Nowadays, many people prefer to play simulation racing games as they give a more real feel to it like you are facing on the tracks. There are even real-world competitions for it like Gran Turismo in which you can even build on to start your racing career.
Of course, it wasn’t always this way. Arcade racing had a more fun element, with an emphasis away from simulation and instead on fun, speed, drift and a lot of craziness. In arcade racing games, cars don’t show any damages even when they crash and are magically replaced on the road. Putting a coin in a racing arcade machine lets you feel the excitement of driving that you will never get to experience in real life driving. That is why, despite the shift to simulation racing games, people remember arcade racing games with fondness.
So, here are my 5 favourite 90s arcade racing games – in no particular order.
5. Outrunners
Outrunners is the third game of the Outrun series, released by Sega in 1993. Featuring now even more cars, routes, music and endings, it has improved the fun gameplay in a number of ways which makes the game very enjoyable.
First is the car selection. Now, featuring more cars which each playing its strength and weaknesses. For example, Easy Handling car can, as the name suggest, provide smooth handling with less chance of going outside and crashing while Speed Buster goes really fast but you need to slow down in some corners because of the weak grip. The routes take you all over the world, with multiple endings depending on the choice of route.
With a great music selection, Outrunners is endlessly replayable.
4. Cruis’n World
A 1996 arcade racing game by Midway, Cruis’n World has made improvements over the previous game in the series, Cruis’n USA.
With more cars and a worldwide selection of tracks, the game introduces stunts. These depend on specific inputs (e.g. hitting both pedals gives you a small boost) and if you can perform tricks, you will get some extra seconds to complete the race.
This pure fun racing element is why Cruis’n World is one of my favorite racing game.
3. Slip Stream
Slip Stream is an F1 arcade game which is in 1995 by Capcom which is rare since they are very well known for their fighting games. Not only that, it ran on Sega’s System 32 board instead of Capcoms’s own. It was only released in Latin American countries so not many people have heard of it. Despite that, it was an extremely fun game that I played it on MAME, and has since become one of my favorites.
You have several F1 cars to choose each with their own strengths and weaknesses. This game is a fast paced arcade racing game so instead of slowing down on corners like in real life, they drift instead. Also, as per the title of the game, you will gain small boost if you stay behind the vehicle ahead for a few seconds. The AI is aggressive as well and they will definitely try to stop you from winning or even crossing the finish line. Not many F1 titles can do that these days since most of them are simulations so we can be grateful to Capcom that they have made a game which focuses on speed and pure fun and they deserve credit for that.
2. Over Top
Developed by ADK and published by SNK on to the Neo-Geo in 1996, OverTop is a top-down rally-esque game. It’s a great Neo-Geo arcade racing game,in my opinion, although oe that suffered fro mixed reviews. The game isn’t strictly rally basically because you get to race on different roads and in different weather conditions.
There is no racing on the rally roads with rally cars.
It’s a fun game that lets you try different vehicles, which each perform i different ways in certain weather conditions and areas. For example: a jeep will excel on rocky roads while a sports car will excel on racing roads. Because of the fact that you can only choose one car, careful choice is required to tackle the tracks.
1. Daytona USA 1 and 2
Daytona USA was released by Sega in 1994 and has wowed the world upon its release.
The ability to race against 39 cars in 60 fps, visual effects include texture filtering and texture mapping, four buttons which can be use to choose camera views, drifting and power sliding on a stock car makes this one of themost feature packed racers ever.
AAnd the music is nothing but hugely impressive.
You can race against 7 other players on a linked cabinet, and this was one of the first games with that feature. It even has an adaptive difficulty system – when you race well, opponents will try to block you. Daytona USA also features a time attack mode. The player’s car, Hornet, has appeared in other Sega games since like Fighting MegaMix and Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed.
Daytona USA 2 was released in 1998 and has added three different cars based on difficulty and more track settings. It even shows you how to power slide unlike the first one and you can gain speed by following the car that is in front of you, a tactic called slingshot.
Daytona USA 2 also has some great pumping music.
Your turn…
That’s my five top 90s arcade racing games, but what’s pole position for you?
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