The greatest arcade game of all time, tell your story.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

Raiden DX, hands down is the greatest arcade game EVER! The music, the rich, full-blooded sound effects, the attention to fine visual detail, the aircraft and tanks exploding in bright orange fireballs, spewing hundreds of parts and debris across the landscapes, the burning craters scattered all across the battlefields, forests burned to the ground by relentless bombing, the urban areas and houses reduced to smoking ruins by shot down aircraft crashing, the addictive fast-paced gameplay, great scoring and hidden secrets system, and best of all, 3 different courses in one game make this the ultimate arcade game ever. I do recall playing Raiden II when I was a very small kid growing up in Los Angeles, then around 2003, I played DX for the first time at a family fun center, and I was addicted That night when I fell asleep, I could still hear "Gallantry" playing in my head over and over. Too bad the game was removed around 2006, and since then I would play the flash game Raiden X, until I discovered emulators, and then about a couple of years ago I actually burned a backup disc of DX for my PSX, but the home version lacks in so many areas compared to the arcade version. Ahh, the memories...

[jasoncslaughter]

This has been a great thread to read through. As for me, I had a particular affinity for the Simpsons arcade game growing up. It was in my local skating rink (it was still there the last time I went in 2008), and even though I wouldn't say it's the greatest game, I spent many hours trying to beat this one.

Other games of note are Daytona USA, Samurai Shodown, and Pac-Man (the latter 2 were in practically every Pizza Hut in a 50 mile radius from my home).

[Skykid]

but the home version lacks in so many areas compared to the arcade version. Ahh, the memories...

Really? I thought PSX port of DX was meant to be very accurate?

@Jason, hope you don't mind me saying, but your avatar pic kinda reminded me of a Simpson character. I think you played that game too much dude!

[Wonderbanana]

So hard to pick just one... but if I had to, it'd be:

Robotron 2084 - Because it's just so damn pure.

This would certainly be in my top 3 I'd guess.

The perfect synergy of man and machine.

[Furry Fox Jet Pilot]

but the home version lacks in so many areas compared to the arcade version. Ahh, the memories...

Really? I thought PSX port of DX was meant to be very accurate?

At first glance, it does seem like an accurate port, but it has many imperfections if you look closely. First off, the sound effects and music quality is worse than the arcade version. The instruments in the music lack "strength", especially the bass. The explosions sound weaker also. Secondly, the PSX port runs at a higher framerate than the arcade, making it slightly harder. Another obvious difference I noticed was that the PSX port lacks certain, bigger explosion sprites when you destroy the medium sized tanks. Also, in the arcade version, there is a light bluish-white shockwave around explosions from crashing aircraft and the tanks with 3 cannons, and they produce larger debris in higher quantities than the port. In the training stage in the arcade version, when you pass over the farmlands in the beginning, you only encounter 1 tank with 3 guns on each side of the screen, while in the port, there are always 2 on each side, and there are more medal crates. Also, right before the tank drives out of the house before the forest area, the power-up carrying plane that is parked on the ground is moved slightly to the right in the arcade version.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

I presume you are speaking of the vector Star Wars game - I'd have to agree - nothing else has quite the same magical appeal as that cab for me.

those vector graphics blew me away and I think they're probably the root of why I love all things vector (in design etc.) I mean, to this day. Those asterisk like explosions - beautiful.

Yes, upon seeing the classic 1983 Atari Inc. produced Star Wars for the first time at my local Tilt! arcade on the upper floor of the Vintage Faire Mall in Modesto, CA was quite something. There was a long row of quarters placed on the marquee as many folks were waiting paitiently to try it out for themselves.

It wasn't until I spotted a rare Atari Inc. conversion kit of SW:TESB placed in a cockpit styled SW cab at a roller rink called Roller King in 1985. Atari didn't make very many of the TESB conversion kits though is why most arcade gamers never got the chance to play it as it was meant to be.

And when Atari Inc. released RoTJ arcade game with it's CRT-based monitor setup & sporting isometrical gameplay in 1984, that was cool for it's time but really didn't have that slick vector overall visual appeal that the earlier SW arcade game did.

I recall going to the Ceres, CA based 7-11 back in the summer of 1984 and they had an ultra-rare prototype of William's "Robotron 2085: Blaster" cab that took quarters as the gold standard -- somehow, the local arcade distributor had gotten ahold of it and put it on their regular street location routes to rake in the quarters/$$$. It's current whereabouts are unknown today. The Robotron 2085 marquee was quite eye-catchy (and you couldn't miss it even if you wanted to). The scaling effects on that particular cab were impressive indeed. It sported some of the cool and very familiar Robotron enemy characters during the stage where you fly through the magic gates section (such as the Grunts, Hulks, etc. coming towards you with a 1st-person perspective viewpoint). I've never seen such a proto Robotron 2085: Blaster cab since then nor has one shown up at the yearly California Extreme show either. It's just been the standard "Blaster" cab with the usual all-black Duramold colored shell setup at the past CAX shows -- the overall framerate on it is, simply, jaw-dropping (even though the CPU is clocking in at a whopping 1 mHz -- impressive for arcade games hailing from the 1983 era). Not to mention the 1,000s of hours it took to draw each sprite by hand in creating Robotron 2085: Blaster as it's been mentioned by Eugene himself.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[SuperXGamma]

Blaster

What an awesome game

Greatest = Armed Police Batrider

only PCB I own, and that is fine with me

[jasoncslaughter]

@Jason, hope you don't mind me saying, but your avatar pic kinda reminded me of a Simpson character. I think you played that game too much dude!

Haha! Maybe I did spend a little too much time with it. Yeah, I was actually going for a ridiculous pose in that pic because the bartender put 2 limes in my drink and I wanted to show off what a baller I am.

[gameoverDude]

The instant gameover if time runs out and lack of timer reset at continue are the only things that bugged me on TC1. I'm glad Namco fixed that in their later TC games, which reset the timer after you lose a life. In Razing Storm, the time is almost too generous- but you still need to proceed quickly to score well.

ST Dragon - It's After Burner "Complete" on 32X that has the 30 FPS framerate. Saturn After Burner is 60.

Around the early 90s (a bit after the 1988 copyright), I played Power Drift at a golf & games place. They had the DX tilting cabinet for 50 cents. At the time, this was an arcade game I couldn't imagine being ported well to anything. PD's strength was how it simulated a 3D racetrack with loads of scaling sprites- complete with undulations, like the log hills in Course C's first stage, the jumps found in many tracks, etc. Rad Mobile ran on the supposedly superior System 32, but PD rivalled it visually. Sega's Y Board took the Super Scaler system to its max. Getting something like this at home would not be possible for awhile, and even the Saturn PD had its shortcomings.

I eventually tried the C64 version on an emulator just to see what that was like- and actually it's not half bad. While the tilting effect is understandably absent, the gameplay is represented better than you'd expect. In fact the Amiga version jobs badly to this one. C64's BGM is a nice arrangement, but the passing noise sounds hilariously like a cat meowing. The PC Engine game is smoother than the Amiga one and plays alright, but the 4M card size limits it to 9 tracks. Shame there wasn't a 12 Meg card or PCE CD version with all 25 stages (five 5-track courses) plus the 2 extra ones.

XBLA and PSN sure could use a port. If that happens, the Japan-only link play version should be added either as an extra mode or DLC.

[null1024]

The instant gameover if time runs out and lack of timer reset at continue are the only things that bugged me on TC1. I'm glad Namco fixed that in their later TC games, which reset the timer after you lose a life. In Razing Storm, the time is almost too generous- but you still need to proceed quickly to score well.

ST Dragon - It's After Burner "Complete" on 32X that has the 30 FPS framerate. Saturn After Burner is 60.

Around the early 90s (a bit after the 1988 copyright), I played Power Drift at a golf & games place. They had the DX tilting cabinet for 50 cents. At the time, this was an arcade game I couldn't imagine being ported well to anything. PD's strength was how it simulated a 3D racetrack with loads of scaling sprites- complete with undulations, like the log hills in Course C's first stage, the jumps found in many tracks, etc. Rad Mobile ran on the supposedly superior System 32, but PD rivalled it visually. Sega's Y Board took the Super Scaler system to its max. Getting something like this at home would not be possible for awhile, and even the Saturn PD had its shortcomings.

I eventually tried the C64 version on an emulator just to see what that was like- and actually it's not half bad. While the tilting effect is understandably absent, the gameplay is represented better than you'd expect. In fact the Amiga version jobs badly to this one. C64's BGM is a nice arrangement, but the passing noise sounds hilariously like a cat meowing. The PC Engine game is smoother than the Amiga one and plays alright, but the 4M card size limits it to 9 tracks. Shame there wasn't a 12 Meg card or PCE CD version with all 25 stages (five 5-track courses) plus the 2 extra ones.

XBLA and PSN sure could use a port. If that happens, the Japan-only link play version should be added either as an extra mode or DLC.

Man, the Amiga version must be a mess if the PC-Engine version is smoother. And the C64 port looks surprisingly competent considering it's the effing C64 trying to replicate a game that runs on Y-Board power.

On a slightly related note:
Sega's System 32 efforts were crazy impressive [and often fairly flawed, anyone ever play Dark Edge? Really neat look and feel, with full 3D fighting years before SoulCalibur... but it's almost completely unplayable], and I hold OutRunners a little higher than the original OutRun [OutRunners has nearly flawless presentation and excellent course design, also it has hills that look right unlike OutRun's, it's like what DOJ is to DDP to me ]. Rad Mobile is crazy cool too, over-the-top in a different way, and shows that Sega quality driving action.

The System 32 school of game development [interesting concepts, jawdropping 2D visuals used to convey fully 3D space, this was when the technique was most refined] is probably one of the most interesting times for 3D gaming.

Man, now I want to gush a bit more about Sega. And play some OutRunners. I really wish I had a buddy on-hand to do both though, that'll have to wait until Friday...

I also want to say OutRunners for this thread, being the best version of Sega's pure timed driving game concept [yes, better than Outrun 2/SP/2006], but I dunno. One doesn't simply go saying the greatest arcade game of all time if he can think of other equally worthy contenders.

That's a game that desperately needs a XBLA+PSN port or something, it's a game that deserves better than the completely shit Genesis port. It really deserved a Saturn port, really badly [they might have just fucked it up like Rad Mobile -> Gale Racer though...]. It really deserves recognition.

[boagman]

I also want to say OutRunners for this thread, being the best version of Sega's pure timed driving game concept [yes, better than Outrun 2/SP/2006], but I dunno. One doesn't simply go saying the greatest arcade game of all time if he can think of other equally worthy contenders.

I'm honestly surprised by all of the Outrunners love. I found it to be quite a disappointment considering its namesake. It wasn't as disappointing as, say, Turbo Outrun, but I found Outrunners to be less than stellar when compared with the original. That, again, was another reason why I thought so highly of Outrun 2006 and SP...they really stayed true to the spirit of the original, I thought.

[null1024]

I also want to say OutRunners for this thread, being the best version of Sega's pure timed driving game concept [yes, better than Outrun 2/SP/2006], but I dunno. One doesn't simply go saying the greatest arcade game of all time if he can think of other equally worthy contenders.

I'm honestly surprised by all of the Outrunners love. I found it to be quite a disappointment considering its namesake. It wasn't as disappointing as, say, Turbo Outrun, but I found Outrunners to be less than stellar when compared with the original. That, again, was another reason why I thought so highly of Outrun 2006 and SP...they really stayed true to the spirit of the original, I thought.

OutRunners takes the formula set by the original, gives it a fresh coat of paint, brings everything up to 11, and has really solid track layouts. Outrun SP/2006 is a bit more subdued, both in stage layouts and in style [not entirely a bad thing, if they tried to be more excessive than OutRunners, they'd be overdoing it], and suffers a bit in comparison. On the other hand, SP/2006 has the best drift feeling I've had in a racer [you can be drifting for miiiiiles [and it feels amazing] even though that kills your time, haha], the slipstream system is neat, and the car handling is modernized while keeping the feel of Outrun.

I'd put SP/2006 and OutRunners on the same pedestal, each game taken as a whole.
OutRunners has more enjoyable stages than both the original and 2/SP/2006 to me though, which is what counts.

and that OutRunners cab

Turbo Outrun is a big disappointment though, thppt bleh.

I can see people not liking OutRunners as much -- Outrun is all about a guy trying to impress his girl, it's really stylish and chill, and has a certain feel that OutRunners replaces with the trappings of a silly but grand race around the world. Outrun is as much about the vibe as it is about the drive, and Outrun 2/SP/2006 gets that original feel down. But, hey.

[boagman]

I can see people not liking OutRunners as much -- Outrun is all about a guy trying to impress his girl, it's really stylish and chill, and has a certain feel that OutRunners replaces with the trappings of a silly but grand race around the world. Outrun is as much about the vibe as it is about the drive, and Outrun 2/SP/2006 gets that original feel down. But, hey.

So then, I've got to ask: your vehicle of choice in Outrunners?

[Mischief Maker]

Gal's Panic, of course.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

The PC Engine game is smoother than the Amiga one and plays alright, but the 4M card size limits it to 9 tracks. Shame there wasn't a 12 Meg card or PCE CD version with all 25 stages (five 5-track courses) plus the 2 extra ones.

The PCE Hu-Card of Raiden weighs in at an impressive 6 megabit sized cartridge...so yes, it'd would've been possible for Sega to release an upgraded larger Hu-Card cart size or go with the Super CD-Rom2 or Arcade CD-Rom2 format with the 16-megabit upgrade in RAM with an Arcade Card Duo (or Arcade Card Pro for that matter) to do Power Drift proper justice/homage on the PCE platform. Not to mention hearing all of PD's BGMs in glorious Redbook 44.1kHz audio format would've been ace in my book if Sega went the PCE CD route with PD. It certainly, would be Sega's finest hour to use their knowledge and expertise with it's PCE Afterburner II Hu-Card release & push the envelope even further to refine the scaling sprite EFX (via programming) with such a PCE PD revision/upgraded port release.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[null1024]

I can see people not liking OutRunners as much -- Outrun is all about a guy trying to impress his girl, it's really stylish and chill, and has a certain feel that OutRunners replaces with the trappings of a silly but grand race around the world. Outrun is as much about the vibe as it is about the drive, and Outrun 2/SP/2006 gets that original feel down. But, hey.

So then, I've got to ask: your vehicle of choice in Outrunners?

Usually the Bad Boy.
If I'm playing against friends, I'll just choose at random for variety.

[StarCreator]

Of all the arcade games that have ever been readily accessible to me, only three have had me inserting credits over and over again:

Gauntlet Dark Legacy
Dance Dance Revolution
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune

Gauntlet and Wangan kept player profiles so you picked up all your accumulated progress every time you coined up, and the local communities for the games were quite active. DDR had a big local following too, though if I play DDR at this point it's more for personal achievement than anything else. I'd rather play IIDX or Technika over DDR but I have to travel at least three hours by car to play either of those.

[boagman]

I can see people not liking OutRunners as much -- Outrun is all about a guy trying to impress his girl, it's really stylish and chill, and has a certain feel that OutRunners replaces with the trappings of a silly but grand race around the world. Outrun is as much about the vibe as it is about the drive, and Outrun 2/SP/2006 gets that original feel down. But, hey.

So then, I've got to ask: your vehicle of choice in Outrunners?

Usually the Bad Boy.
If I'm playing against friends, I'll just choose at random for variety.

Aw, you see? I'm all about the Quick Reactor...great handling.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Metal Slug. Wish I could say SCUD Race, but at the time something that looked like a toy car didn't look like fun to me. (Got into arcade racers late in the day and those are still primarily a console genre in my book.) Nowadays that SCUD Race cab haunts me. Seeing it out in the wild one of these days would be an awkward reunion.

[gabe]

Metal Slug. Wish I could say SCUD Race, but at the time something that looked like a toy car didn't look like fun to me. (Got into arcade racers late in the day and those are still primarily a console genre in my book.) Nowadays that SCUD Race cab haunts me. Seeing it out in the wild one of these days would be an awkward reunion.

One of my local movie theaters still has one, but it's in fairly sad shape at this point... That didn't stop me from taking over the leader boards this past winter. Playing the game on a cab with proper force feedback adds a degree of challenge that is completely missed when playing it emulated.

[Obiwanshinobi]

SCUD Race and Monkey Ball are the machines I'd choose to preserve first if I started an arcade museum of sorts.

[PlanetHarriers]

I remember going ashore in Osaka (Namba) about 15 years ago, checking out the arcades and being blown away by SCUD Race. The graphics were mind blowing. Every year there was something new, something amazing from Sega - Virtua Racing, Virtua fighter, Virtua Cop, Daytona, Virtua Fighter 2 - I couldn't wait to see what was to come next.

No way did I imagine it was all going to go down hill.

[dcharlieJP]

I eventually tried the C64 version on an emulator just to see what that was like- and actually it's not half bad. While the tilting effect is understandably absent, the gameplay is represented better than you'd expect. In fact the Amiga version jobs badly to this one. C64's BGM is a nice arrangement, but the passing noise sounds hilariously like a cat meowing. The PC Engine game is smoother than the Amiga one and plays alright, but the 4M card size limits it to 9 tracks. Shame there wasn't a 12 Meg card or PCE CD version with all 25 stages (five 5-track courses) plus the 2 extra ones.

The :bow Chris Butler :bow2 C64 version was viewed as a marvel at the time in the way it capture as much as it could of the arcade as it possibly could -and- did it in a single tape load. Blew me away when i got it ... sigh - i sometimes miss the days when home hardware was miles behind arcade hardware. It made the home versions so much more interesting to see just how close people could get within the limits of the hardware.

XBLA and PSN sure could use a port. If that happens, the Japan-only link play version should be added either as an extra mode or DLC.

the best hope right now lies with the M2/Sega 3DS e-shop ports. Basically, M2 have built an absolutely fantastic emulator and the two games out to date (Space Harrier and Super Hang On) are absolutely -amazingly- well handled. The options are pretty exhaustive including simulation of the hydraulic cab tilting -where they've sampled the actual sound of the unit tilting-, a graphic equaliser allowing you to tweak the music/sound to your liking, various difficulty settings, added extras (Haya Oh added to arcade Space Harrier), and of course now in (optional) 3D. Power Drift would be perfect and, to be honest, given how little effort it would appear to take, i'm hopeful we'll see Power Drift, Afterburner 2, Outrun, Galaxy Force 2, etc. 600 yen a pop too. Obviously no sign of a western release yet, but... :/

[null1024]

I remember going ashore in Osaka (Namba) about 15 years ago, checking out the arcades and being blown away by SCUD Race. The graphics were mind blowing. Every year there was something new, something amazing from Sega - Virtua Racing, Virtua fighter, Virtua Cop, Daytona, Virtua Fighter 2 - I couldn't wait to see what was to come next.

No way did I imagine it was all going to go down hill.

Well, Sega's arcade teams never really stopped being great, thank goodness. Things like Outrun 2, After Burner Climax, Virtua Fighter 4 and 5, and HOTD4 are proof of that [admittedly, all those games are fairly old by now, bar VF5]. They're just not nearly as prolific in the 1990s anymore, siiiiiiiigh.

Shame about that horrible rough section for Sega's console-focused groups from 2003-2008, bleh.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kunoichi/Nightshade and F-Zero GX/AX are from the year 2003.

[PC Engine Fan X!]

Of all the arcade games that have ever been readily accessible to me, only three have had me inserting credits over and over again:

Gauntlet Dark Legacy
Dance Dance Revolution
Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune

Gauntlet and Wangan kept player profiles so you picked up all your accumulated progress every time you coined up, and the local communities for the games were quite active. DDR had a big local following too, though if I play DDR at this point it's more for personal achievement than anything else. I'd rather play IIDX or Technika over DDR but I have to travel at least three hours by car to play either of those.

The local Incredible John's Pizza joint in Modesto, CA has a deluxe two player cab of Namco's Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune (circa 2004 and powered by RenderWare with it's gaming engine) but the card reader isn't working properly nowdays, so all that hard work saved on such a typical user WMMT memory card is thrown out the window. However, if you keep credit feeding it, it still saves your car with all the added parts/upgrades until you run out of credits, then it's back to square one again (meaning you have to start from scratch again). Back in 2005 & into 2007, it was still possible to buy such WMMT memory cards and keep your precious player stats and upgraded parts. I had a blue colored 620bhp car (with auto transmission setup) to finally race against the legendary "Blue Devil" Datsun 240ZX car on the final race...it was a solid 22 minutes pedal-to-the-metal race to the finish line! Only after you win that final race, do you get to watch the ending staff credits scroll by. With it's manual 6-speed gear shifter + usual steering wheel & gas & brake pedal setup, it's quite a solid arcade racing experience not to be missed. Of course, Namco released two further upgrades with the Wangan Midnight Tune 2 and 3 releases all running on the solid Sega Chihiro arcade platform.

It'd sure be nice if Namco releases all three WMMT games on the PS3 or 360 with proper force-feedback endowed steering wheel compatibility from the get-go. To this day, they remain an exclusive arcade racing experience indeed. Namco released all the WMMT OSTs for your listening pleasure as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

[StarCreator]

Of course, Namco released two further upgrades with the Wangan Midnight Tune 2 and 3 releases all running on the solid Sega Chihiro arcade platform.

It'd sure be nice if Namco releases all three WMMT games on the PS3 or 360 with proper force-feedback endowed steering wheel compatibility from the get-go. To this day, they remain an exclusive arcade racing experience indeed. Namco released all the WMMT OSTs for your listening pleasure as well.

PC Engine Fan X! ^_~

The series is up to Maximum Tune 4, actually. Round 1 Puente Hills had Maximum Tune 3DX+ as of my visit about a year and a half ago. There was a significant hardware change after Maximum Tune 2 - not sure what the hardware is called but it's something PC based, vs the Xbox-based Chihiro.

[gameoverDude]

Man, the Amiga version must be a mess if the PC-Engine version is smoother. And the C64 port looks surprisingly competent considering it's the effing C64 trying to replicate a game that runs on Y-Board power.

On a slightly related note:
Sega's System 32 efforts were crazy impressive [and often fairly flawed, anyone ever play Dark Edge? Really neat look and feel, with full 3D fighting years before SoulCalibur... but it's almost completely unplayable], and I hold OutRunners a little higher than the original OutRun [OutRunners has nearly flawless presentation and excellent course design, also it has hills that look right unlike OutRun's, it's like what DOJ is to DDP to me ]. Rad Mobile is crazy cool too, over-the-top in a different way, and shows that Sega quality driving action.

The System 32 school of game development [interesting concepts, jawdropping 2D visuals used to convey fully 3D space, this was when the technique was most refined] is probably one of the most interesting times for 3D gaming.

Man, now I want to gush a bit more about Sega. And play some OutRunners. I really wish I had a buddy on-hand to do both though, that'll have to wait until Friday...

I also want to say OutRunners for this thread, being the best version of Sega's pure timed driving game concept [yes, better than Outrun 2/SP/2006], but I dunno. One doesn't simply go saying the greatest arcade game of all time if he can think of other equally worthy contenders.

That's a game that desperately needs a XBLA+PSN port or something, it's a game that deserves better than the completely shit Genesis port. It really deserved a Saturn port, really badly [they might have just fucked it up like Rad Mobile -> Gale Racer though...]. It really deserves recognition.

Yep, the Amiga Power Drift is definitely THAT bad. I'm talking trainwreck.
Saturn Rad Mobile could've been great if Sega hadn't tinkered with it (i.e. changing the cars to polygon instead of staying with sprites).

I'm hoping for a PD sequel on today's hardware.

[Ed Oscuro]

Lots of love for Sega racers, but what about the one-time American giants: Midway vs. Atari?

The Rush games get little enough attention but I think they had a good deal of replayability on home console format. However, it's just not a roadside rest stop without a Cruis'n sit-down cabinet tucked along a wall. As the Ohio Turnpike Commission closes and replaces its 40-year old service plazas, I think the last one in service had a USA or perhaps World cabinet.

Goofy games to be sure but that was part of the charm.

[gabe]

I remember going ashore in Osaka (Namba) about 15 years ago, checking out the arcades and being blown away by SCUD Race. The graphics were mind blowing. Every year there was something new, something amazing from Sega - Virtua Racing, Virtua fighter, Virtua Cop, Daytona, Virtua Fighter 2 - I couldn't wait to see what was to come next.

No way did I imagine it was all going to go down hill.

Well, Sega's arcade teams never really stopped being great, thank goodness. Things like Outrun 2, After Burner Climax, Virtua Fighter 4 and 5, and HOTD4 are proof of that [admittedly, all those games are fairly old by now, bar VF5]. They're just not nearly as prolific in the 1990s anymore, siiiiiiiigh.

I gathered that PlanetHarrier was commenting on graphics more than gameplay, and I agree 100%. Graphically speaking, Sega Model 3 racers were years ahead of anything you could get at home. Scud Race had Xbox 360 visuals in 1996, when the best looking 3D racer on the consoles was Ridge Racer for PSX. The graphical disconnect between home and arcade disappeared shortly after that.