Culture, not a parts guide
When the manufacturers were worth licensing
36 personal watercraft video games shipped between 1987 and 2025. 9 of them carry a manufacturer licence, every one of those dates from 1993 to 2008, and no game since has carried one.
The 35 films, programmes and tapes that show a craft on screen are listed at Films, and the magazines and tapes that recorded the sport at the media, both under Words and Culture; this page is only the games. Every row below names the source it rests on.
The licences
A brand on a box is marketing. A named licensor is a deal, and the two are not the same thing, so a row here names a licensor or it carries no licence at all.
| Year | Game | Brand | Licensor named | What it covered |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Kawasaki Caribbean Challenge | Kawasaki | Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. | Three Kawasaki motorcycles and three Jet Ski watercraft |
| 1996 | Wave Race 64 | Kawasaki | Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd. | Kawasaki's trademarks, used with Kawasaki Heavy Industries' permission, and four JET SKI watercraft to choose from. |
| 1996 | Wave Runner | Yamaha | Yamaha Motor Co. | A "YAMAHA W.R BACK" sticker in Sega's own cabinet parts list, and Yamaha named as the game's endorser by the Museum of the Game; no licence line has been read. |
| 2001 | Sea-Doo Hydrocross | Sea-Doo | the Sea-Doo mark's owner, not named in any held source | The brand and five craft. |
| 2001 | Splashdown | Sea-Doo | Bombardier Recreational Products | Licensed Sea-Doo watercraft; the announced licence also lists the SEA-DOO, SKI-DOO and Bombardier marks. The specific models are not named in any held source (checked 2026-10-07). |
| 2001 | Wave Rally, sold as Jet Ski Riders in some regions | Kawasaki and Jet Pilot | Kawasaki Motors (UK) Ltd. for the Kawasaki and Jet Ski marks; the Jet Pilot marks are Extreme Sports, Inc.'s, with no licence line printed | The Kawasaki and Jet Ski marks, with Kawasaki-branded Jet Skis in the game, and the Jet Pilot marks. |
| 2001 | Wave Runner GP | Yamaha | Yamaha Motor Co. | Yamaha stickers on the cabinet in Sega's own parts list; no licence line has been read. |
| 2003 | Splashdown: Rides Gone Wild | Sea-Doo | Bombardier Inc, the Sea-Doo maker, now BRP | As the first Splashdown. |
| 2008 | Kawasaki Jet Ski | Kawasaki | Kawasaki | The name and the Jet Ski mark. The terms are undocumented. |
What that table says
Kawasaki licensed the most. Four games over 15 years, from Kawasaki Caribbean Challenge on the Super Nintendo in 1993 to Kawasaki Jet Ski in 2008. After it come Sea-Doo with three and Yamaha with two.
Yamaha licensed only to arcade. Both Yamaha-licensed titles are arcade cabinets, and no Yamaha-licensed game in this list is on a home console. Our reading, not a stated policy: the WaveRunner mark was treated as a thing you sit on rather than a thing you buy on a disc.
Sea-Doo licensed three games, two of them in 2001 from different studios. Sea-Doo Hydrocross, from Vicarious Visions; Splashdown, from Rainbow Studios. Our reading is a deliberate media push around that year rather than an exclusive deal with anyone.
It stopped in 2008 and has not restarted. None of the 15 games released since carries a manufacturer licence, and 27 of the 36 titles here carry none at all.
Jet Ski is Kawasaki's trademark. WaveRunner is Yamaha's. Sea-Doo is BRP's. All three are live and all three are enforced, which is our reading of why the licence column runs dry after 2008.
Naming a product is not licensing it. This page names all 36 of these games and all three manufacturers without anybody's permission, and so does every other page on this site. Calling a Kawasaki a Kawasaki is what a trademark is for.
What the column above tracks is a different thing entirely: a studio putting a manufacturer's hulls, wordmarks and trackside banners inside its own product and selling it. That takes a signature. Talking about one never has.
The rule that does bind this site is accuracy, not permission. A Yamaha is not a Jet Ski and a Kawasaki is not a WaveRunner, so where a page here needs one word for all of them it says personal watercraft, or it says ski, which is what riders say.
Every title, 1987 to 2025
Dedicated titles only: the craft has to be the game. A jet ski as one vehicle among many, or one level in something larger, is out. Ports and regional re-releases are folded into the row they belong to rather than counted again.
On each card: the year and whether it was an arcade cabinet or a home system, then the platform, maker and where it was sold. A gold Maker licence stamp means a craft maker licensed the game, with the licensor named beside it; the sources are at the foot.
Box art and flyers are shown as a historical record of each game. Each belongs to its publisher or maker, credited under it, and nothing here is for sale.
The 1980s
-
1987 Home system
Box art, Codemasters Jet Bike Simulator
No manufacturer licence.
The first one, on 8-bit British budget hardware, five years before the next title in this table. Released 7 December 1987 per Spectrum Computing; the authors' own site says early 1988. Repackaged in 1989 as Championship Jet Ski Simulator, a cut-down single-tape version, which is not counted twice.
The 1990s
-
1992 Home system
Box art, Nintendo Wave Race
No manufacturer licence.
The forgotten original. Four years before the game everyone remembers.
-
1993 Home system
Box art, GameTek Kawasaki Caribbean Challenge
Kawasaki licence. Licensed by Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A.
The first licensed one, and the only one that licensed bikes alongside the craft.
-
1996 Arcade cabinet
Key art, Namco Aqua Jet
No manufacturer licence.
-
1996 Arcade cabinet
Key art, Konami Jet Wave, released as Wave Shark in some regions
No manufacturer licence.
MAME holds a European build alongside the Japanese and US ones; sales in Europe are not documented.
-
1996 Home system
Box art, Nintendo Wave Race 64
Kawasaki licence. Licensed by Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Ltd.
The best-known of the genre, and 1996 is the year four of these shipped at once. A Rumble Pak-compatible version followed later and is not counted separately.
-
1996 Arcade cabinet
Key art, Sega Wave Runner
Yamaha licence. Licensed by Yamaha Motor Co.
A sit-down cabinet, steered with the handlebars or by shifting weight to tilt the cabinet, and linkable up to four machines.
The 2000s
-
2000 Home system
Box art, Encore Kawasaki Jet Ski Watercraft
No manufacturer licence.
A CD-ROM racer published by Encore, billed with 50 courses in ten environments and "5 authentic JET SKI watercraft models". It is a different product from the 2008 Kawasaki Jet Ski. It carries the Kawasaki name and the Jet Ski mark, and MobyGames tags it under Kawasaki licensees, but no licence line was found in any held source (searched 7 October 2026: MobyGames record, Mac4Ever, GRYOnline), so the licence field is empty.
-
2001 Home system
Box art, Midas Interactive Entertainment Jetracer
No manufacturer licence.
A trick game released in PAL territories, with four beaches and four craft from a 700cc stand-up to a 1200cc sit-down, per the publisher's description that PSXDataCenter quotes, which names a variety of characters; PSXDataCenter's own text counts eight riders and calls it a jetboat theme.
Sources (2)
-
2001 Home system
Box art, Cyberium Multi Media B.V. Jetski Speed Demon
No manufacturer licence.
A budget PC racer with six courses, a Practice mode and a Grand Prix against three computer riders. The jet ski comes from the title and MobyGames' jet ski group tag; MobyGames is the only record found (searched 7 October 2026, a web search for the title and MobyGames).
-
2001 Home system
Box art, Vicarious Visions and Vatical Entertainment Sea-Doo Hydrocross
Sea-Doo licence. Licensed by the Sea-Doo mark's owner, not named in any held source
A Nintendo 64 version was announced beside the PlayStation one, and Engine Software built a Game Boy Color version for the same publisher. Whether either shipped is not settled by the sources held (checked 7 October 2026).
-
2001 Home system
Box art, Infogrames Splashdown
Sea-Doo licence. Licensed by Bombardier Recreational Products
-
2001 Home system
Box art, Crave Entertainment Surf Rocket Racers, sold in Japan as Power Jet Racing 2001
No manufacturer licence.
-
2001 Home system
Box art, Nintendo Wave Race: Blue Storm
No manufacturer licence.
The last one in the series. Nintendo Software Technology later pitched a Wii sequel built on motion controls, backed by Nintendo of America patents, and Kyoto management turned it down. Unseen64, a fan preservation site, dates the prototype to 2009 and says the Wii Remote was held like handlebars.
-
2001 Home system
Box art, Eidos Wave Rally, sold as Jet Ski Riders in some regions
Kawasaki and Jet Pilot licence. Licensed by Kawasaki Motors (UK) Ltd. for the Kawasaki and Jet Ski marks; the Jet Pilot marks are Extreme Sports, Inc.'s, with no licence line printed
IGN's game page lists an Xbox version beside the PS2 one; no Xbox release appears in any held source (checked 7 October 2026).
-
2001 Arcade cabinet
Key art, Sega Wave Runner GP
Yamaha licence. Licensed by Yamaha Motor Co.
As with the 1996 cabinet, Yamaha branding on the cabinet is the only record of a licence.
Likely, not confirmed. -
2002 Home system
Box art, Sony Computer Entertainment America Jet X2O
No manufacturer licence.
-
2003 Home system
Box art, THQ Splashdown: Rides Gone Wild
Sea-Doo licence. Licensed by Bombardier Inc, the Sea-Doo maker, now BRP
Sold in the UK as Splashdown 2 with the same subtitle.
-
2004 Home system
No cover found AquaRace
No manufacturer licence.
A Java phone racer with three tracks and a three-race championship, and the earliest phone title in this table. No record but MobyGames turned up in a search of the web and MobyGames on 7 October 2026.
-
2004 Home system
Box art, Argonaut Games Carve
No manufacturer licence.
-
2008 Home system
Box art, Data Design Interactive Kawasaki Jet Ski
Kawasaki licence. Licensed by Kawasaki
The last licensed personal watercraft game in this table. Released January 2008 in North America; MobyGames catalogues the PC build as 2007. IGN rated it 2 out of 10 and wrote that it "fails in each category". Eighteen years later nobody has licensed another.
-
2009 Home system
Key art, Resolution Interactive Aqua Moto Racing
No manufacturer licence.
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The 2010s
-
2010 Home system
Key art, Resolution Interactive Aqua Moto Racing 2
No manufacturer licence.
-
2011 Home system
Key art, Vector Unit Riptide GP
No manufacturer licence.
The start of the only modern series that stuck. Fictional craft throughout.
-
2013 Home system
Key art, Zordix Aqua Moto Racing 3D
No manufacturer licence.
-
2013 Home system
Key art, Vector Unit Riptide GP2
No manufacturer licence.
-
2015 Home system
Key art, Outfit7 Talking Tom Jetski
No manufacturer licence.
A runner game in which the player steers a jet ski through an obstacle course as Talking Tom or Talking Angela, built from a mini-game in My Talking Angela. Outfit7 announced it on 22 October 2015; TouchArcade's store listing dates it 21 October 2015.
-
2016 Home system
Key art, Zordix Aqua Moto Racing Utopia
No manufacturer licence.
Its free 2018 expansion featured a rider the publisher calls famous, and no watercraft brand at all.
-
2016 Home system
Key art, Vector Unit Riptide GP: Renegade
No manufacturer licence.
-
2018 Home system
Key art, Outfit7 Talking Tom Jetski 2
No manufacturer licence.
Announced by Outfit7 with unlockable jet skis and five worlds. The platforms come from MobyGames.
The 2020s
-
2020 Home system
Key art, Cool Small Games Jet Ski Rush
No manufacturer licence.
-
2021 Arcade cabinet
Key art, Wahlap Technology Jet Blaster
No manufacturer licence.
A motion arcade cabinet reported by Arcade Heroes, and the only new personal watercraft cabinet in this table since 2001. The year is that of its Western distribution deal with Sega; no ship date is printed.
-
2023 Home system
Key art, Success Jet Ski Mania Aqua Rush
No manufacturer licence.
Budget release, published by Success. Almost nothing else is documented about it.
-
2024 Home system
Key art, Raxsam Games Aqua Glide
No manufacturer licence.
Virtual reality and small, with 19 store ratings and no press reviews found (searched 7 October 2026, a web search for the title).
Contested, not confirmed. -
2024 Home system
Key art, 8º Arte Games Sea Bikers Jetski
No manufacturer licence.
-
2025 Home system
No cover found Velocity Jet Ski: Boat Racing Games
No manufacturer licence.
A single-player virtual reality jet ski racer with no reviews on its store page. "Boat" in the title is the store's keyword; the description is about jet skis throughout.
This is culture and it decides nothing. No year here is a model year, a craft in a game is no guide to which parts fit a real one, and a licensed hull in a 2001 game tells you what a marketing department agreed to rather than what the machine was.
The notes above record several projects that never shipped, and most of them were other versions of games that did. The research behind this table reads that as a genre nobody was trying to make rather than one that got killed, and on the evidence here that is hard to argue with.
The last word belongs to IGN, reviewing the last licensed one in 2008 and giving it two out of ten: it fails, they wrote, in each category. That is the only review on this page anybody here agrees with.
What each company actually launched · Where the sport came from · Model Reference, the year-by-year model records
36 titles · 9 licensed · 5 arcade