Motor Kings: Hyperdrive

Motor Kings: Hyperdrive is a motorcycle racing game published and developed by Ultima Games. It is the third game in the Motor Kings franchise, following 2018's Motor Kings: Full Blast. It was released for the Nintendo Switch in Summer 2023, with a Steam port set to release in December the same year.

Summary
While the core gameplay is largely the same as in Motor Kings: Full Blast, the presentation has been overhauled tremendously. For one, up to thirty racers can now be on the track at once, much like in F-Zero X and GX. As a result, items have been removed from this installment as it would be too chaotic than the hardware would be able to handle.

The speed boost gauge makes a return, though now you can do manual boosts after finishing the first lap of a race. Prolonged successful drifts also grant a short boost of speed. In addition, a new gauge, known as the health gauge, has been added. Pit strips are scattered in certain areas of the track to fill it up, but now your motorcycle can only sustain so much damage before it gets destroyed, using up one of a fixed number of lives in the Grand Prix. Speaking of which, placing first at the end of a Grand Prix cup now offers an interview with your player character.

A new game mode is introduced in Death Race, which replaces Battle Mode. How Death Race works is the same as a regular race, except now, the last five racers to not cross the goal line after a lap have their motorcycles destroyed, and it keeps going like this until only one racer remains.

Characters
Every one of the thirty racers from Motor Kings: Full Blast return, with the eight characters from the first game available from the start. All the other racers can be purchased in the shop via points earned throughout different modes. In addition, ten more racers make their debut as secret characters that can only be unlocked via fulfilling certain conditions in story mode.


 * Xavier- A teenager who longs to be the world's best motorcyclist. He has orange spiky hair, and wears a proper motocross outfit.

Speed- *** Drift- **** Power- *** Weight- *** Handling- ****


 * Kelly- An Australian-born tomboy who befriends Xavier. She has short and dirty red hair and wears a jeans vest, a red bra, very short jeans, and cowboy boots.

Speed- ***** Drift- *** Power- ** Weight- ** Handling- *


 * Colonel- An commanding officer in the town's military. He has grey hair in a crew cut fashion and wears a tank top, camo pants, and combat boots.

Speed- ** Drift- ** Power- ***** Weight- **** Handling- ***


 * Arson- A pimp who likes to ride his lady friends around on his precious "Babe Magnet" motorcycle. He is a bald African-American man and wears a black sweat jacket, baggy jeans, several gold chains, and basketball sneakers.

Speed- **** Drift- ***** Power- *** Weight- *** Handling- ****


 * Kandy- A hooker who recently gained interest in Xavier for some strange reason. She has blond, long hair and wears a bikini top, blue jeans, and is barefoot.

Speed- *** Drift- **** Power- * Weight- * Handling- *****


 * Louie- An Italian mobster who has a connection with Xavier's father. He has a sort of Elvis-style haircut and is dressed in a black leather jacket, a white T-shirt, black dress pants, and loafers.

Speed- **** Drift- ** Power- *** Weight- ***** Handling- ***


 * Doug- A Swiss-born gymnast who spends his public time in his favorite motorcycle. He has a ponytail, is shirtless, and wears women's pants and Vans-style sneakers.

Speed- ** Drift- *** Power- * Weight- *** Handling- **


 * Shawna- An up-and-coming female Latina rapper whose prized possession is the motorcycle her record label bought for her. She has braids that go into a short ponytail over her backwards cap, has a small gold chain, and wears an open white jacket exposing a low cut pink T-shirt, faded black jeans, and black sneakers.

Speed- **** Drift- ** Power- ** Weight- * Handling- *****


 * Jose- A Mexican-born man who works a Mariachi band. He sports a stereotypical Mexican 'stache, short black hair under his sombrero, a black mariachi jacket with matching pants, a white shirt, a white ascot tie, and black loafers.

Speed- *** Drift- **** Power- ** Weight- ** Handling- ***


 * Francis- A zombie-like individual who is actually the failed experiment of a mad scientist. He has decaying green skin, stitches all over his body (which are prominent on his bare torso), green shorts, and is barefoot.

Speed- ***** Drift- **** Power- *** Weight- **** Handling- **


 * Holly- An accomplished female motocross racer. She has neck length brown hair, a black and dark red motocross outfit with a design on the front of the shirt, and black boots. Crossover character from the Heavy Hitters series.

Speed- ***** Drift- *** Power- ** Weight- *** Handling- ***


 * Tiburon- A narcissistic motorcycle racer with a weird and familiar shark motif. He has a Shark head-shaped helmet, red sunglasses, a yellow motocross outfit, and red gloves with matching boots.

Speed- *** Drift- * Power- **** Weight- *** Handling- **


 * Barksie- An overgrown bipedal dog-man. He has very prickly light brown fur and his face resembles a poodle's.

Speed- ** Drift- * Power- **** Weight- ***** Handling- *


 * Victor- An old mad scientist who usually lives in seclusion. He is a bald man with a small grey goatee who wears bifocals, a long white coat, pink gloves, black pants, and white boots.

Speed- *** Drift- **** Power- * Weight- ** Handling- ****


 * Alaina- A sweet pre-teen girl with an obsession with all things fast and furious. She has long blonde hair, a light green blouse, a tan skirt, and white velcro strap sandals. It's important to note that she isn't as tall as many other characters.

Speed- ***** Drift- ***** Power- * Weight- * Handling- *


 * Willie- A man who works as the mascot for a burger chain and loves wearing the costume. He is playable wearing said costume, which is modeled after an obese purple-skinned cartoon character with a head the shape of the poop emoji whose face is constantly smiling, wears a small vest, white shorts, and yellow boots and gloves.

Speed- * Drift- *** Power- **** Weight- *** Handling- **


 * Flasha- A motley and extravagantly dressed DJ who acts... rather eccentric. He is an African-American male dressed in an oversized king's crown, star-based sunglasses, a purple fur coat, red shirt, baggy clown pants, and basketball sneakers. He also has a large chain with its charm being the symbol for males.

Speed- **** Drift- *** Power- * Weight- * Handling- ***


 * Baxter- A Southerner set in his unabashed views against progressive ideas. He is bald with a long, light brown beard, is shirtless showing off his Confederate tattoo, and wears green jeans with black boots.

Speed- ** Drift- ***** Power- ***** Weight- **** Handling- ***


 * Dandy- A slightly overweight millionaire concerned for only his own needs. He has coiffed blonde hair, a dark blue blazer, matching track pants, and sneakers. His skin is also a light tan pigment.

Speed- * Drift- *** Power- ** Weight- ***** Handling- *


 * Minx- An overly serious and seemingly emotionless female Russian spy. She has long black hair and wears a purple catsuit with her cleavage exposed.

Speed- **** Drift- *** Power- *** Weight- ** Handling- *****


 * Vlad- An emo young man. He has very pale skin and has black hair, a black sweater, black jeans, and dark blue sneakers. He also wears black eyeliner and black lipstick.

Speed- *** Drift- * Power- * Weight- ** Handling- *****


 * Subsidyz- A robotic organism with a secret, yet untapped desire to destroy mankind. He has a head like an old computer and a has a chrome-materialized human body with spheres for shoulders/knees.

Speed- **** Drift- ***** Power- *** Weight- ***** Handling- ***


 * Seed- A mysterious plant-based creature. He has a body of a cactus with cactus arms, sunflowers for feet, and a pumpkin head.

Speed- *** Drift- ** Power- *** Weight- * Handling- ****


 * Mabel- A rough and rowdy cowgirl. She has a cowgirl hat covering her dark brown hair with pigtails, a red plaid shirt, blue jeans that roll up to her thighs, and black combat boots.

Speed- **** Drift- ** Power- * Weight- *** Handling- ****


 * Max- An Asian-American tech genius. He has ruffled black hair, black rimmed eyeglasses, and wears a white collared shirt, tan khaki pants, and black shoes.

Speed- *** Drift- *** Power- *** Weight- *** Handling- ***


 * Teddy- An overgrown teddy bear. He has a light tan head with matching ears (one of which is bitten half off) and arms and a brown body and legs. Crossover character to promote Ultima Heroine Battle.

Speed- ** Drift- **** Power- *** Weight- * Handling- **


 * Webster- A dark green skinned alien from a distant planet. He has a head whose tip stretches back similarly to Kami from Dragon Ball, shoulder pads that double as a short cape, wears white pants and boots, and is shirtless.

Speed- **** Drift- ** Power- ** Weight- *** Handling- ****


 * Catarina- A quirky frontwoman for a punk rock band. She has short black hair that is dyed red at the bangs, pink lipstick, and wears a black shirt with a white star at the front cut off at the waist, a jean skirt, lace stockings, and black spiked boots.

Speed- ***** Drift- *** Power- * Weight- ** Handling- ***


 * Citrus- A salty sea pirate from a faraway country. He is a dark tanned skinned man with peanut colored hair, a black headband, and wears a tank top, baggy black pants, has a sword sheathed to his waist, and is barefoot.

Speed- *** Drift- ** Power- * Weight- *** Handling- *


 * Nexus- A shady individual who many suspect is actually an evil man. He has white hair that meets up to a point, a scar under his left eye, and wears a red and black long sleeved shirt that is a mix between spandex and a business jacket, red pants, and black boots.

Speed- ***** Drift- *** Power- ***** Weight- **** Handling- *


 * Mahlyn- A tortured soul from hell stuck in a battered young woman’s body. She has long black hair, thick black mascara that is running down her eyes as if she cried, and wears an oversized red sweater, black sweatpants, and white and black sneakers.

Speed- *** Drift- ** Power- *** Weight- *** Handling- ****


 * Verxia- An evil clone of Xavier created by Nexus. His skin is paler than Xavier's, his eyes are black with red pupils, has red spiky hair, and wears a black leather jacket over a white t-shirt (the back of the jacket is plastered with a bloody fist holding a chain as flames surround it), blue jeans, and black spiked boots.

Speed- *** Drift- *** Power- **** Weight- **** Handling- ***


 * Boomba- A lumbering but dumb golem in the guidance of the tiny yet smart Vex. Boomba has a simian-esque face with black eyes, has spikes protruding from his forearms, sports a chised six-pack, wears black briefs, and his feet have no discernable details due to his body being made of stone. Vex is roughly the size of a Hot Wheels car and has green skin, pointed ears, a rounded orange dog-like nose, has only a tuft of white hairs in the middle of his forehead that curl up like a paintbrush, and sports a red vest, plain white shirt, blue pants, and black slippers.

Speed- ** Drift- ***** Power- ***** Weight- **** Handling- **


 * Shapow- An energetic showman with a cocky persona. He sports a black top hat over his slicked back brown hair (clearly shining with hair gel) and sports a shinmering gold and purple suit complete with striped coatail jacket, brown vest, white shirt, silver bowtie, striped pants, and white shoes, and carries a wood tap dancing cane with a red diamond at the top.

Speed- **** Drift- *** Power- ** Weight- *** Handling- ****


 * Dani- An obese young woman who works as a comedian. She has short brown hair, freckles, and wears a floral collared shirt, khaki shorts, long white socks, and white and blue running sneakers.

Speed- *** Drift- * Power- **** Weight- **** Handling- ***


 * Troy- A seemingly normal taxi driver with a second job as a spy. He has a bit of a slight tan on his skin, sports a buzzcut, and wears a grey open tuxedo coat over a light grey tank top that shows hints of his muscular body, black pants, and blue sneakers.

Speed- **** Drift- ** Power- *** Weight- ** Handling- ****


 * Wiltin- A demolition expert with more than a few screws loose. He has messy, dirty blonde hair, has streaks of black war paint streamed down his face like claw marks, is shirtless save for a sash of bullets, and wears green camo pants and is barefoot.

Speed- ***** Drift- *** Power- ** Weight- * Handling- *****


 * Brothworst- A living, breathing, walking human sized sausage. He is beet red in color, and he sports black gloves and green/black boots.

Speed- *** Drift- ** Power- **** Weight- *** Handling- **


 * Lillian- A wandering adventurer from a far away land. She sports dark blonde hair with a long tuft at the front (her roots and the tip of the tuft are dyed white), a slight blush on her cheeks, wears a blue jeans jacket over a white t-shirt, blue sweatpants, and tan fancy sandals. Crossover character based on an OC of mine created from Jump Force's CaC.

Speed- *** Drift- **** Power- ** Weight- ** Handling- **


 * Tasmia- A sinister, demonic entity who appears to have grand plans for ultimate domination. In human form, he is a dark skinned muscular man with long blonde hair in a ponytail, a white suit outfit with gold buttons, a red tie, and black shoes. In his playable demon form, his skin is orangish-red, sports blood red eyes, devil wings, long white flowing hair, is shirtless revealing white markings on his muscular body, wears only a belt over his scaly legs and groin (which is pitch black with no discernible private area), and his finger and toe nails are sharp and black.

Speed- ***** Drift- ** Power- ***** Weight- *** Handling- ****

Courses
There are now five courses in a given cup. Otherwise, you can still choose between three difficulties at the start: Easy, Normal, or Hard. Completing the first three cups on Normal or Hard Mode unlocks the Galactic Cup, the completion of which unlocks Master Difficulty. Replacing the Random Cup from Full Blast is the arcade-inspired Champion Cup upon winning the first four cups on Master. Completing the Champion Cup unlocks a separate, secret track that takes place in a familiar setting.

Wheelie Cup

 * Tungsten Arena: Welcome Party
 * Lucky Tavern: Slot Chaser
 * Sandy Terrain: Cooling Cave
 * Lightning Field: Splitting Forks
 * Shopping District: Billboards

Chain Cup

 * Hydro Zone: Drift River
 * Motor Parade: Big Dive
 * Greenhouse: Deceptive Mobius
 * Motor Parade: Speed Pipe
 * Tungsten Arena: Bounce Trap

Skid Mark Cup

 * Volcanic Center: Magma Tube
 * Greenhouse: Bio Dome
 * Lucky Tavern: Pathfinder
 * Lightning Field: Rollercoaster
 * Hydro Zone: Sonic Splash

Galactic Cup

 * Commando Shuttle: Plasma Blast
 * Sandy Terrain: Gravity Screw
 * Volcanic Center: Eruption
 * Shopping District: Way Beyond
 * Digital World: Masochism

Champion Cup

 * Shopping District: Speedy Checkout
 * Commando Shuttle: Blastoff
 * Motor Parade: Parade Floats
 * Lightning Field: Cloud Chaser
 * Greenhouse: Green Thumb

Secret Track

 * Dessert Island: Sweet Strip

Game Modes

 * Grand Prix
 * Time Trials
 * Single Race
 * Online
 * Story
 * Death Race
 * Shop
 * Options
 * Racer Profiles