Speed Racer Games

[2Dskillz]

I just received A Speed Racer DVD as a gift and it brought back a lot of fond memories of the series, I know that there are some Speed Racer games do exist but are any of them good? Just looking for recommendations to help me live out my Mach 5 dreams, thanks.

[InsaneDavid]

The best of them is the PlayStation release. It plays like a poor man's Ridge Racer but it's still a lot of fun if you're a Speed Racer / MachGoGoGo fan.

If you haven't picked it up yet, check out the Volume Two Speed Racer DVD. When the cover is pressed, the lights on the Mach 5 come on and the chorus of the Speed Racer theme plays. :)

[roushimsx]

I agree that the playstation one was probably the best. It's seriously short and obscenely easy, but it's still fun for a day or two while you learn all of the short cuts.

Runner up would probably be the PC version (IIRC the Genesis version was a seriously watered down version of it), though it hasn't aged terribly well. Back when it came out, it sure was awesome :) (I think I still have the box for it somewhere)

After that would be the SNES release. The driving segments were quite terrible and the side scrolling bits weren't very well done either :(

[2Dskillz]

Awesome I will look for the PS version then, I hope it is not too hard to find.

BTW, what I got was volume 4 (with the minature Powerful Mach 5) and I am now looking into getting the other volumes, that volume 2 sounds particularly cool.

Thanks for the information :)

[Snapple]

The PS1 game is the BEST Speed Racer game? Yegads, that game is horrible.

There's only three tracks in the entire game, except it's actually only ONE track with three different lengths. Friggin' pathetic. The car gadgets stink. There's not even any kind of cup/season mode, just normal races. And there's no music!

I can't believe you guys are recommending it to someone. That's just cruel. Like telling someone to trade in Final Fantasy for Hydlide. Speed Racer is one step up from Big Rigs, and only just barely.

The only thing good about it is that they included the intro from the show.

[Steven]

http://photos.friendster.com/photos/99/54/25954599/25955338063875l.jpg

Won a copy of Speed Racer complete on SNES last month, but have yet to play it. It's a mix of side scroller and racer. One guy said already it's not well fleshed out, but in general I hear pretty decent things about it. The game is cheap ($$) too.

[JPeeples]

Did the Genesis Speed Racer game ever get a Stateside release? I remember wanting it as a kid and being disappointed that I could only find the SNES game after months of reading about how much better the Genny game was.

[InsaneDavid]

The PS1 game is the BEST Speed Racer game? Yegads, that game is horrible.

There's only three tracks in the entire game, except it's actually only ONE track with three different lengths. Friggin' pathetic. The car gadgets stink. There's not even any kind of cup/season mode, just normal races. And there's no music!

I can't believe you guys are recommending it to someone. That's just cruel. Like telling someone to trade in Final Fantasy for Hydlide. Speed Racer is one step up from Big Rigs, and only just barely.

The only thing good about it is that they included the intro from the show.

Uh, and exactly how many episodes of Speed Racer have you seen? It does the best job at getting the feel of the race parts of the show across. (not enough explosions just before the end of each race though LOL) Of all the Speed Racer games released, it is the best. The question wasn't "what's the best racing game."

And the three lengths thing, uh.. what do you think Ridge Racer was? And it moved PlayStation's for years. There IS music as well, are you playing a rip or something? There's background music, some commentary audio at the start of the race and during the selection screens, and the radio edit version of Alpha Team's Speed Racer remix plays at the end of each race. The car gadgets are exactly as they were in the series. It's a pretty damn accurate portrayal of a race in any given episode of Speed Racer.

If they could have added anything it would be more series specific cars. Other than the Mach 5, only Racer X's Shooting Star is in the game. Would have been nice to see some of the other cars like the GRX, the "the fastest car on Earth" ...although the GRX is really just the engine.

[alec]

Awsome to hear other people love speed racer too. I used to watch those cartoons with my uncle on VHS. I've always wanted to get the playstation game. I wonder how hard it would be to locate a decent Speed Racer arcade cabinet and how much it would cost?

[Iron Draggon]

Did the Genesis Speed Racer game ever get a Stateside release? I remember wanting it as a kid and being disappointed that I could only find the SNES game after months of reading about how much better the Genny game was.

No, it never did, unfortunately.

As for the PS Speed Racer, I believe that one is an R7 now.

[chrisbid]

i got lucky and got a butchered copy of PSX speed racer at blockbuster for 2 dollars. its a great game for that price

[klausien]

I have had the PSX game for quite some time and it is pretty bad, but I expected worse actually. I haven't played the Megadrive game, so I can't comment, but the PSX version is probably the best.

I had heard the SNES game was also awful, but nothing could have prepared me for how bad it really was. It is so framey that its almost totally unplayable. I couldn't believe my eyes considering that it really didn't look that bad in screenshots. I haven't put much time into it.

The only way this license could ever have a good title is if a Sega or Namco picked it up for an arcade racer; which I think may have happened or almost happened at some point.

[Snapple]

The PS1 game is the BEST Speed Racer game? Yegads, that game is horrible.

There's only three tracks in the entire game, except it's actually only ONE track with three different lengths. Friggin' pathetic. The car gadgets stink. There's not even any kind of cup/season mode, just normal races. And there's no music!

I can't believe you guys are recommending it to someone. That's just cruel. Like telling someone to trade in Final Fantasy for Hydlide. Speed Racer is one step up from Big Rigs, and only just barely.

The only thing good about it is that they included the intro from the show.

Uh, and exactly how many episodes of Speed Racer have you seen? It does the best job at getting the feel of the race parts of the show across. (not enough explosions just before the end of each race though LOL) Of all the Speed Racer games released, it is the best. The question wasn't "what's the best racing game."

And the three lengths thing, uh.. what do you think Ridge Racer was? And it moved PlayStation's for years. There IS music as well, are you playing a rip or something? There's background music, some commentary audio at the start of the race and during the selection screens, and the radio edit version of Alpha Team's Speed Racer remix plays at the end of each race. The car gadgets are exactly as they were in the series. It's a pretty damn accurate portrayal of a race in any given episode of Speed Racer.

It might be the best Speed Racer game, but you made it sound like a good game period, which it's not. It's still one of the worst racing games I've ever played. When I said there's no music, I didn't mean that literally. I think if I remember right, there's one song, and only one, right? That gets annoying.

The gadgets could have been done better. I know how they work in the show, and they came across infinitely lamer in the game. You also have to try to navigate which gadget you want to use while driving, which is awkward.

Like I said, no variety of tracks, not many cars, poor graphics, poor sound, gadgets that don't work well or really help make the course more fun. It's an extremely watered down game, and I know I'm not the only person who thinks so. Just because a game contains the bare-bones essentials to make it "true to the show," doesn't make it fun. Go find any review of Speed Racer online, and I guarantee it's a bad review.

I love Speed Racer, too, but this game is bad, and the nostalgia effect wears off after about 5 minutes.

[Xexyz]

Like I said, no variety of tracks, not many cars, poor graphics, poor sound

I'm very curious on what your view is towards Ridge Racer (PSX) after seeing these bad points listed by you Snapple (sound is subjective, but I'm not a fan of it).

[pookninja]

whatever you do,stay away from the snes game,its awful.i would say the ps1 version is the game to get,if ya can find it.

[Snapple]

Like I said, no variety of tracks, not many cars, poor graphics, poor sound

I'm very curious on what your view is towards Ridge Racer (PSX) after seeing these bad points listed by you Snapple (sound is subjective, but I'm not a fan of it).

I'm not a Ridge Racer fan either. And even in Ridge Racer's case, I don't think that the PS1 games have aged well at all. Racing games have evolved a lot since then, and people expect more out of a racing games now. When you look at series like Need for Speed and Gran Turismo and Mario Kart, that's what people are more interested in these days.

Even keeping all that in mind, I would rather play Ridge Racer than Speed Racer for the PS1. Just because the features are similar doesn't mean they're of the same quality. It's like comparing GTA:SA to a bad GTA clone.

[Fighter17]

Did the Genesis Speed Racer game ever get a Stateside release? I remember wanting it as a kid and being disappointed that I could only find the SNES game after months of reading about how much better the Genny game was.

No, it never did, unfortunately.

From some guy, the game actually came out, but FOR ONE DAY ONLY!

Someone here in this forum posted about his biggest buying mistake of all time. He said that he went to a video game store and saw this game for the Genesis, he was thinking about buying it tomorrow. The next day he returns to the store but the copies of the games were gone. He talk to the clerk about where's the Speed Racer game for the Genesis and the clerk said that there's a issue going on with Sega and we're order to return all game copies back to Sega at once.

Let me find this post, should be around here somewhere.

EDIT: Found it:

LOOK AT THE SECOND POST BY IRON DRAGGON ON PAGE 3 (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16079&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=50)

[Doonzmore]

Did the Genesis Speed Racer game ever get a Stateside release? I remember wanting it as a kid and being disappointed that I could only find the SNES game after months of reading about how much better the Genny game was.

No, it never did, unfortunately.

From some guy, the game actually came out, but FOR ONE DAY ONLY!

Someone here in this forum posted about his biggest buying mistake of all time. He said that he went to a video game store and saw this game for the Genesis, he was thinking about buying it tomorrow. The next day he returns to the store but the copies of the games were gone. He talk to the clerk about where's the Speed Racer game for the Genesis and the clerk said that there's a issue going on with Sega and we're order to return all game copies back to Sega at once.

Let me find this post, should be around here somewhere.

EDIT: Found it:

LOOK AT THE SECOND POST BY IRON DRAGGON ON PAGE 3 (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=16079&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=50)

X_x

[atomicthumbs]

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00092A7DO.01.PT01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

Makes your giggle like a girl, dosen't it!? I had been in contact with someone at Senario a few times over the last couple of months, and she said that the project has been scrapped due to lack of interest. Amazon.com has changed the release date at least a dozen times since January, though at this moment, it is showing it is ready to ship in 2-3 days. If it shows that it is still available in 1 week, I will contact Senario again to verify that any were produced and ready to sell.