off option.

• Debug cheats for money, level selection and weapon selection.

• The music menu also has an attitude. Repeatedly trying to turn the music off makes it louder before eventually returning it to normal.

Driving controls

Keyboard:

• Up/Down/Left/Right - Steers.

• A - Brake

• S - Accelerate

• D - Attack

• Enter - Pause/Select

Controller:

• RT / R2: Accelerate.

• LT / L2: Brake.

• Left stick / D-pad: Move.

• B / Circle: Normal attack.

• Y / Triangle: Upper-hand attack; hold/release to ready/swing a melee weapon.

• A / Cross: Kick.

• X / Square: Nitro while accelerating, on equipped bikes.

• LB / L1: California Howdy.

• RB / R1: Horn.

• View/Select / Share/Create: Toggle graphics mode—the existing F4 placeholder.

• Up/Down + Attack: Existing upper-hand/kick combinations still work.

• Start/Menu / Options: Pause.

• Menus: A/Cross selects; B/Circle goes back.

Start/Menu/Options also confirms menu selections. Generic USB controllers can be configured through Controller Setup.

Combat and special actions

• Attack: punch when unarmed, or use your current weapon.

• Down + Attack: kick.

• Up + Attack: backhand when unarmed.

• Hold Up + Attack with a melee weapon: ready or swing the weapon in preparation; release to attack.

• Double-tap Accelerate: use nitro on an equipped motorcycle with charges remaining.

• Movement after a crash: walk or run manually. Release movement to return automatically to your bike.

Keyboard controls remain available while a controller is connected. On-screen button prompts follow the active input device.

Keyboard shortcuts

• F1- Show the controls screen

• F2- Hide/show the paused overlay for screenshots; the game stays paused

• F4- Toggle the development art-preview mode

• F5- Open generic USB controller setup

• Alt+Enter or F6 - Toggle fullscreen/windowed mode

• Restart and exit-to-menu are available through the pause menu.

Playtest status

The core campaign is playable, but this remains a work in progress. Balance, collision behavior, animations and original-game accuracy are still being tested.

Future plans include purchasing a dedicated domain, creating a web version with achievements and leaderboards. Also adding an HD mode.

I have tested with an Xbox One and PS5 controller, as well as the Genesis Mini USB controller and have no issues. These are the only ones I've tested with. The PS5 controller should react with rider health, police chases, etc but the LEDs on mine aren't for some reason. Still testing this.

At current, the download is around 150mb and extracts to about 700mb of data. I will work on getting the size down smaller in the future.

Installation

To play, extract the entire build folder and launch RASH3D.exe. Keep all accompanying files together.

"But why is it called RASH3D when its Road Rash 3?" you ask. I don't know. I named the project that in the beginning because the actual game world is 3D, and never changed it lol :)