AiRace: Tunnel
released on Jan 25, 2010
AiRace: Tunnel is an invitation to a certain newly started project - Project Tunnel.
Also in series
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Great value for a very low price (although now it's impossible to buy legally). Nice soundtrack, good controls and a solid 60 fps performance. The later levels require a lot of skill, but thanks to this I managed to enter a flow state I haven't experienced in a long time.
feels very funny to be the only person to have reviewed the legendary and famous game, AiRace Tunnel, originally (and exclusively) released on Nintendo DSi Ware. that also means it's been impossible to buy this game for a year, as the 3DS store closed its doors for good on 27th march 2023. how time flies!
anyway, i think DSiWare was a fun little experiment nintendo seemed to do. the DSi came out in 2008 in the early days of iphones becoming big and it looks like the software you could download to the DSI was almost meant to rival the app store. i mean, these days when you see ALARM CLOCK on the nintendo switch store you know it's some shovelware bullshit designed to clog up the backlog. but on the DSi nintendo themselves released alarm clocks! at least two of them! there was an NES Mario one and an Animal Crossing Wild World themed one, and i still sometimes use the latter when my phone is out of battery. as a result of DSiWare being this misguided experiment in taking on apple (at least in my opinion) the titles DSiWare provided were often a little... weird? like mobile games i feel like. the DSi ends up feeling like this really strange midpoint, where you trade GBA backwards compatability for what were essentially not very good mobile games and a dodgy camera. in hindsight it is quite clear the DSi is this like failing midpoint between the good ole days of the DS and the revolutionary 3DS. i remember the 3DS coming out, and just how exciting it was seeing how powerful it was and all the stuff it could do. gone were the days of AiRace Tunnel, here was Ocarina of Time 3D! to go back to 2009's gaming scene when DJ Hero was new would be so exciting and strange now. i wish i could see it again.
anyway, AiRace Tunnel is a bit weird isn't it? well it's not like you would know, you don't own this thing and have almost certainly never played it! for the uninitiated, you control a small plane using the d-pad to fly through tunnels, which occasionally have obstacles (which the game calls "traps" in a hint screen. but they're not traps, because you see and plan to avoid them? they're not hidden at all) you need to fly through or avoid them or you'll crash. you get a few lives. that's it! that's the whole game. it has 6 levels in total increasing in difficulty, and that's it! that's the whole game. it is incredibly simple. you can also press Y or A on your DSi to rotate the plan 90 degrees which is sometimes marginially helpful in flying through some traps. and if you think of this as something competing with like, doodle jump or temple run in 2008, yeah! it's kinda good! it came out slightly too late (2010) to properly compete with the mobile game market really, and it's a bit too clunky to have really been significant competition, but what you get is actually surprisingly fun. you build up speed you see, and in the last two levels the "traps" are coming every 2 or 3 seconds so you constantly have to adjust and plan and rotate and it works very well! there's absolutely no fictional context whatsoever, which is also something fictionally fascinating. see these tunnels you're in are mechanically designed, and the traps are clearly designed, in universe, as obstacles. it's like a training course. but you think about how big your plan is, and how small the human piloting it is, and how big the tunnels are, and that's fascinating! those first few levels the tunnels look old and rusty with kind of exposed wiring, but in that last level Tunnel Omega, the whole tunnel is a pristine, clean white with blue LEDs, and your plan now looks like a sci-fi rocket ship with wings. it had made this visual design choice to elevate my experience as a rookie going through old rusted tubes into what felt like an alien spaceship. there's something cool about that. the 6th level is an infinite course, where the tunnel itself doesnt curve or bend which was slightly disappointing. from stage 1 i reached stage 20 which i was quite proud of, becuase it got pretty darn fast!
anyway, the development team for this game was very small. some of them are on linkedin and i could see that one of the concept artists for this game now works for CD Projekt Red and i think that's cool. AiRace Tunnel is a small, weird, tiny little Polish game for the DSi that failed to really do anything. it spawned some sequels, even one on the 3DS, but i'll not forget AiRace Tunnel for what it is. a time capsule about flying a plane really fast and really well.
anyway, i think DSiWare was a fun little experiment nintendo seemed to do. the DSi came out in 2008 in the early days of iphones becoming big and it looks like the software you could download to the DSI was almost meant to rival the app store. i mean, these days when you see ALARM CLOCK on the nintendo switch store you know it's some shovelware bullshit designed to clog up the backlog. but on the DSi nintendo themselves released alarm clocks! at least two of them! there was an NES Mario one and an Animal Crossing Wild World themed one, and i still sometimes use the latter when my phone is out of battery. as a result of DSiWare being this misguided experiment in taking on apple (at least in my opinion) the titles DSiWare provided were often a little... weird? like mobile games i feel like. the DSi ends up feeling like this really strange midpoint, where you trade GBA backwards compatability for what were essentially not very good mobile games and a dodgy camera. in hindsight it is quite clear the DSi is this like failing midpoint between the good ole days of the DS and the revolutionary 3DS. i remember the 3DS coming out, and just how exciting it was seeing how powerful it was and all the stuff it could do. gone were the days of AiRace Tunnel, here was Ocarina of Time 3D! to go back to 2009's gaming scene when DJ Hero was new would be so exciting and strange now. i wish i could see it again.
anyway, AiRace Tunnel is a bit weird isn't it? well it's not like you would know, you don't own this thing and have almost certainly never played it! for the uninitiated, you control a small plane using the d-pad to fly through tunnels, which occasionally have obstacles (which the game calls "traps" in a hint screen. but they're not traps, because you see and plan to avoid them? they're not hidden at all) you need to fly through or avoid them or you'll crash. you get a few lives. that's it! that's the whole game. it has 6 levels in total increasing in difficulty, and that's it! that's the whole game. it is incredibly simple. you can also press Y or A on your DSi to rotate the plan 90 degrees which is sometimes marginially helpful in flying through some traps. and if you think of this as something competing with like, doodle jump or temple run in 2008, yeah! it's kinda good! it came out slightly too late (2010) to properly compete with the mobile game market really, and it's a bit too clunky to have really been significant competition, but what you get is actually surprisingly fun. you build up speed you see, and in the last two levels the "traps" are coming every 2 or 3 seconds so you constantly have to adjust and plan and rotate and it works very well! there's absolutely no fictional context whatsoever, which is also something fictionally fascinating. see these tunnels you're in are mechanically designed, and the traps are clearly designed, in universe, as obstacles. it's like a training course. but you think about how big your plan is, and how small the human piloting it is, and how big the tunnels are, and that's fascinating! those first few levels the tunnels look old and rusty with kind of exposed wiring, but in that last level Tunnel Omega, the whole tunnel is a pristine, clean white with blue LEDs, and your plan now looks like a sci-fi rocket ship with wings. it had made this visual design choice to elevate my experience as a rookie going through old rusted tubes into what felt like an alien spaceship. there's something cool about that. the 6th level is an infinite course, where the tunnel itself doesnt curve or bend which was slightly disappointing. from stage 1 i reached stage 20 which i was quite proud of, becuase it got pretty darn fast!
anyway, the development team for this game was very small. some of them are on linkedin and i could see that one of the concept artists for this game now works for CD Projekt Red and i think that's cool. AiRace Tunnel is a small, weird, tiny little Polish game for the DSi that failed to really do anything. it spawned some sequels, even one on the 3DS, but i'll not forget AiRace Tunnel for what it is. a time capsule about flying a plane really fast and really well.