Top-down racing games

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nem
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Top-down racing games

Post by nem »

In my mind, up until the SNES, very few racing games that are viewed from behind the vehicle have aged all that well. And the few that are good, like F1-Race on the NES, have been superseded by more recent efforts. However, even old top down racing affairs have a style of their own and are superbly playable still today.

I'm thinking of games like Driftout, Great 1000 Miles Rally, Motoroader and RC Pro AM.

Anyone else here a fan of these?
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Post by Ex-Cyber »

Rock N' Roll Racing is pretty great.
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Remember Atari Games 3-monitor racing game of TX-1?

Post by PC Engine Fan X! »

I loved the wide panoramic three monitor endowed arcade cabinet of Atari Games TX-1 that was licensed from Namco. It was basically playing an upgraded Pole Position game with three monitors instead of just one. The actual TX-1 cab took up some serious & substantial floor space, indeed, and was an awesome arcade racing experience not to be missed. The more bigger and prestigious USA-based arcades definitely had a TX-1 cab in their gaming stash. If you scored high enough, you were treated to a cool F1 race car that rotated 360 degrees to the right or the left as you entered your intials. This was from the Golden Age of arcade gaming era alrighty. ^_~

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~
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Octopod
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Post by Octopod »

Hot Rod


http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=8148


Badlands(pretty much just a remake of Super Sprint)


http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?game_id=6993


I guess i am a fan of these games. I dont like modern racing games at all or even games like Pole Position though.

RC Pro Am is a very fun game. I spent hour playing that on the NES when i was younger.
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Ceph
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Post by Ceph »

Here you go. http://2dgaming.site90.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=310

I'd appreciate it if you could add further suggestions to that thread, as well (for future reference).
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Vexorg
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Post by Vexorg »

There are a few older pseudo-3D racing games that have aged pretty well (Taito's Top Speed seems to have stood up just fine.) As for top-down 2D games, Super Sprint / Championship Sprint and Super Off-Road are pretty good, at least in their arcade forms.
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Super Laydock
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Post by Super Laydock »

Ever since playing good old Road fighter and F-1 Spirit on the MSX I've had a weak spot for these type of games. There was this brilliant game on the Amiga as well, but I can't remember it's name (though logging in with my initials - MAJ- automatically activated some cheat... anyone know the name of this game????).

Anyway if you have a Dreamcast and fancy these games, there's an independant game coming out in the not too distant future called
Rush Rush rally racing. It's by Senile team, the ones behind the brilliant Beats of Rage game.

http://www.senileteam.com/rushrushrallyracing.html
http://www.senileteam.com/rrrrshots.html
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Mortificator
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Post by Mortificator »

Rally Bike by Toaplan amused me for a while.

And it's not really racing, but Spy Hunter.
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jonny5
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Post by jonny5 »

not really 'top down' but neo drift out(MVS) is phenomenal
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nem
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Post by nem »

jonny5 wrote:not really 'top down' but neo drift out(MVS) is phenomenal
3/4 view isn't quite top down, but they're still in the same genre.

The prequel to Neo is also very good, Drift Out 94: Hard Order.
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gabe
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Post by gabe »

Micro Machines for MegaDrive/Genesis (or even NES) has always been one of my favorite top down racers.
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Post by Taylor »

Super Skidmarks
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jonny5
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Post by jonny5 »

just fired up drift out.....almost made me puke with the screen spinning around like that...lolz
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nem
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Post by nem »

jonny5 wrote:just fired up drift out.....almost made me puke with the screen spinning around like that...lolz
The first one is definitely a weird one. There's more titles like this too (Dirt Fox by Namco for one), where the car is basically stationary and everything else moves around it.

However, the second game in the series, Hard Order, is just like Neo (awesome).
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Koa Zo
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VATLVA and Car Battler Joe

Post by Koa Zo »

another that isn't a racer, but may be of interest to fans the genre:
VATLVA on Saturn is a top down arena car battle game, with 6 player simultaneous and customizable weapon configurations, there is a lot of fun in this one. Control of some of the vehicles takes a bit of getting used to, but that is a lot of the depth I suppose, as every vehicle has its strengths and weaknesses.

Just recently I started playing Car Battler Joe on GBA, and was tickled to discover that it is a continuation of the VATLVA world. It actually plays much the same, but with RPG quest elements to gain upgrades, also the weapon control is simplified without the 6 buttons of the Saturn pad.
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