Thread: What's the best arcade racer you ever played?
Hype Thread
Thanks for the impressions @lock2k ! If you have more thoughts drop em because I'd be interested to know how the game unfolds as you sink more time into it.

Maybe I'll get Hot Wheels and later I'll make an official d_pad 10/10 review + comparison thread for the two titles, because that's what the world needs a lot more of, review scores.

Would you say performance makes a difference? It won't be that much nicer but I may go PS4 (Pro) version instead of Switch. The split screen 2p mode will get a lot of usage so performance > portability in this case, I reckon.
My PC isn't really the best, I play on Medium settings but it runs fast, like a charm (It's a Ryzen 3 with the standard video card). I would probably go with the PS4 version for this game instead of Switch, no doubt. It's perfect for splitscreen play. I'll drop more impressions since I only had like 40 minutes with it before starting to work.
 
F-Zero and Wipeout XL took up way more time than I'd like to admit. Both were great futuristic arcade racers with both distinct vehicle styles with strengths and weaknesses, all of them viable based on your skill level. In Wipeout's case, the entire Designer Republic work for the look/feel and music choices made it a standout hit. I think it was the first video game where I sought out an MP3 album to listen to outside the game.

And I am not a techno fan of any repute. Good job on them for making a whole package.

In Nintendo's case, they brought the expected polish and availability one expects from their IP's and made a damn entertaining game with futuristic racers.

Wave Race, Mario Kart, Star Wars Pod Racer and Ridge Racer 3 are also neat standouts, but I dig the slippy hovercraft-esque futuristic blinding fast racey gameplay of the two I mentioned.
 
My favorite is the original San Francisco Rush on N64. Put so much time into that thing.
Was this the one with the secret loop you could find in the city level? I remember finding that as a kid and being totally confused on its purpose.
 
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Was this the one with the secret loop you could find in the city level? I remember finding that as a kid and being totally confused on its purpose.
There was the one course with the hillside entrance into a stunt cave. It always annoyed me becuase it's so easy to explode in the game and the game spits you way out of the cave and you have to drive back. Why put that cave there if you can't just safely play in it for the 1000 seconds or whatever you get in practice mode?

 
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There was the one course with the hillside entrance into a stunt cave. It always annoyed me becuase it's so easy to explode in the game and the game spits you way out of the cave and you have to drive back. Why put that cave there if you can't just safely play in it for the 1000 seconds or whatever you get in practice mode?


Im guessing it was a testing area at one point for physics and car feel and they left it in as an easter egg.
 
OutRun. Still holds up after over 30 years and has the perfect session length.
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It's my first Avatar Quote on D-Pad!

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GT3 (the arcade side) is my favorite racer. I also played the shit out the first track in Virtua Racing, the others tracks were a bit too hard. .
 
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Waverace 64

Yeah Waverace 64 was frickin' amazing. The topology of the waves and how you had to anticipate and stratgise the interaction to gain the most speed was great. Also it had the extreme variance as the weather worsened, changing the approach to a course. Just a brilliantly delivered concept.

Waverace on the GC by comparison however was crap. Yes, it had a more 'wet' kind of feel, lots of effects and so on, but it lost that interactive feel with the water. It was more like a broadly undulating surface plane to be driven over, rather than something to be navigated moment to moment, getting bounced around.
 
Another great arcade racer on the N64 was ExciteBike 64.
The boost mechanic when going over the ramps was a great addition, getting the timing right, then of course the angle of entry on landing. It also had a big open world type of race, justing hooning around over sand dunes if memory serves me correct.
1080 racing was also pretty cool, and Diddy Kong Racing with it's mission based and boss battle/race structure.

Actually the N64, when combined with the innovation of having the analogue stick for the fist time, really was superb for arcade racers.
What do we have on the Switch? A MK8 WiiU port.
 
Honestly just because of nostalgic purposes, the first Mario kart on the snes. I realize there has been many arcade racers that have came out that are way better but that particular gem delivered to me the most fun I've had with any racer growing up.
 
And of course F-Zero X on the N64 as well. Man, the way they designed those courses, twisting and turning around the cylindrical tracks, such a great evolution for the series. Really frantic and fluid racing dynamics.
Be great to get another F-Zero, but no chance with modern easy livin' Nintendo.
 
Burnout 3 or F-Zero x if that counts, if not, apparently I'm not an arcade racing fan...
 
I wish I knew. I don't consider kart races as part of this, fyi.

Extreme G holds this special place in my heart, despite the horrible frame rate. The cars were cool, the tracks were cool, I liked the weapons.

FZGX is probably the "best" arcade racer I've played.
 
Jesus the nostalgia, just as great as I remember it.



Just installed and played it yesterday. So good. But the sensitivity of the controller is fucked and way too high, searching for a fix to make it better playable. Posted a screen in the screenshot thread, it's so nice.
 
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Just installed and played it yesterday. So good. But the sensitivity of the controller is fucked and way too high, searching for a fix to make it better playable. Posted a screen in the screenshot thread, it's so nice.

That is so cool. If I wasn't such a technical spacker I'd love to set that up for myself. Maybe there's a tech retard friendly guide somewhere?
 
Crash team racing on ps1 or one of the burnouts on ps3.

Not really a driving game guy.

I kinda enjoyed the driving in saints row 3 remaster recently...
 
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I wish I knew. I don't consider kart races as part of this, fyi.

Extreme G holds this special place in my heart, despite the horrible frame rate. The cars were cool, the tracks were cool, I liked the weapons.

Damn I loved the Extreme G games so much back then. Will revisit them tonight, let's see if they hold up.
 
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Thanks for the impressions @lock2k ! If you have more thoughts drop em because I'd be interested to know how the game unfolds as you sink more time into it.

Maybe I'll get Hot Wheels and later I'll make an official d_pad 10/10 review + comparison thread for the two titles, because that's what the world needs a lot more of, review scores.

Would you say performance makes a difference? It won't be that much nicer but I may go PS4 (Pro) version instead of Switch. The split screen 2p mode will get a lot of usage so performance > portability in this case, I reckon.
Must admit I had my eye on Hot Wheels - didn't have a close enough eye on it to realise it had been released though. It'll be Switch for me if I get it.
 
Must admit I had my eye on Hot Wheels - didn't have a close enough eye on it to realise it had been released though. It'll be Switch for me if I get it.
It's really fun, and the racing is solid.

The story mode has several normal races and time attacks. I kinda suck at the time attack and i need to improve, and that's why I didn't progress much because I need to pass them to get to new stages now, but it has a lot of variety and the tracks are well done, full of loopings and other stuff. You can customize the environments because it mimics several places like rooms, garages, college campuses, etc, it's really cool and you feel like you are racing on a real hot wheels track. The system of buying surprise boxes and actual cars (that are called limiter offers) is also really cool. I bought a 2018 Mustang with in game money and it's awesome.
 
Must admit I had my eye on Hot Wheels - didn't have a close enough eye on it to realise it had been released though. It'll be Switch for me if I get it.

It's really fun, and the racing is solid.

The story mode has several normal races and time attacks. I kinda suck at the time attack and i need to improve, and that's why I didn't progress much because I need to pass them to get to new stages now, but it has a lot of variety and the tracks are well done, full of loopings and other stuff. You can customize the environments because it mimics several places like rooms, garages, college campuses, etc, it's really cool and you feel like you are racing on a real hot wheels track. The system of buying surprise boxes and actual cars (that are called limiter offers) is also really cool. I bought a 2018 Mustang with in game money and it's awesome.

I concur, it's really fun. They just need to add ultrawidescreen on PC (which they should have had from day one, this isn't 1999).