M-X: Extreme Motocross

M-X: Extreme Motocross is a series of 3D motocross racing games developed by Climax Studios and published by ACS under the ACS Sports label. The series began with the release of its first installment, M-X: Extreme Motocross feat. Travis Pastrana in 2000, and has spawned a number of sequels. The series has been released for several platforms, including the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, XBox, Nintendo Gamecube, Game Boy Color and Game Boy Advance.

All three games in the series are licensed by the AMA Supercross Championship, featuring several AMA Supercross riders at the time as well as racetracks based on actual Supercross events. The game also features various freestyle motorcross riders such as Brian Deegan, "Mad" Mike Jones, Mike Metzger and former series namesake Travis Pastrana.

History
Just like the Total Extreme Sports series, the M-X: Extreme Motocross series is one of the few ACS games to be developed by Western-based game development studios instead of ACS' Japan based studios. The console versions were developed by Climax Studios, while portable entries to the series were developed by HotGen and Full Fat Productions.

The first game in the series to be released is M-X: Extreme Motocross, released in September 20, 2000, and recieved two sequels in 2001 and 2002, which followed the same release schedule.

The last game in the series to be released was M-X³: Extreme Motocross, released in September 15, 2002. ACS was planning a rebranded followup to the series to be released by next year, M-X Fury. The game was stated to be 90% complete when it was unceremoniously cancelled in late 2003.

Gameplay
The game features two main modes of gameplay: "Race" and "Freestyle". Race mode plays like a standard racing game, where the player has to traverse through a given course while racing against various other riders. Meanwhile, Freestyle mode shifts the focus to performing midair tricks, which the player must perform in succession in order to earn points.

The game includes various tricks which are performed during jumps and are best done when the rider goes through a ramp or dirt jump. The game's controls are a combination of racing game-style controls and Tony Hawk-esque trick controls, with the face buttons being used for accelerating, breaking and stunts, while the shoulder buttons are used for trick modifiers, gear shifting and looking behind. Tricks are performed by entering simple direction + face button + modifier commands while the rider is airborne. Failed trick attempts will often result in bailing, which nullifies the player’s score in that combo.

The games feature several real-life motocross riders as playable riders, with the Race and Frestyle modes each having a different set of riders each. The game also includes unlockable riders mostly consisting of token ACS characters.

Game Modes
The games feature a plethora of game modes to choose from, with Supercross tour being the game’s main mode, where the player mus perform various challenges to win cash or medals in order to unlock extra boards, levels or riders.

The Supercross Tour mode is the main mode of the game, where the player participates in the AMA Supercross Championship. The player gets to enter the 250cc Championship or the 125cc Championship. After which, the player gets to participate in a series of races against AI riders. M-X²: Extreme Motocross also adds a Freestyle Tour which features a similar format, but is based more on freestyle competitions.

Other recurring modes include Exhibition, where the player can choose any of the tracks they have unlocked through gameplay for the sake of either practicing the course, having an exhibition race or freestyle competition against AI riders, or set high scores on Freestyle courses, as well as various Multiplayer games that utilize splitscreen multiplayer.

Soundtracks
The M-X: Extreme Motocross series features several licensed songs from different artists and bands. The tracks featured are predominently skate punk tracks, but also feature other genres such as nu metal and electronica.

Main article: M-X: Extreme Motocross/Soundtracks

Titles

 * M-X: Extreme Motocross feat. Travis Pastrana (2000; PlayStation, Dreamcast, Game Boy Color)


 * M-X²: Extreme Motocross (2001; PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance)


 * M-X³: Extreme Motocross (2002; PlayStation 2, XBox, Gamecube, Game Boy Advance)

Trivia

 * Whilst predating the series by months, the game features various parallels to the Total Extreme Sports series, with both titles being games based on an extreme sport, and made by Western developers, as well as featuring a similar soundtrack in terms of genre choices.