Shutokou Battle series

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Shutokou Battle (首都高バトル?) is an arcade oriented driving game series created by Genki in 1994. The games were released in America as Tokyo Xtreme Racer and in Europe as Tokyo Highway Challenge.

Contents

[edit] Shuto Expressway

Further information: Shuto Expressway, Shuto Kousoku Trial, Wangan Midnight, and Import scene
Shuto Expressway map.
Shuto Expressway map.

The series is based on illegal highway racing on the Shuto Expressway's Bayshore Route in Tokyo with custom tuned cars, which was a common occurrence at the time, until stricter police enforcement came into force.

Despite this, a such underground cultural phenomenon is growing popular in Japan since the mid 80's with its dedicated manga (Shutokou Battle's biggest inspiration being Wangan Midnight), anime series and video games (C1 Circuit, Wangan Trial, Naniwa Wangan Battle, etc.). It is the subject of the highly influential 1986~1996 series of six films Shuto Kousoku Trial (aka Freeway Speedway: Megalopolis Express Way Trial) which was an obvious source of inspiration for the Shutokou Battle series.

The game series' influence can be measured by the number of North American and European driving video games inspired by the series' iconic features like the cosmetic tuning (Midnight Club, Need For Speed Underground, Juiced or Supercar Street Challenge among many others), the selection of Japan import cars or the choice of Tokyo as the background like The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, the trailer of the first film series episode was included in the western editions of Shutokou Battle Zero.

[edit] History & Sidestories

[edit] Franchise

The series is known under many names when published including the extra "Drift King" when released by BPS, it was renamed overseas Tokyo Highway Battle when published by Jaleco & THQ International. Other names include Tokyo Xtreme Racer by Crave Entertainment, Tokyo Highway Challenge and Import Tuner Challenge by Ubi Soft, and even Street Supremacy when released by Konami.

The Shutokou Battle series, which was also sometimes translated as Metropolitan Highway Battle, longs for over ten years and has been released on almost every video game platforms including cellular phones and medias from ROM, CD-ROM, GD-ROM, DVD-ROM, UMD to downloadable binary files.

[edit] "Drift King"

The series was originally subtitled "Drift King", after the trademark nickname of street racing and professional racing driver Keiichi Tsuchiya who is featured in the first Shuto Kousoku Trial episodes and endorsed the game with, then team manager, Masaki Bandoh of Bandoh Racing Project.

[edit] SegaSaturn sidestories

During the 90's Genki produced a highway drift/adult content oriented Shutokou Battle sidestory series for the Sega Saturn, Wangan Dead Heat and a circuit/tune edition unique episode Kattobi Tune (PlayStation) which oriented the Shutokou Battle series through a new direction, leading to the Dreamcast version and it's worldwide recognition & distribution. "Kattobi Tune" was compiled under the supervision of Rev Speed popular Japanese tuning magazine and features seven licensed professional tuners, RE Amemiya, Spoon, Mine's, Trial, "RS Yamamoto", Garage Saurus and Jun Auto, appearing years later in Racing Battle C1 Grand Prix and also in the influential Gran Turismo series by Polyphony Digital.

[edit] Wangan Midnight

Main article: Wangan Midnight

In 2002, Genki released the home game version (while Namco did the arcade versions) of a racing comic "Shutokou Battle"'s fictional universe is based on, Wangan Midnight. The arcade games grown so popular that an anime feature in the likes of Initial D has been released in 2007.

[edit] Touge racing

Main article: Touge racing

Recently, the popular illegal highway racing series "Shutokou Battle" has been extended to illegal touge (Japanese for "mountain") racing with the Kaido Battle series, the third Kaido episode being a crossover between the two series. Touge racing grew exposure in the western culture in the 2000s with the international broadcast and video release of the popular anime series Initial D. However 1990s Japanese popular touge racing games like Taito's Side by Side (aka Battle Gear series) or Atlus' Touge series were not released abroad.

[edit] Drift racing

Further information: Drift racing and D1 Grand Prix

The D1 Grand Prix drifting championship inspired the new series Racing Battle released in 2005 and remembering the 1997 drift cicuit based Shutokou Battle Gaiden and the continuation of the "Shutokou Battle circuit + RPG" concept introduced in Kattobi Tune[1], a genre close to the Zero4 Champ series by Media Rings.

The first episode is taglined "C1 Grand Prix" which is a double reference to the D1 GP and the Route C1, the latter being the Inner Circular Route of the Shuto Expressway and the circuit for most episodes of the Shutokou Battle series.

[edit] Series timeline

[edit] Releases

1994
1995
  • 02/24: Shutokou Battle 2: Drift King Keichii Tsuchiya & Masaaki Bandoh (Bullet-Proof Software, Super Famicom)
  • 12/15: Wangan Dead Heat (JVC/Pack-In-Video, Sega Saturn) CERO+18
    • Flag of the United States 1996/08/06: Highway 2000 (Natsume)
    • Flag of Europe 1996/XX/XX: Highway 2000 (JVC)
1996
  • 03/22: Touge Densetsu: Saisoku Battle (Bullet-Proof Software, Super Famicom)
  • 05/03: Shutokou Battle: Drift King Keichii Tsuchiya & Masaaki Bandoh (Bullet-Proof Software, PlayStation)
    • Flag of the United States 1996/07/16: Tokyo Highway Battle (Jaleco)
    • Flag of Europe 1996/09/30: Tokyo Highway Battle (Jaleco/THQ International)
  • 08/30: Wangan Dead Heat Plus Real Arrange (JVC/Pack-In-Video, Sega Saturn) CERO+18
  • 12/20: Shutokou Battle Gaiden: Super Technic Challenge - Road To Drift King (Media Quest, PlayStation)
1997
  • 02/28: Shutokou Battle '97: Drift King Keichii Tsuchiya & Masaaki Bandoh - New Limited Ver.97 (Imagineer SPD2/Genki, Sega Saturn)
  • 04/25: Shutokou Battle R (Genki, PlayStation)
1998
1999
2000
  • 06/22: Shutokou Battle 2 (Genki, Dreamcast)
    • Flag of the United States 2000/09/27: Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 (Crave Entertainment)
    • Flag of Europe 2000/12/14: Tokyo Highway Challenge 2 (Crave Entertainment, Ubi Soft)
2001
  • 03/15: Shutokou Battle 0 (Genki, PlayStation 2)
    • Flag of the United States 2001/06/09: Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero (Crave Entertainment)
    • Flag of Europe 2001/05/28: Tokyo Xtreme Racer (Crave Entertainment, Ubi Soft)
  • XX/XX: Shutokou Battle H" (Genki Mobile, Feel H" Mobile)
2002
2003
2004
  • 02/26: Kaido Battle 2: Chain Reaction (Genki Racing Project, PlayStation 2)
    • Flag of Europe 2005/11/16: Kaido Racer (Konami)
2005
  • 04/04: Shutokou Battle Evolution (Genki Mobile, i-mode Mobile)
  • 04/21: Shutokou Battle (Genki Racing Project, PSP) CERO+12
  • 05/26: Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix (Genki Racing Project, PlayStation 2)
  • 07/28: Kaido Battle: Touge No Densetsu (Genki Racing Project, PlayStation 2)
    • Flag of Europe 2006/12/01: Kaido Racer 2 (Konami)
    • Flag of the United States 2007/04/17: Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift 2 (Crave Entertainment)
  • 09/06: Shutokou Battle Evolution Plus (Genki Mobile, i-mode Mobile)
2006
2007
  • 07/26:Wangan Midnight (Genki, PlayStation 3)
  • 09/27:Wangan Midnight Portable (Genki, PSP) CERO+12

[edit] Note

  • Drift Racer Kaido Battle (2003) which was the American version of "Kaido Battle ~Nikko, Haruna, Rokko, Hakone~" published by Sammy has been definitely cancelled. The original game was licensed to Crave Entertainment for an American release in April 2006 as "Tokyo Xtreme Racer Drift" (PlayStation 2).
  • Tokyo Xtreme Racer Advance (2004) was not designed, nor produced by Genki but by "David A. Palmer Productions" in UK for Crave Entertainment (Game Boy Advance).

[edit] Domestic Releases

Shutokou Battle '94 D.K.

Shutokou Battle

Shutokou Battle Ten

[edit] External links

    1. ^ Kattobi Tune official website

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Tokyo Xtreme Racer video games
Main series
Kaido Battle series
Spin-offs
Languages