Daytona USA coming to PS3 and 360 in a couple weeks

[Frankie_Says_Relax]

I've literally waited over half my life for a port of this quality. Wow. Titles like Daytona represent Sega at its best and reminds us of what once was.

Nice, good to hear it.

I'll probably pick it up with the 30% discount on Plus.

Between this, Rally, and Outrun Sega seems to have their classic arcade racing franchises in good shape on modern consoles!

[DragonMaster Sam]

And Virtua Racing, and Planet Harriers, and Manx TT Superbike... the list goes on and on.

An upgrade of Outrun 2 Se to include the Outrun 2 tracks would also be money. I would pay extra for that.

And maybe a port of Virtua Cop.

[klausien]

And maybe a port of Virtua Cop.

Or Virtua Fighter 2. Vote with your wallets people.

[RCM]

Sega did OK with some of the Model 1 and 2 Sega Ages ports on PS2, but this blows them all away. They really need to revisit their arcade stuff starting at Model 1 and consider releasing ports on par with Daytona.

[Oobgarm]

Picked it up last night, really enjoy it. Feels perfect and I almost feel like I'm in the arcade.

Also, it was a super easy 200 gamer points if that sort of thing interests you.

[klausien]

Sega did OK with some of the Model 1 and 2 Sega Ages ports on PS2, but this blows them all away. They really need to revisit their arcade stuff starting at Model 1 and consider releasing ports on par with Daytona.

The Sega Rally 1995 port that came with the underappreciated Sega Rally 2006 was basically as good as this Daytona port in its time; only in standard resolution. Other than maybe Mushihimesama, it is probably my most played PS2 game. The control is butter with the Dual Shock 2 analog stick, and I still love the original four SR courses. It is much easier and even less realistic than even Daytona, but sometimes pure, straight-up, fun is just the way to go. I'm a bit of a devotee though, so I'm biased. Unfortunately, a chipped or Japanese PS2 is required for entry, so it isn't an easy option for everyone.

I wish they had released an HD update of the PS2 port instead of Sega Rally Online, but that one was still good and made up for the deficiencies in Revo. (Isn't that SRO basically a port of Sega Rally 3? I loved the remake of the Desert stage from SR, but it was just a big tease in the whole scheme of things) We also still need the actual Sega Rally 2. The Dreamcast version was one of the bigger failures Sega had on the system in terms of execution. Microsoft Windows CE FTL. Ugh.

Sega Ages Virtua Racing looked nice, but the racing model and sound effects were a bit off. The 32X version is still the best port of VR. That said, it is still one of the better 3D games from the Sega Ages 2500 series. The VF2 port looks a bit off texture-wise, and has a dithered thing going on with the palette, but it too is a fun way to relive the original. Watching the raft go under the bridge on Shun Di's stage in my living room was worth the price of admission. Ah, the insignificant things we who started with Atari are impressed by. I wish they would give that one the Daytona treatment the most, other than SR of course. They go hand in hand for me. Fighting Vipers got a much better PS2 port, but I'm not as big a fan of FV as I am of VF2. (It'll never happen, but wouldn't an HD version of Fighter's megamix be awesome?)

Galaxy Force 2, Virtual On, Panzer Dragoon & Fantasy Zone Complete are probably the best of the remainder of the arcade and 3D conversions. The "arcade" version of Fantasy Zone 2 makes the FZ Collection vital to fans. The Monster World & Space Harrier (not the standalone - awful) Collections, and the unbelievable Treasure Box, are also truly spectacular. What a great series. I remember anxiously waiting for the new releases on their Japanese website.

Initial D: Street Stage was another good one we were deprived of in the States. It's definitely worth a play even now, regardless of the language barrier and lack of multiplayer. I think the latter is what ultimately killed any possibility of SCEA approving it for release here. They screwed us out of a load of these kinds of games on PS2 and PS1 with their policies, but I don't want to go there and be a sour apple. Water under the bridge.

Anyway, I hope this Daytona port is a sign of more good things to come. The superb AfterBurner Climax whet the whistle, and Sega is really starting to deliver. I love it.

[RCM]

@Klausien

Yeah, I played the piss out of SRC on PS2, great port. I'm not sure it's arcade perfect (haven't seen a cab in a long time), but it's the best official release they've ever put out. As for SR '06, I'm not with you on that. I wanted to like it, but there were a lot of issues, mainly with the handling. The graphics were pretty rough too.

Revo, however, wasn't like the old SR, but is the best racing game I've played this generation. It appealed to me in the same way Wave Race did. You not only race competitors, but have to take the environment/track changes into account as well. And yeah, we need a Sega Rally 2 port with the proper frame rate. For all the great titles DC “produced,” SR2 is the biggest let down.

I view Sega Rally Revo, Sega Rally 3 and Sega Rally Online almost as the same game in terms of car models/background models/textures, but with a few important distinctions:

Revo – 30fps, deep, “next gen” track physics, new style of handling
SR3 – 60fps, “classic” SR handling, several cars and tracks from Revo
SRO – 30 fps, hybrid SR3 and Revo handling, fewer cars and tracks than SR3 and Revo

I too hope the Daytona port is a sign of better things to come, but I suspect this was easy for Sega to produce considering Sega Racing Classic was already out there and HD-ready, if that makes sense.

By the way, I’ve played a version or two of Initial D in arcades, but am kinda lost in terms of buying a home version. Are the PS3 versions any good?

[klausien]

Interestingly, we have opposite feelings regarding the handling on 2006 and Revo. I've only spent a substantial amount of time with the arcade mode as I have no real Japanese knowledge, but I found that once I got past the learning curve, the controls were more similar to SR 1&2 than they had initially seemed. I do agree completely that the visuals were barely mediocre, especially when pitted against something like Colin McRae '04, but it was definitely fun to have a new Sega Rally when it was released. Sure, my bias really softened my take on the whole thing, but it still took me some time to come to this conclusion. I was totally disappointed at first as I got it at launch for full importer price (ouch). Regardless, the stellar port of the original remains the only good reason for most to bother with it.

I also thoroughly enjoyed the real-time track deformation of Revo, even with the ruts building in front of you like the scenery of Saturn Daytona. I wish more games would do that. My issue with the games is that they went too far towards the "sim" end of the continuum with the handling. The understeer was particularly frustrating, and I also had trouble keeping the car straight, even on tarmac. I still do, even after the patch that supposedly tightened things up. Despite the oversaturated brilliance of the palette that screamed Sega arcade, and overall aesthetics that hit the mark brilliantly, the handling simply wasn't Sega Rally. SRO thankfully fixed the control for my taste and I've enjoyed it quite a bit, dearth of content notwithstanding.

Playing either of these with a wheel changes the conversation completely, as it is clearly far superior, but with a controller, I like the balance skewed towards intuitiveness and ease. I list OutRun 2 & 2 SE as my favorite racing games to date, so you can definitely see where I'm coming from. I just love the way powersliding works in them. It is completely ridiculous, but its also the most fun I've ever had in a driving game.

As for the PS3 Initial D games, I would imagine they are just about "arcade perfect" considering the technology. I honestly forgot they existed as I do not have a PS3. I can tell you that I love the PS2 one for some fun touge action that isn't Ridge Racer. The gameplay of the series is as good as it gets, whether you are a fan of the manga or not. On a related note, the PSP version was impressive, but I ended up selling it because I just didn't play it enough. The screen blur on my launch PSP also made it a bit difficult to see on the nighttime tracks. Anyway, If I were to get one of the PS3 games, I would get the latest and greatest as it probably has the most content. I think they all just expand upon each previous version with additional tracks and cars, but I haven't really looked into it at all.

I hope others aren't too upset with me ranting about Sega arcade racers in this thread. They are simply the best, and deserve celebration.

[Leo_A]

Sega has lost the source code to many Model 2 games, including Virtua Fighter 2 (The PS2 Sega Ages conversion was done from scratch, which is why it isn't nearly as accurate as something like this). House of the Dead is another one that I can recall off hand as being mentioned as lost in various interviews over the years.

Short of seeing Sega actually commission a Model 2 emulator to be programmed, any Model 2 game with lost source code is all but guaranteed not to see a rerelease. An effort like Virtua Fighter 2 on the PS2 is expensive and only reserved for the most popular of games. And that was a $30 release, not a $10 download. I bet they'd of never done that if it had been intended as a $10 download. And trying to reverse engineer a dump of the code would be all but impossible for a complex 1990's arcade game, so I bet they wouldn't even try going that route.

Isn't that SRO basically a port of Sega Rally 3?

It's basically Sega Rally 3, but with a few additions and with the car lineup of Revo instead of the arcade game.

[RCM]

Do you have any links to interviews regarding the loss of source code for model 2 games? I know they lost the code for notable Saturn titles, but hadn't heard anything about Model 2 stuff.

[Leo_A]

Do you have any links to interviews regarding the loss of source code for model 2 games? I know they lost the code for notable Saturn titles, but hadn't heard anything about Model 2 stuff.

I'll do a search, but I can remember Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn), House of the Dead (Arcade), Virtua Fighter 2 (Arcade), and a reference to many of the Model 2 arcade releases sufferring from this fate.

Edit - It's not what you asked for, but it looks like Panzer Dragoon Saga was confirmed from a 1Up interview with a Sega insider.

And an interview here discusses the status of most of Sega's System 16 and System 24 library.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...e+code&ct=clnk

Looks like House of the Dead and Virtua Fighter 2 slots into the popular rumor category, since I can't find any 1st hand sources for it (I could swear I read a translated interview when Virtua Fighter 2 was put on the PS2 that confirmed that one). But several sources that claim that something like House of the Dead is lost also say similar things about Daytona USA, a fact that has clearly been disproven in arcades a couple years ago and on home consoles now.

So maybe the Model 2 library is more intact than some gamers think.

[RCM]

I'll do a search, but I can remember Panzer Dragoon Saga (Saturn), House of the Dead (Arcade), Virtua Fighter 2 (Arcade), and a reference to many of the Model 2 arcade releases sufferring from this fate.

Edit - It's not what you asked for, but it looks like Panzer Dragoon Saga was confirmed from a 1Up interview with a Sega insider.

And an interview here discusses the status of most of Sega's System 16 and System 24 library.

http://webcache.googleusercontent.co...e+code&ct=clnk

Looks like House of the Dead and Virtua Fighter 2 slots into the popular rumor category, since I can't find any 1st hand sources for it (I could swear I read a translated interview when Virtua Fighter 2 was put on the PS2 that confirmed that one). But several sources that claim that something like House of the Dead is lost also say similar things about Daytona USA, a fact that has clearly been disproven in arcades a couple years ago and on home consoles now.

So maybe the Model 2 library is more intact than some gamers think.

Yeah, I knew they lost source code for some games, but never heard about VF2 specifically. It won't matter in a few years once MAME faithfully emulates Model 1, 2 and 3 stuff in addition to the groovy non-system 11/12 Namco stuff.

[Lady Jaye]

So who's up for multiplayer Daytona USA over Xbox Live? If you are, lemme know, we're looking for people to race against.