Rad Racer II

Oh great, another racing game.  

Look, I think I’ve made it pretty clear I don’t really like these things, but they don’t take too much time to play or review.  This one isn’t even that obscure, a lot of folks that played video games in those days have heard of it and its even part of the Nintendo World Championship cartridge.  It wasn’t quite mainstream, but not really off the path either.

I do talk a lot on here about “the name in the corner” with games.  Games are frequently under- or overrated because of who developed or published them, probably more so than any other type of media.  It was true then and it it still true now, even though there are far fewer developers (if you aren’t counting indie developers, of course) than there used to be.  Most of the ones that were around in those days were very specialized and known for making games in only one or two genres.

And that’s what makes Rad Racer weird.  You might expect to find a generic NES racing title made by someone like EA or even Nintendo.  But take a look at this:

That’s right, this was published by Square (which is now part of EA, but whatever).  You know, the ones that publish the Final Fantasy series, a trillion other RPGs and not much else?  It’s really weird to see their logo on a racing game.  Or any game that’s not an RPG.  (And yes, I know Chocobo Racing is a thing and also yes, I will review it at some point.)

It’s not like Rad Racer II has any sort of RPG mechanics at all.  It’s literally one single game mode, a time trial race through seven tracks.  There are no power ups, no shortcuts, hell, there aren’t even other people to race against.  All you have to do is reach the end of the track before the time runs out.  There are some drivers on the road who will block your path, but the only other obstacle you face are turns.  In general, I hate time trial modes.  To me, they always feel like tacked on afterthoughts developers throw in just to say they did.  So yeah, this feels like a mini game rather than its own complete title.

That being said, everything here is top quality.  The graphics are great, some of the tracks are more detailed than others but they all look like they areas they are supposed to convey.  The races that take place at night are especially atmospheric with their darkened tracks and blacked out foregrounds.  There isn’t a ton of detail, but Square very clearly put some time and effort into the small touches.  The background in the Big Apple level actually looks like the New York Skyline, complete with the Empire State Building and Twin Towers (always a little sad to see them in old media).  I don’t know much about Las Vegas, but I’m sure similar care was taken in that level as well.

The biggest thing here though is the sense of speed.  Not just speed, but motion in general.  They really do a great job of making you feel like you are moving with the scrolling foregrounds and the fade in/out effects on the other vehicles.  Rather than just a flat course like Day’s of Thunder, Rad Racer’s courses have rolling hills, undulating tracks and hairpin turns.  The background and foreground shift appropriately to give you the illusion that you are really moving.  A lot of modern racing games don’t even do that, so for an NES title its a huge deal.

The control is nice and simple.  A accelerates, B brakes, the D-pad steers.  You can go a little faster by holding up on the D-pad and use earned power charges to get a burst of speed.  This is imperative, as you can’t beat some of the later levels without it.  There are only two music tracks, which is disappointing.  At least the music sounds good.  The game also gives you the opportunity to “sing yourself.”  That’s literally what the game says, not “no music” or “no sound,” “sing yourself.”  Hey, if the game insists, may as well.

I think the biggest problem with Rad Racer II is there just simply isn’t enough here.  Only seven tracks, two songs, one car and one game mode is simply not enough content to make this worth tracking down.  That said, it is one of the more technically impressive NES games I have played.  While there isn’t much to do, what the game does offer is actually quite fun and it isn’t a particularly rare or expensive cartridge. The quality and attention to detail that I have always associated with Square are apparent, even if this game has nothing to do with any of their more modern fare.  This would definitely have scored higher if there was a bit more to do.

4.5/10