When it comes to any racing game that was made or published by Nintendo over the years, most people would immediately think of Mario Kart for obvious reasons, but right alongside that series, Nintendo has made plenty of other racing series over time that have quite the history to them. Of course, a lot of people would be familiar with F-Zero, a series that used to be thriving until Nintendo ignored it for almost 20 years, until they decided to drip-feed the fans with a battle royale rendition of the original game (hey, better then nothing, right?......), and if you are a special little snowflake, then you may also be familiar with Wave Race, a racing series involving jet skis… and nothing else (I dunno, I never played Wave Race). Ignoring all those other ones though, there is one other racing series that is often forgotten amongst all the others, and that would be with the Cruis’n series, which doesn’t exactly look like the most original or enticing of these games upon first glance, but it has gotten a good number of games ever since its inception in 1994, so I figured I would go ahead give the series a shot with the first game in the series, Cruis’n USA.

Now, since I am incredibly stupid, I decided to play the N64 version of this game for this review, and for those of you who are very familiar with this game, you would know that this is the worst version of the game. I did try to play the arcade version initially, but like with Raiden II, I just couldn’t find several of the files that are needed to properly run the rom, so I had to stick with the inferior version. But again, like I said before, I am incredibly stupid, so when I did play through the N64 version, I did actually end up having a very good time with it. It isn’t too exciting or unique from plenty of other arcade racers, and it does have its fair share of issues, but it managed to do its job and provide me with a fast, fun, and chaotic racing experience, and that is all I can ask for at the end of the day.

The graphics look pretty great, looking a lot more detailed and crisp when compared to something like Ridge Racer, but it is obviously incredibly dated when compared to many of the other racing games that came out afterwards, the music is pretty good, having plenty of tracks that you can listen to while racing through these tracks, with the tracks in the N64 version sounding a bit… off, but I still enjoyed a handful of the tracks available, the controls are simple, yet they work well enough, with you being able to get a feel for the speed and turning easily, although it can definitely feel off at times, and the gameplay is extremely basic for an arcade racer, but sometimes that’s all you need at the end of the day, as the game still manages to be fun regardless of how simple it is.

The game is your typical arcade racer, where you take control of one of four different vehicles, each with their own individuals stats to take advantage of, race through many different tracks that stretch through a good portion of locations found in America, pass by many different opponents along the way and try to keep them from taking first place from you, avoid the many different hazards that you will find during races, such as debris or other vehicles on the road, and try to reach the finish line as fast as possible so you can make your mark on the high score board. It’s the kind of fast-paced racing action that you could get from plenty of other games out there, I’m sure, but it still manages to keep things exciting and challenging throughout all of the races, and any fan of the genre should be able to get a kick out of it.

For all of the 3D racers that I have played for this website so far, one of the biggest things dragging them down was the fact that, despite how impressive they were for the time they came out, most of them were limited to only one track, meaning that you couldn’t get much replay value from the game, and it was just more so a one-and-done deal. So it was a breath of fresh air for me to find that this game has plenty of tracks that you can race through in the game’s grand prix mode, where you will race through areas such as the Appalachian Mountains, the Grand Canyon, and San Francisco. The hazards and terrain you drive on never changes between each course, but the environments definitely do, making most of the tracks feel distinct from one another, and thus, fun to race through, even if some of them can be a little repetitive at points. Aside from that though, there are also some other neat additions that are cool to see, such as the ability to race with a friend (but not with four people at once, because what the fuck is an Ultra 64?), and you can even change the music that you are currently listening to in a race with a push of a button. It isn’t much, but again, it is a nice feature to have.

There isn’t much else that the game has going for it though, as it is still a pretty standard arcade racing game. You drive around, you don’t hit oncoming traffic, you jump over ramps, and you are greeted by a gif of a woman handing someone a trophy whenever you reach the goal. It has about everything you would expect, but not much more, not really giving you much reason to play it over other titles in the genre, or even from this series for that matter. Not to mention, in the “grand prix” mode of the game, in order to be able to make it to the next race in the lineup, you must get first place every time, which isn’t necessarily that bad of a requirement, but considering how crazy and tight some of the future races can be, it can be a detriment more than anything. It isn’t that big of an issue, but it does make my silver-medal-ass look like a chump.

Also, for those of you that plan on playing this game at some point in the future, let me tell you right now, DO NOT PLAY THE N64 VERSION. I managed to have a good enough time with this version of the game, but even with that in mind, the arcade version is MILES better than this for a multitude of reasons. Most of the game remains the same in terms of its content, but the visuals obviously aren’t as good as the arcade version, the music, while still being enjoyable, is definitely a downgrade in several areas, the collision physics whenever you hit anything are completely out of whack, and it can hinder you a lot more than it can help you in plenty of cases, and worst of all, the frame rate is SO BAD. There were many times throughout my time playing the game where it would stutter like crazy, dropping down to single-digit frames, making getting through some parts of the races unbearable due to the constant lag. Thankfully, there were plenty of times where the game ran pretty smoothly, but this becomes too much of a recurring issue that can’t be ignored.

Overall, despite how simple it is compared to other racers, and how terrible the N64 version of the game is, Cruis’n USA still manages to be a pretty great jumping point for this series, and a great racing game on its own, having plenty of races to go through, high speeds all throughout with its satisfying gameplay, and it is challenging enough to where you can’t just simply hold down the acceleration button to win in a lot of cases. I would recommend it for those who are fans of this series, as well as racing games in general, because even if future games make it look like garbage by comparison, it could’ve turned out a lot worse than what we managed to get here. But again, seriously, do not play the N64 version, it is pretty goddamn bad. I just hope that the N64 versions of the next two games manage to run smoothly enough for this system. Or maybe I can actually manage to play the arcade versions of those games. Knowing me though, I’m probably gonna end up getting the short end of the stick either way…

Game #540