Highway Star (Jpn) - ハイウェイスター
Rad Racer, known in Japan as Highway Star (ハイウェイスター, Haiuei Sutā), is a racing game developed and published by Square for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987.
The idea of Rad Racer is to rally through a course, and make it to check points before the timer runs out. If a player hits a road sign or tree at any speed the car crashes. Hitting another car directly from behind will severely slows the car down. If another car side swipes your car you will be pushed quickly to the side. At higher levels you can crash by hitting another car. Crashes take time and make it more difficult for the player to reach the check point. There are eight different levels of increasing skill. Even if time runs out, the vehicle can continue to coast for a while; if the vehicle reaches a checkpoint before running out of momentum, the game continues. If time runs out before the goal is reached, the game is over. Rad Racer players can activate a 3D mode during play by pressing the "Select" button and wearing 3D glasses. The game came packaged with which 3D glasses which could be worn to give the player the illusion of three dimensions (Square had previously incorporated the usage of 3D glasses in 3-D WorldRunner). At the car selection screen, the player can pick one of two cars: a Ferrari 328 or an F1 racing machine, similar in appearance to the 1987 Camel-sponsored Honda/Lotus 99T Formula One car. Although officially there is supposedly no performance gain by choosing the F1 racing machine over the Ferrari 328, this is debated by race fans. Debate aside, a frame by frame comparison of the cars shows definitively that they are identical, at regular and turbo velocities. The player cannot clear the course faster. The maximum speed is still 255 km/h (255 is the highest integer representable within 8 bits).
The idea of Rad Racer is to rally through a course, and make it to check points before the timer runs out. If a player hits a road sign or tree at any speed the car crashes. Hitting another car directly from behind will severely slows the car down. If another car side swipes your car you will be pushed quickly to the side. At higher levels you can crash by hitting another car. Crashes take time and make it more difficult for the player to reach the check point. There are eight different levels of increasing skill. Even if time runs out, the vehicle can continue to coast for a while; if the vehicle reaches a checkpoint before running out of momentum, the game continues. If time runs out before the goal is reached, the game is over. Rad Racer players can activate a 3D mode during play by pressing the "Select" button and wearing 3D glasses. The game came packaged with which 3D glasses which could be worn to give the player the illusion of three dimensions (Square had previously incorporated the usage of 3D glasses in 3-D WorldRunner). At the car selection screen, the player can pick one of two cars: a Ferrari 328 or an F1 racing machine, similar in appearance to the 1987 Camel-sponsored Honda/Lotus 99T Formula One car. Although officially there is supposedly no performance gain by choosing the F1 racing machine over the Ferrari 328, this is debated by race fans. Debate aside, a frame by frame comparison of the cars shows definitively that they are identical, at regular and turbo velocities. The player cannot clear the course faster. The maximum speed is still 255 km/h (255 is the highest integer representable within 8 bits).
Highway Star (Jpn)
Technical
CPU
- maincpu N2A03 (@ 1 Mhz)
Chipset
- N2A03 (@ 1 Mhz)
Display
- Orientation Yoko
- Resolution 255 x 240
- Frequency 60.098 Hz
Controlers
- Number of players 4
- Number of buttons 2
- Kind of controler
- triplejoy (8 ways)
- triplejoy (8 ways)
- triplejoy (8 ways)
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Highway Star (Jpn) Screenshots
Clones of Highway Star (Jpn)
Development
It was programmed by Nasir Gebelli, designed and supervised by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and featured music by Nobuo Uematsu, all of whom later contributed to Final Fantasy in similar roles. In 1987, few racing games existed for the NES, and Rad Racer was seen as Square's answer to Sega's Out Run. In Japan, it is one of the few titles for the system designed for use with Nintendo's Famicom 3D System peripheral for 3D experience. In 1990, Square followed up with an exclusive North American sequel, Rad Racer II. It differed little from the first version, and players considered the gameplay inferior; as a result, it was not as successful as the first version.
Reception
As one of the NES's premier racers, Rad Racer was met with favorable reviews and enjoyed modest commercial success; it ranked 8th on Nintendo Powers player's poll Top 30. It was condemned, however, for its extreme similarity to Sega's Out Run, released the previous year. In their article The History of Square, GameSpot conceded that "Rad Racer bears more than a passing resemblance to Out Run," but went on to say that "it's more than just a clone" and credited the game with "effectively convey[ing] the proper sense of speed." The article concluded that the game "stands on its own as a fine racing game."
Rad Racer was followed by Rad Racer II in 1990 exclusively in North America, also for the NES. The sequel had virtually identical gameplay. The dashboard had a preview direction indicator added, an arrow that indicates which direction the track will take in the next few moments, allowing the player to position the vehicle accordingly. Also, the new ability in this version of the "Turbo Boost", which immediately accelerates the car to 255 MPH, is performed by holding the down arrow when the race begins until the audio countdown stops. A cheat code can also be used to "race in the dark"; and, instead of flipping over, the player's car spins out after a crash.
Despite the efforts of Square Co. to make unique games with 3D features such as Rad Racer and 3-D Worldrunner, sales were not high and the company was in trouble. These events are what led to a final attempt at a breakout hit, Final Fantasy. Reaction became more positive over time, and Rad Racer was number 57 on IGNs Top 100 Nintendo Entertainment System games. The game appeared in in a scene from the movie The Wizard. In the film Lucas Barton (Jimmy's rival) uses a Power Glove to play through the first stage of the game, a feat in itself considering the much noted unreliability of the device. Rad Racer is Uematsu's 15th work of video game music composition. One of its songs was used, with vocals added, as the theme song for Stinkoman, the anime-parody version of the character Strong Bad from the Homestar Runner Flash cartoon.
Rad Racer 2 was mentioned by an Electropop group Work Drugs who released a song called "Rad Racer" in 2011. The official video for the song contains footage from Rad Racer II.
Sequel
Rad Racer was followed by Rad Racer II in 1990 exclusively in North America, also for the NES. The sequel had virtually identical gameplay. The dashboard had a preview direction indicator added, an arrow that indicates which direction the track will take in the next few moments, allowing the player to position the vehicle accordingly. Also, the new ability in this version of the "Turbo Boost", which immediately accelerates the car to 255 MPH, is performed by holding the down arrow when the race begins until the audio countdown stops. A cheat code can also be used to "race in the dark"; and, instead of flipping over, the player's car spins out after a crash.
Legacy
Despite the efforts of Square Co. to make unique games with 3D features such as Rad Racer and 3-D Worldrunner, sales were not high and the company was in trouble. These events are what led to a final attempt at a breakout hit, Final Fantasy. Reaction became more positive over time, and Rad Racer was number 57 on IGNs Top 100 Nintendo Entertainment System games. The game appeared in in a scene from the movie The Wizard. In the film Lucas Barton (Jimmy's rival) uses a Power Glove to play through the first stage of the game, a feat in itself considering the much noted unreliability of the device. Rad Racer is Uematsu's 15th work of video game music composition. One of its songs was used, with vocals added, as the theme song for Stinkoman, the anime-parody version of the character Strong Bad from the Homestar Runner Flash cartoon.
Rad Racer 2 was mentioned by an Electropop group Work Drugs who released a song called "Rad Racer" in 2011. The official video for the song contains footage from Rad Racer II.
