Road Rash is a 1994 racing and vehicular combat video game originally published by Electronic Arts (EA) for the 3DO Interactive Multiplayer.

The arrival of fifth-generation game consoles influenced EA to incorporate character sprites digitized from real-life actors, 25 minutes of live-action full-motion video footage and a soundtrack primarily consisting of licensed grunge music courtesy of A&M Records, including Soundgarden, Monster Magnet, and Swervedriver.

Road Rash was released to critical acclaim and commercial success, with reviewers commending the 3DO version's advanced visuals and grunge-based soundtrack.

[1][2][3] The game's races take place in a number of Californian settings, including San Francisco, the Sierra Nevada, Napa Valley, and the Pacific Coast Highway.

[5][6] The racer can be ejected from their bike if they crash into an obstacle (such as cows, deer, cars and trees) or if they run out of stamina (shown in the bottom-left corner of the screen) due to fights with opponents.

[11][12] Some bikes are equipped with a series of nitrous oxide charges, which can provide a burst of speed if the player quickly taps the acceleration input button twice.

The bike will be wrecked if the meter fully depletes, which ends the player's participation in the current race and deducts the cost of a repair bill from the racer's balance.

[7][9] Motor officers make sporadic appearances throughout the game's tracks, and can also end the player's participation if they apprehend the racer following a crash, which deducts the cost of a fine from their balance.

[4][11] The Windows version features an online multiplayer mode for up to eight human players connected via a modem or local network.

[17] EA was influenced by the arrival and technology of the PlayStation and the CD-i to push for a more cinematic and realistic look, which led to the concept of digitized motorcycle racers.

[20] The footage was directed by Rod Gross, and the motorcycle riders were portrayed by a combination of the game's staff and local AFM racers in the area.

EA's marketing director had a relationship with A&M Records, and contacted them for a bid to license Soundgarden's music for the 3DO version of Road Rash.

[b] Additionally, Bacon of GamePro commended the branching routes and humorous full motion video sequences, although he criticized the lack of a multiplayer option.

[41][44] While Skews and co-reviewer Deniz Ahmet acknowledged the responsiveness of the controls,[40] Chris Gore of VideoGames pointed out the inability to configure them as a major flaw.

[58] Gary Mollohan of Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine and Brett Elston of GamesRadar+ credited the 3DO version of Road Rash with revolutionizing the use of licensed music in video games.

[68][58] Marcus Hearn and Angus Swan of Mean Machines Sega said that while the premise of Road Rash was "novel", the Saturn version was rendered unremarkable by "samey and uneventful" scenarios, small sprites, unsophisticated animation, "inappropriate" music, and "extremely annoying" full-motion videos.

He also felt that its grunge soundtrack was somewhat outdated, and lambasted the in-game score as "the world's cheesiest General MIDI music".