Tokyo Extreme Racer
May 9, 2007 10:53:48 GMT -5
Post by ninjarygar on May 9, 2007 10:53:48 GMT -5
I own this little number for Dreamcast. It was the first Dreamcast game I got.
I'm not into racing games all that much... but this one was different. It was a BATTLE racing game. Your cars didn't race from point A to point B, you had to deplete your opponent's health by staying in front of them. The farther ahead of the opponent you were, the faster their health would go down. There was no damage done to your car when you crashed into things... you'd simply bounce off and continue to race. And you'd crash often because this wasn't on a closed course, you battled rival gangs on the Tokyo freeway while traffic drove on the streets too. It was really awesome.
In the game you buy a car, and you give it your own fine tuning. Then you take it out on the highway... looking for rivals. When you spot a car you want to race... you flash your highbeams at them. A race will start. When you finish off every member of a gang, the gang leader will appear and flash HIS highbeams at you... when you finish off all the gangs, and the "four devils" you'll become a street racing legend.
Adding details to your car was alot of fun, and it was the first game I played that gave you so much to choose from. Ground kits, tires, spoilers, paints, decals, mufflers and other cosmetic details were all yours. You could even choose what side mirrors you wanted for your cars. I know this is a common feature in racers today... but it was really impressive to me HOW much you could modify your car.
As far as I know... this game is the first "street racing" game of it's kind. Fast and furious hadn't been released in theaters yet, and the whole scene was pretty unknown to most. There was only a small portion of the highway available, and the control was a bit difficult, but the game is really great because of how different it was.
I wanted to suggest the music in this game though. The music... is awesome. It's pop-techno-rock... whatever you want to call it.... it's good. Check it out sometime if you can find it.
www.sevenhertz.net/Images/ninjarygar/06_spirit.mp3 One of the many racing tunes
www.sevenhertz.net/Images/ninjarygar/08_cross_road.mp3 One of the "cruising around looking for rivals." tunes.
www.sevenhertz.net/Images/ninjarygar/11_let_me_go_(vocal).mp3 Plays during the instant replay. Warning: it's vocal.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is how many games came out in this overlooked series.
Tokyo Extreme Racer (Dreamcast)
Tokyo Extreme Racer 2 (Dreamcast) Music isn't bad in this one, but not as good as the first game.
Tokyo Extreme Racer Zero (PS2) This game is the BEST in the series... and all the music is remixed tracks from the first and second game... a little fan serivice for the 3 people who bought the first 2.
Tokyo Extreme Racer 3 (PS2) They dropped the street racing idea... used licenced car names, and the music sucks. Not only that but it's pretty glitchy. Total budget title. In order to get the licenses for the cars, they had to abandon the illeagal Street racing idea.... so instead of crashing into normal cars in traffic... there were these big ass vans everywhere that were supposedly "camera crews". They added new cities but they weren't anywhere near the size of Tokyo. At this time too... racing games were getting better and better looking... and this little series just couldn't keep up.
Tokyo Extreme Racer Advance (GBA) Sucks. No matter what car you buy... they all look exactly the same. And there's really no customizing.
Tokyo Extreme Racer "Tokyo Drift" (PS2) I haven't played it... I can say this though... they had the game was released before the Fast and Furious movie. Friend of mine played it and he said it revolves around drifting... and the control sucks and the music sucks.
So as you can see... the series went to shit after TXR0. However.... it's still an unknown, obscure street racing series that MAY HAVE been responsible for the street racing trend we saw in the PS2 era. I think it deserves a little more coverage than what it has.
I'm not into racing games all that much... but this one was different. It was a BATTLE racing game. Your cars didn't race from point A to point B, you had to deplete your opponent's health by staying in front of them. The farther ahead of the opponent you were, the faster their health would go down. There was no damage done to your car when you crashed into things... you'd simply bounce off and continue to race. And you'd crash often because this wasn't on a closed course, you battled rival gangs on the Tokyo freeway while traffic drove on the streets too. It was really awesome.
In the game you buy a car, and you give it your own fine tuning. Then you take it out on the highway... looking for rivals. When you spot a car you want to race... you flash your highbeams at them. A race will start. When you finish off every member of a gang, the gang leader will appear and flash HIS highbeams at you... when you finish off all the gangs, and the "four devils" you'll become a street racing legend.
Adding details to your car was alot of fun, and it was the first game I played that gave you so much to choose from. Ground kits, tires, spoilers, paints, decals, mufflers and other cosmetic details were all yours. You could even choose what side mirrors you wanted for your cars. I know this is a common feature in racers today... but it was really impressive to me HOW much you could modify your car.
As far as I know... this game is the first "street racing" game of it's kind. Fast and furious hadn't been released in theaters yet, and the whole scene was pretty unknown to most. There was only a small portion of the highway available, and the control was a bit difficult, but the game is really great because of how different it was.
I wanted to suggest the music in this game though. The music... is awesome. It's pop-techno-rock... whatever you want to call it.... it's good. Check it out sometime if you can find it.
www.sevenhertz.net/Images/ninjarygar/06_spirit.mp3 One of the many racing tunes
www.sevenhertz.net/Images/ninjarygar/08_cross_road.mp3 One of the "cruising around looking for rivals." tunes.
www.sevenhertz.net/Images/ninjarygar/11_let_me_go_(vocal).mp3 Plays during the instant replay. Warning: it's vocal.
I'm not 100% sure, but I think this is how many games came out in this overlooked series.
Tokyo Extreme Racer (Dreamcast)
Tokyo Extreme Racer 2 (Dreamcast) Music isn't bad in this one, but not as good as the first game.
Tokyo Extreme Racer Zero (PS2) This game is the BEST in the series... and all the music is remixed tracks from the first and second game... a little fan serivice for the 3 people who bought the first 2.
Tokyo Extreme Racer 3 (PS2) They dropped the street racing idea... used licenced car names, and the music sucks. Not only that but it's pretty glitchy. Total budget title. In order to get the licenses for the cars, they had to abandon the illeagal Street racing idea.... so instead of crashing into normal cars in traffic... there were these big ass vans everywhere that were supposedly "camera crews". They added new cities but they weren't anywhere near the size of Tokyo. At this time too... racing games were getting better and better looking... and this little series just couldn't keep up.
Tokyo Extreme Racer Advance (GBA) Sucks. No matter what car you buy... they all look exactly the same. And there's really no customizing.
Tokyo Extreme Racer "Tokyo Drift" (PS2) I haven't played it... I can say this though... they had the game was released before the Fast and Furious movie. Friend of mine played it and he said it revolves around drifting... and the control sucks and the music sucks.
So as you can see... the series went to shit after TXR0. However.... it's still an unknown, obscure street racing series that MAY HAVE been responsible for the street racing trend we saw in the PS2 era. I think it deserves a little more coverage than what it has.
