Retro racers that put the genre where it is now

Its the weekend and this guy just feels like writing, as a family man there was plenty to be done around the house but it was done in record time so i could get down to the important business of brainstorming ideas for blogs and reviews with plenty of research and reminiscing about a lot of what i have got down on paper so to speak today.

Racing sims today are a highly polished affair, slick controls, smooth as hell textures, fine detailing on the cars and the environments are just light years from the predecessors from years gone by, today we have the cherry on top with Grand Turismo and also others such as Project Cars, the F1 series, Forza and Need for Speed (underground 2, riders on the storm boys, riders on the storm), but for every finely polished current gen title racing sim there is a grandfather that has blazed the trail so that these games could exist.

Today we look over and reminisce over some titles from the 80's and 90's, some may well still live in our memories due to the complete joy they brought and some we may well just have forgotten due to father time. I played all these titles and my gaming education would not be the same without them. 

The 1980's 

Outrun (Sega 1986)

Outrun was as simple as a racer could get and from what i recall was one of the trail blazers to make the jump between arcade and home computer. Simply jump in the Ferrari (i believe this is what Sega wanted you to think) grab your girl and race the clock between various, stages,simple really. the success of outrun meant other developers got in on the act and later we had titles such as Lotus Esprit Turbo Challange with 2 sequels, definitely with more depth that Outrun, we had a few cars to choose from, racing for position as well as the clock, post race garage segments, but we have to tip our hat to sega and outrun as they did indeed get in first even if it was a more basic version it was one of the originals.

Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge

 1990's

Super Cars I & II (Gremlin, 1991 & 92)

Gremlin were absolute wizards in this age of gaming testimony to that is how quickly the helped to get Lotus Esprit and Super Cars out (not to mention non racing titles, Zool, Premiership Manager, Gauntlet to name a few)

Super cars was slightly different in that the shot of the car was above the car instead of from the back. Super Cars like Lotus has a big emphasis on race position, but also very strong post race cut scene and player options to gain things like sponsorship money, having to navigate tricky choices could make massive a massive impact on affordability to purchase vehicle upgrades or indeed weaponry, yup in  Super Cars we has the opportunity to purchase items such as front and rear missiles and landmines adding that extra edge to the racing.

Post race cut scene where we try to get out of paying a hefty fine

Super Cars is a very solid title, one that i have went back to on the WinUAE Amiga emulator on numerous occasions.

Sega Rally (Sega 1994)

I actually never owned Sega Rally on console but spent quite a lot of my time playing the arcade version whilst at high school, lunch times spent buying the minimum amount of food to keep me going and spending the remainder on things such as Sega Rally are memories i think of fondly and wouldn't change, with most arcade games like this once that coin passed the slot and the game was active it was loud, people would look and yeah i felt like a boss. Most arcades or in my case bowling alley's would have Sega Rally or its equally entertaining cousin Daytona USA, equally as satisfying.

The game had limited shelf life if i am honest i mean its a racer and a arcade racer so it wasn't expected to be a super long game, a handful of stages of increasing difficulty to navigate (i don't believe i ever reached the end of the game). Very sharp colours as you can see despite the surroundings being a bit square. for its time not a bad game at all, but on that road to where we are now with racers its not a patch on them.

Destruction Derby (Ubisoft 1995)

Not your typical racer as the title suggests, destruction was the name of the game, the race feature was great, being able to race and wreck there opponents was most satisfying plus the derby mode was awesome. one big pile of  twisted metal until one remained, a great novelty feature to a racer (a type of battle royale i can get behind, (P.S Fortnite sucks)

Graphically we are talking similar to that of the Sega rally's of the genre, textures not that smooth but game play is fine, actually one title on this list i would love to see made into a current gen game. Note that this was the beginning of some moderately realistic damage to cars. 

The racer list is substantial perhaps too long for one blog, i would pay homage to the following as pretty decent racers

Colin McCrae Rally (Codemasters 1998)

F1 (N64 version)  (Paradigm Entertainment 1998)

Ridge Racer (Namco 1993)

F-Zero - Super Nintendo (Nintendo 1998)

Top Gear Rally (Nintendo/Kemco/Midway) 1997 - the customisation feature was so bad it was good, microsoft paint meets racing sim

Note the exclusion of two very strong titles Mario Kart and Wipeout. both titles at some point will get my attention in the shape of a blog because they deserve a stand alone review. I have yet to come across a being on this rock who hasn't played Mario Kart and dislikes it, the perfect blend of racing prowess, timing and just plain evilness with weaponry, one of Nintendo's strongest games and franchises, and Wipeout, the sound track alone transports me to a place where i was into my mid teens and deep progressive trance music infused into video games and what a trip it was.

I'm off to boot up WinUAE and spend the rest of the afternoon switching between super cars II, APB and Stunt Car Racer. Happy Gaming until next time.