Inexplicable Motorcycle Stage
An odd and sometimes annoying phenomena of late 80's and early-to-mid 90's action games - a special sequence in which the main character(s) hop on board a motorbike or reasonable equivalent and do battle with the enemy/go somewhere to do battle with the enemy. These stages are most often once-per-game occurences that appear primarily in brawlers, although they can be seen in all manner of places - including Final Fantasy VII.
In the typical inexplicable motorcycle stage, the main character is racing along a road while pursuing or being pursued by various enemies. In most cases, the player's mode of attack is either kicking upwards/downwards or using a gun mounted onto the motorcycle. Sometimes the motorcycle can jump into the air. Usually inexplicably.
There is often an enemy vehicle of some kind, out of which barrels are thrown.
There are a few games which consist almost entirely of annoying motorcycle sequences, such as Kamen Rider SD for Super Famicom.
As time went on, this phenomenon became rarer in occurrence and its implementation generally became more logical. One example would be Shin Bokura no Taiyou (aka Boktai 3), where the motorcycle sequences are used to transport Django to faraway dungeons, as well as show off his WICKED RIDE.
There are two subsets of this concept:
Forced scrolling rides
These occur almost exclusively in brawlers. The main character usually rides on top of some object (such as a sewer surfboard or ICBM) which is constantly moving forward (although its screen position can usually be adjusted); however, the character controls and acts in the same way as “normal” levels. Except with a lot more jumping over things, usually, or jumping from one ride to another when necessary.
Oh geez, a mine cart
This is a variant of the motorcycle stage concept which usually involves less combat and more annoying jumps. More often seen in traditional platform games, although it has been known to show up in RPGs and such. Depending on how well the mechanics are implemented and how forgivingly the levels are designed, mine car levels can be a fun diversion, a needless frustration, or fucking impossible (IRON COMMANDO I AM LOOKING AT YOU).
A related but ususally more tolerable subject is the intermission shooter stage. It should also be noted that Thunder Fox has both.
Examples
- Taz-Mania (Mega Drive}
Almost, but not quite
- Bare Knuckle 3/Streets of Rage 3 - A motorcycle stage was considered then removed at some point in development but artifacts remain in the game code.