GENRE
	Racing
	DEVELOPER
	Squaresoft
	PUBLISHER
	Nintendo
	NUMBER OF PLAYERS
	1
	WORTH PLAYING TODAY?
	yes
	BUY NOW AT

Rad Racer is probably the most popular racing title on the NES and this is probably due to its presence in the movie the Wizard, which, for those of you who remember the film, was based on everything Nintendo. However, the popularity of Rad Racer doesn’t only stem from this source because those of you who remember this game will remember that it was a thing of pure beauty. Rad Racer was beyond its time. Rad Racer was racing.

visuals

There aren’t very many different graphics in this game as the scope of the work is very small when operating on an 8-bit machine so this allowed Square to really shine with what little graphics they had to make. The two different car models you get to choose from are very good looking and consist of a fair share of detail. However, as expected, the opposing vehicles are not quite as impressive visually as yours and they come painted up in three solid shades that symbolize their different driving characteristics.

The scenery is pretty much stationary in the background as far as draw-in is concerned but it does scroll from left to right when you are making turns. Each track you drive on is from a different part of the world geographically and has the appropriate background and foreground scenery that you would expect to find there.

Another nice touch to the game was the addition of nightfall while racing. When nightfall occurs it is very abrupt and there are obvious graphical omissions for elements that need to be changed to correspond with the darkness, but it is still a nice attempt at adding some realism to the game.

audio

The music is automatically off as default and this is for the best because as it really sucks to put it bluntly, and as with almost every racing game, it only serves as a distraction from the task at hand.

The sound effects present are pretty basic too. You have your typical sounds for your gas, breaks, checkpoints, shoulder of the road and collisions with other cars and stuff out on the shoulder of the road. All of these sound effects adequately represent their respected actions and couldn’t really be any better given the hardware limitations.

gameplay

Here’s where this game really shines. Rad Racer is one of the fastest NES racing games I've ever played and the control handles just as nicely. Speaking of controls, the controller layout is very straightforward and easy to use. The following is a complete break-down the controls for Rad Racer:

• D-pad left/right: used for turning.
• D-pad up: speed up faster; can only use after you reach approx. 90km/hr
• D-pad down: radio; 3 stations + off
• A button: gas.
• B button: brake.

The basic style of racing that Rad Racer incorporates is best described as arcade style. The track is broken up into several sections and you are given a time limit to reach each section. What place you rank among the opposition isn’t important in this game but rather how many points you can rack up is what your goal is.

If you are fast enough and have the necessary skills obtained to make it to next section you are given a time upgrade to make it to the next section. If you do not make it to the next check point before you run out of time you can sometime make it there if you have enough momentum left. Trust me, this will happen quite often and you will grow accustomed to knowing that you will need to do this to continue.

This brings us to things that will stop you from making it to the next checkpoint. There are quite a few things that will slow you down and the two most obvious things are turns and other cars on the track.

As you can expect, making turns will require you to lower your speed. At any point in time if you happen to catch the shoulder of the road your velocity will drop down and if you happen to smack into a sign or tree you will completely wipe-out.

Now, if you happen to touch an opposing car a couple of thing can happen. Either you will slow down very significantly or you will get thrown to the side often times right off onto the shoulder right into a tree or a sign. As you might expect, you will usually only get thrown if you make contact with the other car in any way other than head-on, so if you know you’re going to hit a car make sure it’s head-on or else you’re in a world of trouble.

Now, there are three types of opposing cars for you to manoeuvre yourself around and they are colour-coded red, blue and green.

• Red: don’t change lanes.
• Blue: change lanes very frequently and sporadically.
• Green: changes lanes occasionally. Usually switch back and forth between two lanes only.

Lastly, often times you will find yourself driving up/down hills and the amount of track visible will change accordingly because the horizon will shift upwards and downwards accordingly. As you can expect, this makes for some extremely careful driving and fast reflexes when you’re driving uphill because you have little to no visibility of what’s ahead of you just as it should be.

multiplayer

N/A

overall

If you only own one racing game on the NES let it be Rad Racer. This game has everything you could possibly ask for in a racer and it is packaged together extremely well with its tight control and very fast paced visuals. Give it a try and I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

9.3/10