Rush: An Adrenaline Shot In Movie Form

When I heard there was going to be a "Rush" movie in 2013, I nearly pissed myself.  They're making a shitty movie adaptation for San Francisco Rush the game, a la Need for Speed?

Actually, no, this has nothing to do with video games, cause this is "based on a true story."  A really good story about two rival Formula 1 drivers, James Hunt (England) and Niki Lauda (Austria).  And thank you Ron Howard for being an actual petrolhead and not f***ing up this movie like Hollywood usually does (the movie cynic in me enjoys poking holes in things, like this).  88% on Rotten Tomatoes isn't bad!

As you can tell, this was in the 70's when safety was of little concern and musicians actually made decent music.  No seriously, they actually play Gimme Some Lovin' in the first racing scene which proves Ron saw Days of Thunder, or something, so tack on an extra star to the final score!  Rubbin' is racing!!!  Boogity boogity!!!

Here you have the two protagonists, Lauda and Hunt, who are Formula 3 rivals that moved up to Formula 1, and they totally contrast in personality.  James Hunt is a raw talent, a brash driver who loves to party.  He defied F1 driver tradition that a driver must behave and be treated like royalty.  Hunt loved the lady parts, as you can see right away within the first 30 seconds of the movie, Hunt is banging the nurse.  So thank you James for turning this movie into a porno.  He's also bulimic because he throws up before every race.

Mim-bo (noun) - a male bimbo.

On the other hand, Niki Lauda is the MAN.  More reserved, cool, calm, and calculated, he could tune cars like no one's business.  He has a cool-ass name and actually stayed faithful to his wife (at least for a little while).  Niki is what's great about racing.

Pictured: my new man-crush.

So quick rundown of the movie.  Hunt and Lauda are in Formula 3, Hunt wins the championship and later gets a Formula 1 ride with Hesketh, some crappy race team that thought driving a bleached white car with no sponsors is a good idea.  On the other hand, Lauda "cheated," denounced his father's boring-ass businessman lifestyle, took out a big loan, and swooned the Ferrari people by building a superior car that outdid the previous ones by several seconds.  Lauda would then later race a coupe through rural Italy to impress two fanboys and his future wife, proving that he's a baller.  At this point, the HEAT WAS ON between the two gentlemen...

Both sweet whips with that vintage 70's camera tint.  Notice the lack of #hashtags on their names (#twitterblows).

Both drivers took turns having strokes of life-changing bad luck.  Hunt was first.  Hesketh ran out of money and fired Hunt, leaving him to sit at home and watch his wife cheat on his scummy ass.  Hunt would later bang the flight attendant in the restroom to showcase his libido.  Lauda would go on to win his first championship, something that is skimmed over in the film.  The 1976 season is when Hunt gets a ride at McLaren and the two begin their duel.

Season begins in Brazil with some damn hot Carnival babes and quick 10-15 previews of each race of the season.  Lauda would take a commanding lead in the points as Hunt's car would frequently explode.  Hunt goes into Hulk mode and strikes back, winning a few races of his own, making them 1st-2nd in the points.

Later it's the German GP at Nurburgring.  Yes, THE Nurburgring Nordschleife with 154 turns.  And to make things worse, it's raining.  One racer was already hospitalized during practice.  Lauda then holds a driver's meeting and tries to call the race off as too dangerous, Hunt basically calls him a pussy, and the drivers race anyway.  Both Hunt and Lauda opt for wet tires at the start only for the track to dry up quickly and both to go to the pits for dry tires after the first lap.

And here's where Lauda's bad luck strikes.  Obviously way behind from the leader, he pushes the car so hard the suspension breaks on one turn as he goes careening into the wall in a blazing inferno as some other guy wrecks into Lauda's flaming casket.  Lauda suffers paralyzing burns and smoke inhalation while Hunt laughs his ass off as he wins races while Lauda is on the hospital bed.

This wreck seems oddly symbolic to my recent woes that I teared up in the theater.  One morning in May 2013, while racing to work on the wet pavement, I push the car harder than I should in an attempt to make up ground.  Eventually the wet pavement gets the best of me as I slide into a dumpster, smashing it up in the process.  Three days later, I would be fired from my job and sit unemployed for five months as distraught me has to watch my friend and rivals move up the career ladder without me.  My story isn't as bad as Lauda's but the similarities are there!  Fuck wet blacktop parking lots, put up a friggin sign or something.

Eventually, Lauda would go through accelerated therapy, have the junk sucked out of his lungs and the bandaids peeled from his head.  A month passed and Hunt nearly caught up to him in the points.  Lauda gets back out there (a burnt up disfigured mess, no doubt) and after giving the best "fuck you" I've ever heard to an asshole reporter, puts up a solid 4th place at Monza with fans running at his car after the race while Hunt DNF's again.  Which meant one thing...

NIKI LAUDA

IS

BACK

Final race of the season!  It's at Fuji Speedway--PREPARE TO QUALIFY!!!  Oh, and it's raining.  F1 cars can drive in the rain but in the storm that you see here?  Well...yes they could back in the 70's, when they had big balls and the rides were high enough to make wet racing possible.  After one lap of driving through dense fog, Lauda does the most admirable thing a driver can do--goes to the pits and retires from the race.  It's too dangerous, he said, it's not worth risking your lives over a stupid trophy!  Tell that to Hunt who needs to finish 3rd or better to beat Lauda for the grand prize.  It was a nailbiter for Lauda as all he could do is watch and pray Hunt doesn't win...

Obligatory F1 car in the rain shot.

SHOCKER--Hunt finishes 3rd, wins the championship, and Lauda has no regrets.  It wasn't racing, Lauda said, it was stupid of Hunt to risk his life like that.  After a bunch of TV appearances and booze, drug, and women sessions later, Hunt meets Lauda again, Lauda having taken up the hobby of flying planes.  They tip their hats to each other and the movie ends.  Lauda would go on to win two more championships and live to see the premiere of this movie (which he admired, BTW) while Hunt would go on to be a race announcer and die of a heart attack in 1993.  While Hunt turned out to be a washed-up loser who won his only championship cause his main competition was hospitalized by a near-death experience, Lauda later admitted Hunt was the only driver he was ever jealous of.  Which means a lot from the man, myth, and legend that is NIKI LAUDA.

Great movie, would see again.  Very accurate and gives you a sense of what vintage Formula 1 racing was really like  Only disappointment is that there's too much talking in the first half of the movie (come on, I wanna see some racing), plus there's no final race between Lauda and Hunt to settle the score once and for all.  But a final race would be unrealistic.  Also at no point do they play a Rush song in the movie though that would be cheesy as hell.  So I'll give you some Rush right here.

Oh well, I give this FIVE out of FOUR stars (remember the additional one cause of Gimme Some Lovin').  Just go watch the movie, seriously, right away, race in an F1 car to the theater or Redbox now.

1976, same year Fleetwood Mac would release The Chain, best F1 song ever, no question.  I WANNA GO FAST!!!

I can't tell you how many times I typed "Nikia Lauda" while writing this post, lol.

Merry Christmas, Now Go Buy OutRun Online Arcade NOW

Hi guys, I'm sorry I didn't make an "official" Christmas post but I've been fading in and out for the last few days.  I also got sidewinded by Nagoshi and football stuff.  Overall, it wasn't a great Christmas: there weren't a whole lot of Christmas lights around but at the mall, they added a San Francisco Rush 2049 arcade machine (with a screen tinted green...someone please fix that) and the Fast & Furious twin cabinet was broken.  HAHA!  Otherwise, the time leading up to it wasn't that much fun but at least I got to spend time with friends and family so that is good.

Now I was going to say this earlier but I planned this for now.  This is my plea:

For everyone who has an Xbox 360, please go buy OutRun Online Arcade.  You have until Dec 31 to buy it.  That gives you two days to do it.  Then the game will be removed from the marketplace due to an expiry with the Ferrari license.

Go here to download the game (if you're too lazy to download off your console)...the price has been fluctuating between 400 and 800 MSP but oh well.  IT IS WORTH EVERY PENNY.  Also, if you're feeling extra generous, be sure to download the gamer pics and BG themes!!  Get these before they're gone forever!

Now about the game being removed from the marketplace.  A common misconception is that you won't be able to play the game after it's not on the marketplace.  This is not true.  As long as the game remains on your hard drive, you can play it "forever."  Essentially what happens is that the game still remains on the marketplace servers and you can redownload it as many times as you want ASSUMING you purchased the game before Dec 31.  Same thing applies to a few old Midway game I purchased: Paperboy and Root Beer Tapper.  I can still play those even though they've been delisted years ago.

It's like a club and the only way you can get in is if you buy a ticket before the deadline so buy that ticket (to ride) now!

And I know some people may not be as interested in racing games, but this game's a blast.  Dashing gameplay, Ferraris, colorful environments, uplifting music, and hot babes.  It's a therapeutic game, even if you only play it for just an hour.  It'll change your life.  It changed mine!



YouTube comments: "best 800 points ive ever spent" and "This title is actually worth the 800 points..I loved the original on the master system.. brings back so many memories!"  Well said.

Now I'll post a few extra pics to try to convince you otherwise:

AWESOME OUTRUN BOX ART!!!

Dec 31 . My stratagy to sell sega Racing Games is working!!  Now you know hwy I have the most wwebsite as on the internet.  so go put on your big boy hat and Play Outrun Online Arcade . peace out =)

Supplemental Reading.

Two Great Things I Want To See In Racing Games (Fine Tune This In The Garage)

Hey guys, I just finished that pizza delivery flash game for school.  It's good (in my opinion that is).  I'll post a link to it some time in the future.

But anyway, you think about racing games and they're cool and all, but here's two things I can think of that would be interesting to consider adding in the future.  These ideas may be ridiculous/unnecessary but I guess this is just to make you think.

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1. "Practice A Turn/Section" feature.  This is something the casuals won't really care about, but if you're the slightest bit die-hard, then it can be a problem.

Usually, when you go to race, tracks are usually about 40-80 seconds per lap.  If you go to "practice" (which is basically a time trial mode, just admit it), seldom is there a way to practice the taxing turns that you want to.  And running through the entire track again and again doesn't help much because you can't focus in on the turn/section you want to improve on the most.

If this were part of the track, you'd want to prepare for it too.

Let me explain how I thought of this.  I was recently playing Sega Rally Online Arcade.  I was time trialling on the Tropical course.  Now that course is easy but there's one broad right turn about 2/3rds of the way in (the one after the trail of mud).  My natural instinct is to get to the left side of the track and "guess" when to turn hard right (usually gauged by the billboards nearby).  But sometimes I would come too close to the outside wall or start "chunking" the tires (get too sideways and you lose lots of speed).  So then I tried again next lap but by doing a little downshifting.

At this point, I was a bit confused on what to do.  Every time I made that turn, I tried to think of how I did on that turn and how I should take it next time.  However, I had to drive for 40+ seconds afterwards just to get back to that part of the track again and by then, I had forgotten what I was trying to do.  So I've gotten into a nasty habit of just "winging it" every time I approach that turn during a race and that's not good.

Oops, bounced off the outside wall.  Better luck next time.

Even reading "guides" on the internet aren't as effective and still doesn't do much justice.  You can't possible memorize all these details (approach this corner at 160 mph, turn two car lengths past the sign, let off the gas then apply it here, oh geez).  Not to say guides are bad...sure I'd love to take advice from professionals but you can't learn something just by reading about it--you need to actually DO IT and get hands-on experience.

Ever read these guides for arcade racing games (non-Sega) like San Francisco Rush 2049?  There's a bunch of coins in the game hidden in each of the tracks (like keys on the console versions), but this time, there's many of them (about 100 per track) and they're in completely different locations.  So this one guide on GameFAQs tells you where all these coins are...but are you going to print out some sheets of paper and read them while you're actually at the arcade?  So just reading how to do something then go do it doesn't cut the mustard (usually)...like that one time I read that Golf for Dummies book and tried golfing the next day.  It's not that easy.

This book is USELESS.

So basically, what I want to do is run (with a rolling start) through the same 10-15 second section of track over and over again until I think I got it.  Use split-time so I can see how much I improved.  Is that tough to do?  It's a bit extreme and unrealistic (yeah, just warp me back to where I was), but so what, these are video game we're talking about. The same games that allow you to drive wrecklessly without result and block off major sections of New York City just to watch some bubble cars race in circles.  The only game that has come close is Gran Turismo with the license tests.  Or if you're playing on an emulator, you can use save states to go back to the beginning of the turn.


Seriously, wouldn't a "practice mode" come in handy for turns like this?

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2. Heighten the intensity of music when you're on the final lap and/or near the finish line.  Now this is something that Sega racers really don't do but it's not that big of a deal (no one else does, really) but I really think it could serve to put an exclamation mark on an already exciting game.

Now I'm a big believer in that a racing game needs to have a tight soundtrack.  Songs have to be fast-paced and /or related to driving to a certain extent, although this is not set in stone.  Sega racers do this but not many others do.  I like to find licensed music that's awesome for the job.  Put them all in a folder on a flash drive, pop it into my Xbox 360, it sweetens the whole thing.  BTW, if you want supplemental material, read my super-old post on why I love the Sega soundtrack.

So back to your own custom racing setlists.  Forza 3 did something like this before.  As a promotion for this Microsoft Zune music service, Turn10 took a survey from the fan community to submit their favorite "racing music" per genre.  Then Turn10 compiled a bunch of setlists per genre (50 songs each) to download on Zune.  Now for some sucky reason, you cannot see this list without having created a Zune account...but thankfully, the Forza 3 game came with a Zune free trial so I used it to see what songs were on this list.  Particularly Classic Rock since that's my main genre.

I see some good songs (I'll save my "good songs" for another day) and some bad ones.  Like I'm not knocking on these songs, but when you hear songs like More Than a Feeling, Fortunate Son, Message in a Bottle, Do You Feel Like I Do, Money, and (get ready for it) SLOW RIDE (yes, that's right, a song about DRIVING SLOWLY), do race cars come to mind?  No, some of these are poppish/slow mellow songs and I don't know but they don't fit with racing.  But that's just me--some people may like driving to this (hell, that have friggin Classical music in this Forza setlist as well as in Project Gotham Racing 3/4), but I dunno, just my suggestion.

But anyway, about in-game soundtracks, games aren't going to have a bunch of high-profile songs so they either make their own soundtracks (Ridge Racer, Cruis'n games) or get a bunch of cheapo bands you've never heard of to get the job done (Need for Speed, Crazy Taxi on Xbox 360/PS3) EDIT: including Papa Roach with their cheeseball albums (Metamorphosis, etc.) that are perfect racing game fodder too.  Now neither isn't bad but when the music is boring and/or unmemorable, then those games tend to suck or be less exciting to me.  Like I can't recall a single tune from Fast and the Furious which makes that game even suckier than it already is.  Although from what I've experienced, I do think Need for Speed has done a decent job of picking songs so kudos to them (yes, I said it).

Anyway, what was I saying?  Ok, about reaching the climax of a song.  Imagine you're editing a racing movie.  You reach the climax of the film when the driver's on the last lap, trying to overtake his rival(s).  What kind of music are you going to play there?  Slow Ride (forget about it)?

  Although now that you mention it, I think Slow Ride would make a great song for crap movies like this.

Now some of my favorite racing songs have either great intros (Thunderstruck, Flirting With Disaster) while some have great outros (every Daytona 2 song, The Chain, Running Down a Dream).  So let's take running Down a Dream and put it in our climatic final race scene (likewise, you can begin the race with something with a great intro...get the hint??).  But you're not going to cue up just the middle portion of the song, you're gonna go for the ending guitar solo.  An exciting conclusion to the race is capped off with the exciting song.  It would cause your head to explode.

Skip to 2:50
 

Or how about Slingshot?

Skip to 3:25 for the GLORY NOTE!


So save the most exciting part of the song at the end of the race in order to convey the message, "Ok, this is the last lap, leave it all out on the track now!!"  Yeah, skipping around to other parts of the song (come on, seaming these parts together can't be THAT hard) may say weird but someone try it.  But what most racing games do is that they cue up the song and just play it through.  The race ends and the music stops.  Simple as that.  You may even end the song on no music at all (the song ends and you wait for the next one to begin).  Now that just sucks, especially if the race was really close.

Now what game does this?  Well, I hate to bring this up again, but it's.....Split/Second.  Well, I think so anyway.  If you watch this gameplay footage (ugh), you'll see that the music becomes a lot more apparent.  At least from what I see.  The music doesn't just jump from one section of the song to another but it does so in stride.



------------

So anyway, that's the two things that I want to point out about racing games.  There's also other stuff for me to talk about pertaining to racers, but I'll address them later.  This post has gone on long enough and it's really late so good night, good morning, good afternoon...whatever time of the day you happen to read this.

NEOgaf: Daytona Port & Who The Hell Is David Perry???

In my eternal quest to seek out as much Daytona USA/Sega-related material as possible, I ended up stumbling upon this recent Neogaf topic.  Now I don't post at Neogaf, I post at GameFAQs *groan* and maybe even the official Sega boards (which are up now so go post in topics like these ASAP!!!).

Anyway, this is the Neogaf topic: Why can't we have Sega Racing Classic (Daytona USA) on XBLA/PSN?  Good question.  I mean, I would set my sights a little higher (include Scud Race/Daytona 2/etc.) but a simple port?  It really doesn't seem THAT hard--the game's running on the Ringwide board which is high-tech stuff.  It would be a quick port for an old game that wouldn't be too hard to get up-and-running, would it? 

My only plausible theory is that Sega lost the source code for Daytona USA (oh no) and has only been able to implement minute changes like you see in Sega Racing Classic and in Daytona USA Turbo (a third-party hack BTW).  Maybe they could still work around it, but it would be difficult to hook up such a game with XBL/PSN (I think, I'm not sitting here with all the source code and whatnot).  So in theory, I'd wager a guess that we're more likely to get a port of the Daytona USA 2001 (Dreamcast) with reworked trademarks than we are to get the original Daytona USA/Sega Racing Classic.  EDIT: Consider that Daytona 2001 has better graphics so presumably they'll pick that one over the original 1994 version.  But the odds of both are very slim at this moment--wait for signs of life from Sega first before you get excited.

Or we can just play the "Sega sucks" card (which is always fun BTW) and bash Sega even more than we do now.  Makes sense, right.  That's the approach the NEOgaf thread takes--all 32 or so posts of it.  I'd also like to thank my friend twinturbo/ferrarimanf355 for posting the link to my Daytona 2 Forza 3 cars video for them to see.  But the rest of the topics are generic in nature--oh, why didn't Sega do this or do that, etc.

There are three posts I guess are worthy of being mentioned:

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Ditto for the original Sega Rally. That Sega has completely failed to monetise the two biggest arcade games ever in the home markets apart from terrible old Dreamcast ports speaks volumes about the company.
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That's quite true.  I think there's still a decent market for Daytona USA/Sega Rally players since the game was so popular and is still hanging around.  How hard would it be for Sega to "throw them a bone?"  People will pay attention.

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Originally Posted by FunnyBunny:

I dream of arcade-perfect ports of Virtua Racing, Daytona, Daytona 2, Sega Rally, Sega Rally 2, Scud Race/Super GT... all on one disc for $40.

You and 500,000 people requested the same thing. It will never happen because it makes sense.
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I don't think half-a-million people personally requested a new Daytona but like I said, if Sega throws the game out there (particularly a very small low-risk port of an already popular game), how can they lose?

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Originally Posted by sponk:

Sega seems to be trapped in a time paradoxon. These guys really need to remember their 90s roots, games like daytona, nights (a GOOD HD nights), panzer dragoon ( i cant believe they've let panzer dragoon die), story of thor (oasis), soleil, sonic cd (i said it), shining force (the Srpg) etc are just waiting to pull the money out of my sega heart. But ... no says the guy in tokio, this is what serves you right:

They made a Daytona for Dreamcast, it failed. They made a Panzer Dragoon for Xbox, it failed. They made a new Nights game, it failed. You can wrap "good" around every title, and believe them when they set out to and want to make good games. If the market doesn't like these games, why make more of them.


The only thing they have that has proven to sell is Sonic.


I love those games as much as anyone but the market has proven they don't give a s***. Like bringing back Alex Kidd or Fantasy Zone for the 5,000 people who care. Just isn't worth it to them.


BTW, SCUD Race/Super GT was never a good driving game. You could hardly call it a driving game. More like a slippery hovercar game. It exists in gamers minds because it was the pinnacle of graphics at the time and a somewhat hard to find and expensive arcade machine on release. Like the quote from Dave Perry at the time in a game magazine...people lined up to play San Fran Rush and banks of Super GT sitting there covered in dust. It just wasn't fun.
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To quote someone from Sonic Stadium, "Check out this bulls***."

Scud Race is a "hovercar simulator."  This guy probably played it once or twice, lost badly and got pissed so he goes from topic to topic, smack-talking the game any chance that he gets.  Yes, it's true that we're probably never getting a new Alex Kidd game, but I'd like to think that Scud Race & Daytona are MUCH more marketable than a 10-year-old kid with a mullet.  Besides, if Scud Race is a hovercar game, then what does that make Sega Rally (remember, he's a Sega "fan"), Ridge Racer, Mario Kart, and Fast and the Furious?  What a joke.

So what about this David (or Dave) Perry?  He's trashing Scud Race?  What interview, who is he?  No one else in the NEOgaf topic acknowledges this.  So I do some simple research looking up info on this David Perry bloke and here's what I come up with:

David Perry (born 1967) is an Northern Irish video game developer who has created dozens of video games, the best known of which include Earthworm Jim, MDK, Messiah, Wild 9 and Enter the Matrix. He also founded Shiny Entertainment, where he worked from 1993 to 2006. Shiny created games for many internationally known brands and companies, including Disney, 7 Up, McDonald's, Orion Pictures, and Warner Bros. In 2008 he was presented with an honorary doctorate from Queen's University Belfast for his services to computer gaming. - Wikipedia, holy s*** who else...

EDIT: Ehh, took this part out, it was irrelevant.  His studio Shiny Entertainment was bought out by Atari in 2002.  He now works for Acclaim.  He has a website where he interviewed big game guys like Eugene Jarvis and Tommy Tallarico.  It was too much unnecessary detail...

EDIT: Wait a sec, there's two David Perry's.  One guy is a game developer, the other's a game reviewer who worked on some magazines.  It was most likely the second David Perry who cursed the name of Scud Race...well this is embarrassing.  Whoops!  One interview, two interviews, none of which mention arcades but if he did insult Scud Race...well, who cares now, lol.  Or maybe he didn't insult Scud Race, he was probably stating a fact (a sad one indeed), therefore I got worked up over nothing...  Both David Perry's are probably schmucks anyway.

I hereby declare that this topic on David Perry SUCKS so please don't take this seriously.

Anyway, what am I getting at here?  Digging up dirt on some random game designer for a quote that he "may" have said?  What a waste of time.  But trust me, if there's a secret cabal of game devs from Criterion, Electronic Arts, Raw Thrills, Turn 10, Polyphony Digital (who's in no position to talk after dropping the ball on GT5) and Namco, laughing and lyin' and laughing at Sega, I'll reveal these jerks for who they are and take 'em down a notch.  At least I have the guts to say that their games suck to the world while they try to hide their contempt for Sega cause they're scared...

Oh, and I did find one more thing looking at this David Perry (the game designer) website.  How to pitch a game idea!  What's his idea?  It's actually really simple, but the best method is to get a job with the game company you want to pitch the game to, then pitch the game from within.  From a legal standpoint, you can't just start bombarding companies with stuff and expect them to listen.  It's not that easy.

So I ask you Sega fans this--what are YOU doing about this?  My best advice--get a job with Sega, even as a janitor.  What I plan to do.  We need soldiers to enter the belly of the leviathan.  If no one will, how the HELL else do we expect Sega to change?  Who's populated the Sega studios anyway, people just looking for a buck or people who actually WANT TO MAKE GOOD GAMES???

That is not to say that fan campaigns are useless.  I'll probably touch on those later.

I'm done.  Why does the format for this entry suck so bad?  Thanks Blogspot, you suck.

Top 10 Things I'd Change About Daytona USA 2

Yes, this is one topic I was thinking up for some time, but let's get this in here now. 

Yes, this is strange cause after looking around this blog, you'd think Daytona could do no wrong...well, that's not true.  After writing my post on problems with Daytona USA for Dreamcast, I thought it might seem a bit unfair that I'm playing favorites with the Sega racing games...  Hey look, I may like these games, but I call them as I see it.  Perfect games don't exist.  You can get as close as you can to perfection, but you can't actually achieve it.  Daytona 2 is one of those games that comes as close to perfection as you can get, mostly because of its theme, sense of speed, soundtrack, and other intangibles.

I'm not going to include content-related things like "add more cars/tracks" or "improve the graphics" because that would be too obvious.  This would normally be classified as a Top 10 list, but these are in no particular order.  Here we go:

1. The visual car damage is a bit ridiculous.  In terms of car "violence," this is probably one of Sega's most brutal titles.  You can tell AM2 was going for the intense, edgy racing experience.  This was before the days of Burnout and I can tell someone will make the comparison, although as I've said before, in Daytona 2, crashes aren't "rewarded" like they are in Burnout so the point is moot.

In a standard race against AI opponents, it's nearly impossible to complete a race without having your hood or trunk come loose, catching air and increasing wind resistance.  Thankfully damage has little to no effect on car performance unless you're in an endurance race.  It's just weird--all it takes is one guy to just swerve towards you and your blemish-free car is trashed.  I think if they toned down the amount of visual damage it would be better since it seems like AM2 got a bit carried away here, trying to make it drastically different from Daytona 1.

2. I think they should have stuck with the Battle on the Edge physics.  When it comes to the Power Edition handling, I feel it's too easy.  The cars' skidpad/downforce ratings are rather forgiving and you can do fairly well in the Chums Gum or Scorpio cars by just "Gran Turismo"-ing it (no drifts, just regular grip cornering).  Don't get me wrong--if you can perform at the top level, then the Phantom is still worth it.  But I feel that Battle on the Edge physics are much more rewarding.

Besides, I felt that Scud Race was slightly harder than Daytona 2: PE so I think a difficulty hike is in order.  However, this is coming from someone who's hardly played Scud Race so what do I know...?

3. Fix the force feedback on the deluxe cabinet during drifts.  This is the deluxe cabinet:

Now, what do I mean...?  Well, when you turn left and right like normal, the cabinet shifts like you're in an actual car.  Cool.  But when you lock the car into a drift, the seat sort of shifts back into the neutral position and just stays there.  Not sure why is does that--give more emphasis on the drifts...

4. Another funny little easter egg that Sega AM2 added is that you can complete a race driving backwards.  Yes, you could do it in Daytona 1/2001/whatever.  Basically, just turn around and complete laps like normal, you'll get time extensions and lap progress although your position will be last.  In Daytona 2001, you unlocked a secret car by finishing a race in reverse so Sega was definitely self-aware...

So you can finish a race driving backwards (or, as the game says, the "wrong way"), but how it goes down is somewhat awkward.  As you drive headfirst into oncoming traffic, your car just sort of rubs off the other cars and you lose a little speed but that's it.  I'm not exactly sure why this is...I guess they were trying to prevent players from cheesing others by driving in reverse...  Whatever, take a look:



I actually did manage to finish a race in reverse this way.  Was rather funny although you had to hang low in the track to avoid as many collisions as possible.

5. Sometimes, the pit chief needs to shut the hell up.  I understand that in Daytona USA 1, your "cowboy" pit chief said the same five things over and over again.  In this game, there's little improvement.  Still sounds robotic in a sense.  The guy's voice is so boisterous, particularly in Power Edition over the radio.  I also love how he says "There's a crash coming out of turn three, watch yourself!!" at the beginning of every Advanced course race, EVEN WHEN YOU'RE PLAYING IN TIME LAP MODE.

Go to 4:37:



6. Better competitive multiplayer?  What I mean is that in Daytona 1, it was possible for players to push each other around.  In Daytona 2, I think they cut down on that so you can hardly impose your will on the other players.  Now I'm not asking for Forza wrecks here where you die just from one little love tap, but come on, if I want to throw a little muscle, let me do it.

I don't really know that much about it since I've hardly played multiplayer.  Though I've won every time that I have, oh yeah.  I'm just listening to opinions from other players here.

7. Make the AI cars more competitive.  It's kind of sad that within a minute of the race, the division between the grid is so vast.  The last place car is going 150 mph, the first place is going 200.  Now I see what Sega was getting at here--using the cars as a "meter stick."  For instance, if you come in 20th one race then 15th in the next, you feel like you've improved.  While the AI cars in Daytona 2 are a lot more aggressive than those in Daytona 1/2001, I felt that they could've upped the ante and make you feel like you're more "on par" with the other cars in terms of performance.

Another thing that's funny is that the AI cars never drift in turns.  Come on, let me see some drifts, people.  Also the ridiculous AI cars just catching on fire doesn't make much sense either--that's another thing there just to be edgy--avoid flaming cars or you'll die!!  I just want the AI to be more "realistic" to make it seem like you're driving among 39 other human players rather than just cookie-cutter drones...it would be much more enriching that way.

8. Oh come on, you gotta keep the original Palm Rock Valley course from Battle on the Edge!  It's one of Sega's greatest examples of stunning visuals!  The Power Edition NASCAR course ain't bad though.  It's a tough call but I always tend to err towards scenery porn (lol) so please forgive me.  Maybe an option to choose between the two...?

See the "Wrong Way" video above for Palm Rock Valley footage.

9. Is the Hornet car in Power Edition screwed up, yes or no?  Now, I remember playing as the Hornet in Daytona 2 (it was my first car actually, lol).  It is very easy to drift, but it also felt too jerky.  Now I'm not sure what exactly is the cause.  Sometimes, a cabinet's setup can determine how the control turns out BIG TIME.

I remember one time I was playing San Francisco Rush at a Chuck E. Cheese's a while back and the wheel was so loose that the force feedback made it impossible to play.  Every time I would land from a jump, I would just lose control over the car and crash.  Then I go back a month later and the force feedback is fixed.  Then I proceed to dominate the Expert course with the Corvette Stingray.  So I don't doubt that the hardware can be to blame.

I just want the Hornet to A. more faithfully reproduce the handling from Daytona 1 and B. be competitive with the Daytona 2 cars.

10. This is probably the most unusual problem to remedy.  In some instances in the game, when you're going for WR times, it is more advantageous to smash into the wall rather than to brake like normal.  We saw this in Daytona 1, we saw this in Scud Race, and we see it here.  Go to 1:32:



Clearly, the reason why he wrecks is because it allows him to drive at top speed for a longer period of time.  The car reinstates itself back on the road in a predictable fashion.  Car damage has no repercussions whatsoever so the rest of the lap times are on pace.

Now...what I'm trying to say is that I wish this were never the case.  As long as car damage is only visual, you can't stop people from plowing into the wall.  We also saw something like this in Project Gotham Racing and even in Gran Turismo where it would be more advantageous to use the wall rather than the brakes to slow down.  Anyone who has played Gran Turismo has wall-rided on that sharp turn in Trial Mountain, don't lie...

What can be done to fix this?  Maybe reduce the amount of speed lost by wall contact (and grass for that matter) and make the ensuing grip loss less predictable.  That way wrecks are punishable and aren't a substitute for technical use of the brakes/gear shifter.  I assume this will work, but obviously I don't have my hands on the source code and thus can't mess with it and test it out.

There's no telling that even if you change the source code that there will still be some sort of crash exploit in the first place so I don't know to what extent this can be remedied.

------------

Anyway, now you know about Daytona USA 2.  I told you I'll lay it down on the table for you.  Still a great game, I love it so much, it makes me happy.  Sega, you can improve on an already great game.  And hopefully this'll do it for now since I've wracked my brain enough for now...

California Speed -- Garbage With REDEEMING QUALITIES

Well, everyone knows about Midway (they're long gone now).  The Cruis'n series was Midway's bread-and-butter racing series.  At first, there was Cruis'n USA.  Then they expanded their sights larger and made Cruis'n World.  Then they decided to "up the ante" with Cruis'n Exotica which covered more intriguing locations not covered in the prequel.

However, let's focus on Atari Games.  In 1996, they were consumed by Midway.  Atari Games was renamed to Midway Games West to avoid confusion with regular old Midway.  Atari was responsible for some old school games like Paperboy, Marble Madness, S.T.U.N. Runner, Super Sprint, Hard Drivin', Gauntlet, Area 51, and so forth.  Read more here.

But Atari isn't the main focus of this article.  It's about California Speed.  You see, while Midway was cooking up Cruis'n games, Atari was cooking up Rush games (SF Rush, Rush 2, Rush 2049).  Now IMO, I think the Rush series is far superior to the Cruis'n series.  However, Atari, seeing what their Midway brethren had done, also felt the need to get their hands dirty and make their own Cruis'n style game and they called it California Speed.

Supplemental Material: San Francisco Rush N64, Cruis'n World N64.

Why not California?  The largest state in size and population in the continental US.  Highest and lowest altitudes in the continental US (Mt. Whitney and Death Valley respectively).  It has the 7th-10th largest GDP in the world.  Its population also consists of 7.3% illegal immigrants, voted heavily Democrat in the last 20 years, and in San Francisco, you can't buy Happy Meals with toys anymore.  What else do you need to know...

So while Midway was going BIG, Atari was going SMALL.  The state of California packs more action in it than most of the world combined.  And for the most part, they're right.  Along with big cities and noticeable landmarks, California Speed contains plenty of crazy courses and environments in it, such as supercomputers, roller coasters, shopping malls, and so forth.  Midway only started to up the ante with Cruis'n Exotica and by then the "crap racer" genre has already overstayed its welcome...

In retrospect: Cruis'n World was released 1996 (arcade) and 1998 (N64) while California Speed was released in 1998 (arcade) and 1999 (N64).  I'm not even going to talk about the arcade version since it sucks IMO (mostly because of the music).  This one's entirely about the N64.

However, despite the "praise" I give to California Speed, lest you forget this is still a mediocre racing game only exceeding the Cruis'n series in certain aspects.  The handling and graphics in California Speed is awfully similar to that of San Francisco Rush--like Atari just took the source code, ripped it to pieces, and tried to make an awful Cruis'n clone.  I think that the Cruis'n games have sharper visuals and you'll notice Rush's blotchy visuals and sparse detail in selection locations will come into play.

Which one has the better sense of speed is debatable.  California Speed cars top 180 mph while Cruis'n World cars average 150 mph although the latter allow higher speeds due to upgrades.  You make up your own minds there.  Either way, I think both games' sense of speed is rather dry so neither is too spectacular IMO.  I know that California Speed has the longer courses of the two, clocking in at over 2:30 while Cruis'n World's last around a mediocre 1:45 per run.

In California Speed, your car is much more glued to the road, you can't explode, you can't do stunts, and you can't even flip into the air.  At least in Cruis'n games, you have to avoid contact with other stuff and turn on a dime.  In California Speed, there is relatively less interaction with the game as you generally cruise forward dodging occasional traffic.  In one old review (IGN's if I recall), they described the game as a "one-finger game"--that you only need one finger to succeed and that is hold the gas and that's it.  You can bounce off everything and you can't fail.  On the other hand, the AI cars are way too stingy and will ride your ass the whole way unless you don't touch anything, so that's weird.

But regardless, let's get to the game footage, which I find fascinating for some reason.  The car selection is rather bland, but it has some funny as hell cars, like a golf cart or a forklift.  Also, the music in the N64 game just kicks ass--I can't explain why, but some of it is damn good driving music.  So here we go:

Los Angeles:

Drive down interstate, through an aqueduct, then through Beverly Hills.  Pretty standard stuff but the music is AWESOME.  I also love how the guy destroys a tree at 2:17 and doesn't lose any speed whatsoever.

Santa Cruz:

This track starts of normally then it's blandness continues for a while until you start driving on a roller coaster.  Holy crap.

Monterey:

Drive along a beach (the water doesn't slow you down at all WTF), then through an aquarium (Scud Race Underwater Tunnel!!) and then along a golf course.  This game knows no bounds.

San Francisco:

A fairly decent replica of San Fran with the hills and the row houses.  BTW, you don't just drive on the Golden Gate Bridge, you drive UP the sides.  You can see some elements from the old Rush games here, such as the sneaky subway tunnel.

Yosemite:

BOY, this stage has a TON of elevation changes.  Otherwise, just your normal outdoor stage.  Flopping through the river and trees and whatnot.  Not a big fan of the New Age Techno, but it does sound like Rush 2 music to me.

Central Valley:

Well gee golly, if this isn't the greatest banjo pluckin' I've ever heard.  The music changes to some sexy disco beat in the mall.  DAMN, this is the world's longest mall--must be 5 mi / 8 km long.  You could actually "hit" sprite people in the arcade version, but not here.

San Diego:

JUMP THE BORDER WOOHOO!  You drive on aircraft carriers and stuff.  Yo, look at this dude in the golf cart at 1:50 LOLOLOLOL

Mojave Desert:

You drive through a desert, a military base, then into a large UFO.  It's stupid but I love this damn song for some reason.

Mt. Shasta:

Wow, the volcano level.  You'll see that a lot of out the wilderness areas in this game are relatively similar (just trees and crap) but then you enter that volcano which looks like Red Mountain from Sonic Adventure.

Silicon Valley:

This is the big supercomputer level.  This one's pretty cool.

That's about it in terms of tracks.  There's also Highway 1, and some other crap bonus courses like Fuji Speedway (although that's in JAPAN), San Andreas fault, and a small replica of California.  There's also Laguna Seca and Sears Point, but I think those are only available in the arcade version.  You do your own research.  Overall, the game sucks and has nothing on Sega who was busy kicking ass with Daytona USA at this point in history (1998-1999), but it shows that some other developers out there "have it" when it comes to making crazy racing games.  So adios, amigos.

Furries Love Daytona USA 2 (Including Other Crazy Characters)

I had this in my back pocket for a while but I figure I might as well post it.  I never expected this...

Doesn't really bother me, it's kind of cool.  Actually, it looks like he's doing a good job.  Oh, and let's not get into a furry rant--I mean, it's just a NORMAL FURSUITER playing an EXCELLENT GAME.

Ooh, look another picture, this one with Rush 2049, just to piss off the furry haters:

Link to the dude's account so it's not like I'm stealing anything

Speaking of which, I remember back at Chuck E. Cheese's a couple of years ago, I was playing San Francisco Rush and I was playing with this little black kid and we were making jokes and stuff.  It was rather funny.  Ok, what does that have to do with a fursuiter...well, crazy characters welcome, I guess (well as long as they're not murderers, rapists, and other contemptible fools who don't deserve the pleasure).  Wouldn't it be bad to play Daytona USA with an old woman?  That day reminded me of this:

I actually remember around 2003 I went to the arcade with my grandmother and she watched me beast it up on Daytona USA 2...she didn't play though.  She did play Project Gotham Racing for the Xbox once though.  She died two years later of cancer.  Definitely a sad moment.

EDIT: Let's throw in some more fun pics, let's get 'em in here:

I'm Popeye the sailor man...

(forgot where I found this pic) 

When it's time to party we will always party hard, party hard, party hard... (got pic from here)

BAHAHAHA, THIS IS GOLD.  Businessman playing Fast and the Furious Bikes.

Looking baffled with that blank stare, thinking "What the hell is this crap?" 

 Now this is stranger than the furry pic IMO.

(forgot where I found this pic) 

Now if you excuse me, I'm gonna go blow another $50 on Rock Band DLC.  Oh darn, just realized I'm broke right now.  HAHA

Ding Dong, The Witch Is Dead? (Midway/Cruis'n Games/etc.)

http://kotaku.com/5612465/so-long-midway-and-thanks-for-smash-tv

Feb '09, Midway declared bankrupcy (which explains why Midway games like Smash TV, Paperboy, and Root Beer Tapper were taken on XBLA).  Apparently, today, all the studios are gone forever or are sold to someone else, as you can tell by the Midway logo in the trash can.  I'm going to say a few words--I'm not going to kick the company while its down but I'm not going to give an eulogy either.

BUT FIRST, let me just say that I'm going into the Cruis'n series quite a bit here.  Before you all call me a fanboy, a whiner, a stupid idiot who doesn't know anything, let me just say that I have played A TON of Cruis'n World and Cruis'n USA in arcades and on the N64.  I sat there with my little N64 racing wheel and got 9,999 points on Cruis'n World, unlocked the Speed Demon as well as all the other cars (except for the Tommy which I think is impossible).  I also set a world record on Cruis'n USA which I think may have been beaten right about now, but since the site that held the record has disappeared, it's really nothing right about now.  What I'm trying to say is that I've spent a copious amount of time playing these games so you can't say I don't know anything about them.

Probably the hardest track in the history of racing games.

Midway has always been a punching bag of mine, mostly because of its IMO mediocre Cruis'n series which has turned Sega racing games into an endangered species as far as I'm concerned.  That latter reason is why I take this a little personally, otherwise it can exist all it wants and I don't care.  But you kind of have to give Midway some credit for they've really pushed arcades ahead in America such as Paperboy, Smash TV, Root Beer Tapper, Defender, Joust, Gauntlet, etc.  They were kind of a "we make whatever games we want and you can't tell us otherwise" developer.  Plus they've released a ton of their arcade games in their Arcade Treasures series (although the emulation wasn't 100% perfect).

Cruis'n Series: There's Cruis'n USA, Cruis'n World, and Cruis'n Exotica, three arcade games that came home on ports for various consoles.  John Marine wrote a pretty good article on this here.  Well, what's my problem with these games?  Well, let me go with what I really don't like about it...

* It's a twitch racer.  Basically, the main difficulty with the game is not hitting the driving lines, instead its simply reacing to turns and oncoming traffic.  Most tracks anyway, some like Chicago and Redwood Forest in Cruis'n USA are insanely difficult.

* No need to use the brake at all.  Very little need for skill and not much room to improve yourself.  Flips, barrel rolls, etc take some skill to do but that's about it.

* Collision detection.  If you're driving along and you make a little love tap with another racer, just flip two coins, one for yourself, one for the other guy.  If the coin lands on heads, spin out.  If tails, lose about 2 mph and keep going.  Basically, it's just like a random integer that causes you to spin out for no reason whatsoever.  For some reason, the likelihood of a spinout is much less in Cruis'n USA which means it got worse then on IMO.

* Rubber band AI.  OH MAN DO I HATE THIS.  You can be in the lead, cruis'n, first place, not doing anything wrong, hitting whatever racing lines may exist, but the computer will still be riding your ass the whole way.  Sometimes when I'm playing this (this is mostly in the arcade version for obvious reasons) I lose and it just makes me want to punch the screen.  And another thing Midway has the kindness to do is offer a "free race" to those who come in first, but you might as well play a light stopper game if you want freebies.

* Time limit is too generous.  Races are too short, some lasting at least 1:30 or longer, depending on how well you drive.

* This one's for the arcade versions of Cruis'n World and Exotica, I'm looking right at you.  When you're on the Kenya track or whatever, little sprite animals like zebras and elephants can wander right out onto the track.  What happens when you hit them?  They explode into blood chunk giblets that fly all over the place.  PETA should've sued Midway for this.  Anyway, I might've found this entertaining...if I were a five year old who likes making farting noises with my armpits and making death threats against Barney the Dinosaur.

NEW FOOTAGE:

About as gruesome as a shotgun-wielding lunatic at a furry convention.

On the other hand, there's a few good things I can say about the Cruis'n games and that is it's got a decent "vibe."  Like it's a game that doesn't take itself seriously.  Good music, good menus, cool cars, a decent sense of speed.  It's not the worse game I've ever played...but at someone whose standards are way up high, I don't know, I just can't take it at all.

Cruis'n USA came out in '94, nearly the same time as Daytona USA and Ridge Racer.

The original Cruis'n USA had a Ferrari Testarossa, '63 Corvette Stingray, a Jaguar XJ220, and some weird '30's Chevy...thing.  The cars were cool and the music was good which IMO makes Cruis'n USA the best in the series.  That was before the series took a dive into Darth Vader territory with a bunch of ridiculous cars like little Beetles, Hummers, that 3-wheel truck thing, as well as flips and stuff which really make zero sense in any racing game as far as I'm concerned.  This game even has drifting which really doesn't make any sense other than to do heli spins moves.

Like I said about the Cruis'n games, they're games that you can't take seriously.  I mean, when I'm playing Daytona USA or OutRun, I always gotta do my best, but here, it's just stupid fun.  But that's the main problem--it's something that NO ONE takes seriously!  It's a game that the average Joe arcade gamer throws money at and then quits because they don't feel like playing a game like Daytona USA and busting their ass to get better at it.  And that's why I think the Cruis'n games are dominating the arcades.  And that's why I have a vendetta against them.

Everything Else: I could've gone into a long list of games but since this article's too long anyway, let's just sum it up quickly.

Mortal Kombat, their most prized possession.  Personally, despite the violence, I never saw it as that great of a fighting series because it mostly ran on the blood gimmick.  The later 3d series has really improved it's visage when compared to serious contenders like Street Fighter, Tekken, etc.  Not going to comment much since fighting games aren't my forte.

NFL Blitz and NBA Jam, not bad.  They got numerous home ports (including a new NBA Jam game coming soon) and they are pretty goofy.  Although I prefer NFL Street, Blitz is basically rugby with QBs and RBs throwing the ball 50 yards with a perfect spiral and late hits and all that crap.  Still, it's good fun and it's pretty easy to pick up.  NBA Jam, fun too.  Decent sports games.

San Francisco Rush, probably their best game IMO.  Decent racing game with low gravity, the tracks are cool, tons of secrets.  And get this, YOU HAVE TO USE THE BRAKES.  Rush 2049 is a good arcade game that actually warrants some replay value (finding coins, gaining miles), but it didn't last long.  Too bad the N64 versions were graphically underwhelming even by N64 standards.

Rampage, basically you play as three Godzilla-sized monsters and go punch buildings and eat people.  Game really makes zero sense whatsoever but I can see little kids getting a kick out of it.  The game basically becomes a "don't lose your HP" game as tanks and helicopters shoot you up and I never really could do anything to stop it.  So yeah, this one's stupid.  BAD.

Area 51 and Lethal Enforcers, compared to Time Crisis and Virtua Cop, this one's just laughable.  There's no way to avoid getting hit so it's really up to level memorization to beat the game.  At least there's a few cool secret items and rooms and crap.

Hydro Thunder, everyone knows about this one.  It's a boat racer which is pretty cool and it's basically in every arcade in the world.  It's one of Midway's best products, but I'm not bombastic all over it.  Check out the new H2O Overdrive for arcades or the Hydro Thunder game for XBLA if you're so inclined.

California Speed, the bastard child of Cruis'n World and San Franciso Rush.  It's basically like Rush but you can't blow up and are glued to the road.  It's got some crazy locales like Silicon Valley and Mojave Desert which leads to environments such as large supercomputers, UFOs, volcanoes, large shopping malls, roller coasters, etc.  It's still a pretty crappy game though.

Revolution X, remember this gem?  It's got Aerosmith in it, but still, not even they can save it.  Why AEROSMITH WHY??

Remember, music is the weapon.

Primal Rage, a bunch of dinosaurs punching each other in a blood bath to the death.  Evo and Major League Gaming is considering adding this one to their lineup.

I could really go on, but that's about it.  After '09, Ed Boon (Mortal Kombat creator) continues to work at the old Midway Chicago studio under Warner Bros.  Eugene Jarvis (Cruis'n creator) bailed out and created his own company called Raw Thrills where he can spam Cruis'n and Area 51 clones to screw us over in the 21st century!  Fast and the Furious = game of the century.  So I guess you can say Midway really isn't "dead."

Anyway, bankrupcy can be bad and there's probably some Midway fans hurting right about now.  But what if something like this happened to Sega?  Didn't they come close to biting the bullet after the Dreamcast?  I don't know, it's just something scary to think about.  If Sega is gone, not only would you lose Daytona USA, but any chance of sequels!  Plus Sonic the Hedgehog, which would make tons of kids and the UK cry.  I'm outta here, adios.