In my review of 3-D WorldRunner (1987), I mentioned the early situation of Square and how this game was part of Nasir Gebelli's legacy in the studio. I won't go over it again: suffice it to say that Rad Racer was the second title that allowed the studio to test Gebelli's skills. Directly inspired by Mach Rider (1985), it is much more ambitious in its use of 3D compared to 3-D WorldRunner, notably because the curves forced Gebelli to think about the implementation of parallax.
The game puts you in control of a car – either a Ferrari 328 GTB or a F1 car. As in Mach Rider, the goal is to reach the finish line before the timer runs out: crossing checkpoints adds time to the counter. The 'game over' only occurs at the end of the timer, insofar as a collision will send our vehicle into the air, but it is always possible to resume the race, albeit slowed by the accident. Beyond that, the gameplay is very formulaic: the player has to accelerate, use their turbo and slow down to take the curves without losing time and crashing into other vehicles – which have no aggressive intent, unlike Mach Rider. In some ways, the formula works better: it's more fun to concentrate solely on driving, while enjoying the rather charming scenery and the radio's music tracks, which can be changed or turned off as desired. It's easy to see why the title was a technical challenge for Square: parallax is much more demanding for the NES, which doesn't make it any easier to create stereoscopic 3D – for 3-D WorldRunner, the red and blue views were superimposed: here, the solution was to quickly flicker the red view with the blue view to create the illusion of continuity. The result is rather convincing and makes the title interesting in 3D, even if it remains a curiosity.
Rad Racer thus appears as a successful title, which prefigures Square's turn with Final Fantasy (1987): indeed, the series gradually borrowed its technical ideas. One could regret, as much as it is pleasant, that the game is less varied than Mach Rider. There is neither the level editor nor the different game modes. These absences are not critical, but they illustrate the ancillary aspect of Rad Racer, a sort of springboard for the studio's other projects.
The game puts you in control of a car – either a Ferrari 328 GTB or a F1 car. As in Mach Rider, the goal is to reach the finish line before the timer runs out: crossing checkpoints adds time to the counter. The 'game over' only occurs at the end of the timer, insofar as a collision will send our vehicle into the air, but it is always possible to resume the race, albeit slowed by the accident. Beyond that, the gameplay is very formulaic: the player has to accelerate, use their turbo and slow down to take the curves without losing time and crashing into other vehicles – which have no aggressive intent, unlike Mach Rider. In some ways, the formula works better: it's more fun to concentrate solely on driving, while enjoying the rather charming scenery and the radio's music tracks, which can be changed or turned off as desired. It's easy to see why the title was a technical challenge for Square: parallax is much more demanding for the NES, which doesn't make it any easier to create stereoscopic 3D – for 3-D WorldRunner, the red and blue views were superimposed: here, the solution was to quickly flicker the red view with the blue view to create the illusion of continuity. The result is rather convincing and makes the title interesting in 3D, even if it remains a curiosity.
Rad Racer thus appears as a successful title, which prefigures Square's turn with Final Fantasy (1987): indeed, the series gradually borrowed its technical ideas. One could regret, as much as it is pleasant, that the game is less varied than Mach Rider. There is neither the level editor nor the different game modes. These absences are not critical, but they illustrate the ancillary aspect of Rad Racer, a sort of springboard for the studio's other projects.