Memorable Game Soundtracks: Road Blaster / Road Avenger / Road Prosecutor (Sega CD)

Nowadays the Sega CD is remembered for all the wrong reasons. Whether it's Night Trap getting its own hearings on the floor of the US Senate, or Digital Pictures' ahead-of-its-time-but-still-oh-god-why awful attempt at bridging the gap between movies and video games, the console was an expensive add-on with limited developer support and far too few killer apps to compete with upcoming CD-based games. Unless you were one of the few kids who talked your parents into plopping down the three hundred dollars for the system as a birthday or holiday gift, or you're a retro collector with a penchant for Sega's single-speed entry into the multimedia market, you would be hard-pressed to name even one truly incredible achievement for the console. Like much of the 32X library, Sega CD's offerings are little more than an afterthought in a world where Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft all beat the pants off Sega with their own optical-drive-based offerings.

I never had a Sega CD growing up, but I added one to my collection in 2000, and I've since added a slew of titles to my limited collection. One of the things the Sega CD did really well was home-based versions of laserdisc-based arcade titles. The sound and video weren't quite as clear, but unless you were willing to plunk down serious cash for Pioneer's LaserActive, this was the closest way a gamer had to experience titles like Space Ace, Time Gal, and my personal favorite, Road Avenger (also known as Road Blaster or Road Prosecutor depending on what area of the world you live in).

The funny thing is, anyone who's ever played Road Avenger knows the gameplay is identical to other reflex-based FMV titles: a continuous animation plays in the background, while commands flash quickly on the foreground. If a player hits the proper button or direction on the controller, the animation continues. If they aren't quick enough, the FMV switches to a scene depicting something awful happening to the protagonist. If you have lives left, the loop starts again and you get another chance to get it right. If you're out of chances, it's game over. So simple even a kid could do it.

But Road Avenger isn't remembered fondly for its gameplay, its story, the quality of its animation, or even its insane box art (although that Mad Max inspiration is hard to beat). Gamers remember Road Avenger because of its badass opening theme performed by Japanese rock band J-WALK (skip ahead to 0:21 to get started):

While the lyrics can be hard to understand, as they were sung phonetically in English by lead vocalist Mabuchi Hidemasa, there's no denying the power of that hard-driving bass line and the emotion of the words placed against an opening vignette that tells the whole story without using a single word of spoken dialogue. No matter how many reasons you need to own Road Avenger, that theme song provides approximately all of them.

For those who are curious, the Japanese version was also performed by J-WALK, but with Japanese lyrics. The English version isn't a direct translation of the Japanese original, and Hidemasa is clearly more comfortable singing in his native language, so this makes for a fascinating contrast for people who grew up only familiar with the first video. (Once again, skip ahead to the 0:15 mark to bypass the Wolfteam intro).

There are arguably better Sega CD games in my collection, given Road Avenger's simplistic design, but that two and a half minute opening sequence made an otherwise mediocre game a must-own. It's a prized part of my collection, because there are so many memories tied up in that tune. I'm also not the only one who feels this way. Even now, some twenty-odd years after the game's home console release, this song inspires others to feats of creativity. Consider this epic metal guitar cover by YouTuber AskeGuitar:

Or how about this insanely awesome piano cover by YouTuber art88tum:

Maybe you're more impressed by one-man-band Michael Atlan's all-instruments and vocal cover:

Or how about this guy, who took the "Road Avenger is totally Mad Max" idea to its logical conclusion, and dubbed footage from the film over J-WALK's performance:

Even the jokesters behind the "Game Sack" YouTube channel got in on the fun half a dozen years ago, with a hilarious misheard lyrics video:

One last thing you should know. This song is ferocious. I had to remove it from my MP3 player because it was killing its way up my workout playlist one song at a time. After a single listen you're apt to have it stuck in your brain for the next, oh, thirty years or so. Gee...maybe I should have put an earworm disclaimer at the start of the article, before all the different opportunities to listen to it.

My bad.

Look on the bright side though: the next thirty years are gonna be metal as hell!