Rad Racer
| Rad Racer | |
|---|---|
 North American box art | |
| Developer(s) | Square |
| Publisher(s) | |
| Designer(s) | Hironobu Sakaguchi |
| Programmer(s) | Nasir Gebelli |
| Composer(s) | Nobuo Uematsu |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayChoice-10 |
| Release date(s) | |
| Genre(s) | Arcade style racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Rad Racer, originally released in Japan as Highway Star (ハイウェイスター Haiuei Sutā), is a racing game developed and published by Square for the Family Computer in 1987. In this game, players drive a Ferrari 328 or an F1 racing machine through a race course. The game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America and Europe months after its debut on Family Computer. The game was part of an attempt by Square to make 3-D games, and was followed by several other games using the same technology. The game sold over half a million copies, and is considered one of the best racing games on the NES, but was also criticized as being derivative of other racing games from the period.
Gameplay
The idea of Rad Racer is to rally through a course and its checkpoints before the timer expires. The player's car crashes if it collides with a road sign or tree at any speed. Cars hit from behind slow down and cars hit from the side are jettisoned in that direction. Crashes take time and make it more difficult for the player to reach the check point. There are eight different levels of increasing skill. Even if time runs out, the vehicle can continue to coast for a while; if the vehicle reaches a checkpoint before running out of momentum, the game continues. If time runs out before the goal is reached, the game is over. Rad Racer players can activate a 3D mode during play by pressing the "Select" button and wearing 3D glasses.[1] The game came packaged with 3D glasses which could be worn to give the player the illusion of three dimensions (Square had previously incorporated the usage of 3D glasses in 3-D WorldRunner).
At the car selection screen, the player can pick one of two cars: a Ferrari 328 or an F1 racing machine, similar in appearance to the 1987 Camel-sponsored Honda/Lotus 99T Formula One car. Although officially there is supposedly no performance gain by choosing the F1 racing machine over the Ferrari 328, this is debated by race fans. Both cars have a maximum speed of 255 km/h (255 is the highest integer representable within 8 bits). In-game, "turbo" can be activated by pressing the up button to boost the car's speed, and disengaged at any time by releasing the button.
Development
It was programmed by Nasir Gebelli, designed and supervised by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and featured music by Nobuo Uematsu, all of whom later contributed to Final Fantasy in similar roles. In 1987, few racing games existed for the NES, and Rad Racer was seen as Square's answer to Sega's Out Run. In Japan, it is one of the few titles for the system designed for use with Nintendo's Famicom 3D System peripheral for 3D experience. The main reason for the development of the game was that Square owner Masafumi Miyamoto wanted to demonstrate Gebelli's 3D programming techniques.[2]
In 1990, Square followed up with an exclusive North American sequel, Rad Racer II. It differed little from the first version, and players considered the gameplay inferior; as a result, it was not as successful as the first version.
Reception
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As one of the NES's premier racers, Rad Racer was met with favorable reviews and enjoyed commercial success; it ranked 8th on Nintendo Powers player's poll Top 30.[4] It was condemned, however, for its extreme similarity to Sega's Out Run, released the previous year. In their article The History of Square, GameSpot conceded that "Rad Racer bears more than a passing resemblance to Out Run," but went on to say that "it's more than just a clone" and credited the game with "effectively convey[ing] the proper sense of speed." The article concluded that the game "stands on its own as a fine racing game."[5] According to Sakaguchi, Rad Racer and The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner sold "about 500,000 copies, which was fairly good."[2]
Legacy
Despite the efforts of Square Co. to make unique games with 3D features such as Rad Racer and 3-D Worldrunner, and high sales, the company was in financial trouble.[6] These events are what led to a final attempt at a breakout hit, Final Fantasy.[6] Reaction became more positive over time, and Rad Racer was ranked number 57 on IGNs Top 100 Nintendo Entertainment System games.[7]
Rad Racer was followed by Rad Racer II in 1990 exclusively in North America, also for the NES. The sequel had virtually identical gameplay. The dashboard had a preview direction indicator added, an arrow that indicates which direction the track will take in the next few moments, allowing the player to position the vehicle accordingly. Also, the new ability in this version of the "Turbo Boost", which immediately accelerates the car to 255 KPH, is performed by holding the down arrow when the race begins until the audio countdown stops. A cheat code can also be used to "race in the dark"; and, instead of flipping over, the player's car spins out after a crash.
The game appeared in a scene from the movie The Wizard.[8] In the film Lucas Barton (Jimmy's rival) uses a Power Glove to play through the first stage of the game, a feat in itself considering the much noted unreliability of the device. Rad Racer is Uematsu's 11th work of video game music composition. One of its songs was used, with vocals added, as the theme song for Stinkoman, the anime-parody version of the character Strong Bad from the Homestar Runner Flash cartoon. Electropop group Work Drugs released a song called "Rad Racer" in 2011, and the official video for the song contains footage from Rad Racer II.
References
- ↑ Harris, Craig (July 15, 2010). "Legacy Games for Nintendo 3DS". IGN. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
- 1 2 (February 1999). "The Man Behind the Fantasies". Next Generation, issue 50, p. 89.
- ↑ Baker, Christopher Michael. "Rad Racer - Overview". Allgame. Retrieved January 30, 2010.
- ↑ (July/August 1988). "Player's Poll Top 30". Nintendo Power, vol 1.
- ↑ Skyler Miller (2002). "The History of Square". GameSpot. Retrieved 11 May 2006.
- 1 2 Fahs, Travis (June 26, 2009). "IGN Presents the History of Final Fantasy". IGN. Retrieved March 5, 2013.
- ↑ Levi Buchanan. "57. Rad Racing". IGN. Retrieved 2013-03-04.
- ↑ Baker, Levi Buchanan. "The 90-Minute Super Mario Bros. 3 Commercial". IGN. Retrieved March 4, 2013.