Bike Games - The best games in which you ride a bike (2024)

The bicycle is probably the most popular non-motorized means of transport in the world. In China alone, there are over 100 million bicycles rattling along the streets. Of course, the bicycle has also left its mark on the video game industry. Whether as a sport, a work tool or simply to get from A to B faster, games like to use bikes in a variety of ways. We have put together a few of the best bike examples for you.

Fancy a thrilling BMX downhill race with PVP multiplayer in real time ? And in a mobile game for iOS and Android to boot? Then you should take a closer look at Bike Unchained 3. The new mobile racing game was launched on February 21, 2024 and continues the series with a bang.

The third instalment has made significant improvements to the graphics and gameplay in particular, making it more realistic than ever before. Not only can you equip your character with new styles from well-known brands, but your bike can also be customised and improved down to the last detail.

Another special feature of the Bike Unchained series are the mentors, who provide you with useful tips and unlock new skills with additional challenges. This time they include Erik Fedko, Brage Vestavik and Brandon sem*nuk. Bike Unchained 3 is available to download for free on iOS and Android. So what are you waiting for?

• Download Bike Unchained 3 here for iOS or Android

We're going retro with one of the first games that not only provides you with a bike on the side but also puts the bike centre stage. In Paperboy, you take on the role of the eponymous paperboy, who rides around the neighbourhood on his trusty bike to deliver the morning paper.

His tour began in 1985 on arcade machines. The controls are simple: the Cabinet's stick steers the Paperboy on his way down the street. A button throws the newspaper in the direction of your subscribers' houses. Like a real paperboy, you have to memorise them. If you fail to deliver to a customer, or deliver to the wrong one, you will be penalised. There are also various obstacles to avoid.

Paperboy is probably the first popular game in which the player controls a character who rides a bicycle.

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater was the kickstarter for a veritable flood of trend sports games at the turn of the millennium. Alongside countless other skateboarding games, scooter games and inline titles, there was also Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX. The series started on the first PlayStation and went on to have several successors.

The basic structure was very similar to competing games centred around the Birdman: The gameplay structure sends you through different levels in which you have to fulfil various objectives. These include achieving a certain high score or destroying objects within the stage. The music with the usual punk rock is also reminiscent of the Tony Hawk series. Even the chosen font looks almost like a copy.

Although Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX was not exactly innovative, the series was able to find many fans.

But those looking for innovation will find it at RedBull Uncontained. In this BMX event, professionals show what is possible on bikes.

Even though bikes are replaced by skates in some parts of the Pokémon series, bikes have always been an important part of the pocket monster games. This starts in Pokémon Red & Blue. Here you get a bike to help you move faster through the game world of Kanto.

Later parts introduced running shoes, which allowed players to move more quickly relatively early on. And there are players who find it more convenient to simply hold down the "Run faster" button than to select an item (the bike) each time, or to place it on a shortcut button. That's why there are also Pokémon games in which the bike can do more than "just" be a faster alternative to running. In the Gameboy Advance titles Sapphire & Ruby, you can jump over small holes with the trick bike or race up slopes with the express bike.

In Pokémon Sword & Shield, your bike even transforms into an amphibious vehicle that allows you to use waterways.

The German development studio Megagon has perfectly captured the flair of mountain biking with Lonley Mountains Downhill: You race down different trails in an isometric perspective, having to understand where it's worth braking and where you should carry your momentum . The title manages without much background music. The landscapes, the chirping of the birds and the scraping of the tyres as you drift around a bend provide the perfect background music.

Lonely Mountains Downhill can be enjoyed in different ways. Of course, it is possible to reach the various target times on the different descents and leave it at that. But perfectionism quickly bites you here. As soon as you realise how much freedom the game gives you to master the courses, you quickly start trying to tickle more and more seconds out of your best time.

Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games is the perfect game for those who prefer to cycle in circles rather than down hills. Classic cycling is a selectable discipline in some spin-offs of the sports game series.

Of course, for many this type of cycling is much less exciting than hurtling down a cross-country trail. Nevertheless, this variation of the sport also has aspects that appeal to many fans. Tactical positioning and the use of slipstreaming are just as relevant here as in real life. It is also a crucial part of endurance races such as the Tour de France.

Okay. Technically speaking, the characters in Uniracers are unicycles. But even a unicycle is half a bicycle. And the 2D racing game for the Super Nintendo was particularly popular at the time because of its fast-paced gameplay and crazy courses.

Visually, Uniracers may not necessarily be the most impressive game of its generation, but the various courses with their different surfaces, the aerial manoeuvres after a jump and the multiplayer mode found many fans.

Red Bull District Ride doesn't offer quite as abstruse courses as Uniracers, but the athletes' spins and flips are very similar.

Bikes are one of the selectable vehicles offered by Rider's Republic from Ubi Soft. The title is a direct counterpart to the winter sports game Steep. However, it also includes sports that can race down a mountain without snow.

Of course, it's not really realistic here either. And it doesn't have to be. Rider's Republic is a great arcade racer with lots of content. So if you're looking for a bike game that gives you a lot of freedom, you've come to the right place.