I loved this game in the arcades, even though I would grow to love its sequel, Cruis'n World, even more. But as an arcade title, it was VERY fun. And just like Killer Instinct, I do remember being excited when they both would say "Coming, to the ULTRA 64!"

Of course, KI1 never did wind up making its way to N64 (it should have), instead being released as an OK SNES port. And while Cruis'n DID come to N64, it was disappointing on multiple levels. For one thing, even though the arcade game released in 1994, the N64 port wasn't even a launch DAY title. The 64 only launched with a whopping TWO games: Mario 64 and Pilotwings 64. Granted, Mario was all most people seemed to care about, as it was so groundbreaking. But still, for me, even though it didn't come out TOO far out from launch day, it was still absurd that it wasn't a launch title.

And worse, for whatever extra time they took to make it, this port really didn't show it. It isn't a BAD port, it's still basically Cruis'n USA, same gameplay, same tracks, etc. But it's just...subpar. The game should have been MUCH better, close to "arcade perfect". Instead, we get rough textures, worse car models, crappier sounds, LOTS of fog/pop-up. It just felt like a lesser experience, because it is.

It's still a worthy addition to the library. But it should have been great, instead of just being OK. Thankfully Eurocom came along and made World the port THIS should have been.

I may or may not be slightly biased here with all of my love towards Namco and Sega arcade racers, but something about this game didn't quite stick with me in the same way games like Ridge Racer or Outrun do. Which is odd, because I hear that the Cruis'n series of games is indeed a rather well-regarded arcade racing series, and I do in fact have fond memories of playing some Cruis'n cabinets in my youth. Perhaps either the N64 port isn't particularly as good as the Arcade (which does happen to be the case a lot of the time when it comes to these things), or I just didn't get the gameplay, but this felt rather unpolished. The track difficulty varies immensely, with some courses having extremely narrow passageways with no room to turn properly (Can you even drift in this game? I tried everything, and the manual doesn't seem to have anything either in it...), and some courses that are super wide with multi-lane roads and very wide and forgiving turns, leading to a very unbalanced overall gameplay experience. Lastly, I think that the real fun of Cruis'n lies in the wild nature of the traffic. EVERY CAR IS A DRUNK DRIVER, and with that notion, random wacky pile-ups and overall general chaos tend to ensue, which is fun if you aren't in the lead and you watch another driver eat it hard, but definitely also can get you as well, ruining some particular racing attempts. It is a kind of novel way to rubber band things to keep everyone together without resorting to kart-racer mechanics like items, as the further you are ahead of the pack, the more likely you are to see an oncoming car slam into you at a billion miles per hour, and mechanics like those are indeed fun, if not slightly frustrating. All in all, I am kind of curious to see where the series goes next with cruis'n world and cruis'n exotica, but I am slightly disappointed that the first game doesn't particularly live up to its other arcade adversaries from the time.

Ninja Gaiden 1
Ninja Gaiden 2
Ninja Gaiden 3










CRUSINUSA!!!

Cruis'n USA feels like a game my mom would make - besides the supermodels. It's easy, the turning and track design is ultra-forgiving despite the constant head-on crashes and 90 degree turns - it's this weird half-step between realistic driving and barebones atari-tier driving that you see so often from those movie theatre arcade racers.

Nothing is really executed intelligently here but making the turns still feels good and the fast speeds triggers just enough dopamine to care so yeah, I guess it's not as bad as it COULD be.

Cruis'n USA is one of my all time favorite racing games despite some obvious glaring issues and shortcomings that the Nintendo 64 version had versus the original arcade game, in addition to other shortcomings that are just naturally part of the game itself regardless of platform.

What I always enjoyed about Cruis'n USA (and the Cruis'n series in general) is that it doesn't take itself seriously and goes all-in in the concept of being an arcade game with unrealistic features (i.e. being able to drive a school bus and being able to keep up pace and compete with exotic sport cars like Ferraris).

I also thought that the premise of the game was always fun and interesting: you literally have to cruise across the USA through different states starting in the west coast and ending the process on the east coast. Levels feature landmarks that pertain to their location. Graphics are nowhere near as good as the arcade version and in a way are somewhat disappointing but this is after all an early life cycle Nintendo 64 port game. Soundtrack was good and I enjoyed being able to switch tracks while driving.

The high score for this review stems more from a personal experience of what the game meant for me at the time and just how much fun I had with the concept and premise all while exploring the new Nintendo 64 hardware which was able to bring us these types of arcade ports that, while far from perfect, delivered a good experience for console users at home.