Retro|Spective 201: Arcade Racers

[Neon Ignition]

Game 28 - Cruisn' Exotica
The series returned for its third entry, this time adding a wilder theme and a pin system so players could track progress. Otherwise it was a more of the same title continuing largely due to popularity of the brand name in arcades at this point.








Did you find any improvement over the first two entries?

[Neon Ignition]

Game 29 - Sega Rally 3
Developed by Sumo Digital, the third Sega Rally game launched in 2008 and follows the original games structure of containing three races with an unlockable fourth Lakeside course for performing well enough. It was developed alongside the console based entry for the PS3/360 generation though a more direct online enabled port would arrive three years later too.








Did Sumo do the series proud?

[Asura]

Man, the camera on that third-person view... It's like it's on a pole behind the car. Hard pass.

[QualityChimp]

I don't think I even knew there was a Sega Rally 3!

[BearBoy]

I really liked Sega Rally 3/Online Arcade. They fixed a lot of what was wrong with the original Xbox 360/PS3 game imho. Just a shame it was so short on content (for a console game).

[Lebowski]

i played Sega Rally 3 at Arcade Club Leeds recently they have a big VS set up where your sat in a car it looks impressive but is just a big lump of plastic that dosent have any feedback, out of all the racers we played this felt the least Enjoyably, Muddy brown looking visuals, poor feedback from the cab, very middle of the road.

[nakamura]

Man, the camera on that third-person view... It's like it's on a pole behind the car. Hard pass.

Gran Turismo suffers badly from that.

[Neon Ignition]

Game 30 - Hot Rod
A top down racer from Sega released internationally in 1989. The machine allowed for multiple racers on a single display unit and players would be penalised if they fell off the edge of the screen. The game featured 30 events over 10 locations.










Do you remember this classic era racer?

[QualityChimp]

Yeah, I quite like Hot Rod! What a clever cab that allowed multiplayer action over a small area.
I also quite like top-down racers like Super Sprint. Maybe it's from playing on those carpets as a kid?

[wakka]

That carpet looks fun. I want to take a little toy car to that right now. Vroom.

I have never played or even heard of Hot Rod, but looking at it it seems like it could have been a chief inspiration for Micro Machines.

[Neon Ignition]

Hot Rod is a unique one as I have pretty much to recollection of the game but I very strongly recall the actual hardware, specifically the three player unit in dimly lit Blackpool arcades as a kid. I remember the awkwardness of standing and using a steering wheel and pedal rather than sitting. It's a very vivid mental image and yet the actual game itself... blank

[Asura]

I remember the awkwardness of standing and using a steering wheel and pedal rather than sitting.

This honestly applies to all standing racing cabs. They were terrible.

[Hirst]

Hot-Rod is great, it's basically like a less frantic Micro Machines. Also, the upgrade shop music is the same as the main music for the menus on the Super Hang-On career mode (if that counts for much).

[Neon Ignition]

Game 31 - F355 Challenge
A racing sim from Sega, this licensed game was well known for its triple screen set up and featuring only one car. Whilst it was low on cars it featured six tracks and reportedly Yu Suzuki captured data from his own F355 to make the game. The game received an average response in arcades, whilst lovingly made it was low on arcade thrills.








Were you as much a fan as Suzuki was?

[BearBoy]

I only played it in an arcade a couple of times but loved the Dreamcast version. Great game but I guess not very "arcadey".