With retro racing games, the question of why you're playing them apart from historical interest or nostalgia feels particularly pressing. Racing games have always tended toward very literal simulations and generally reach for realism, making them strange candidates for revisiting given that the current era is so technically superior when it comes to the things the genre values.
So we ask the games what they can give us.
"I have an rpg campaign!" says Gran Turismo.
"I have wacky physics and a killer soundtrack!" says Need for Speed II.
"I BOUNCE AND YOU CANT SEE SHIT" says Wave Race 64.
I've never seen a racing game so...fuzzy? It's impossible to tell where you're going as mist and fog and tight turns keep you constantly scrambling around the courses. You bob in and out of the water and an inconvenient wave can mean the loss of all your power or slamming right into an obstacle. The game so desperately wants to fall apart and be an unplayable clusterfuck and the fun comes from doing your best to plug the holes and hold it together as one piece.
So we ask the games what they can give us.
"I have an rpg campaign!" says Gran Turismo.
"I have wacky physics and a killer soundtrack!" says Need for Speed II.
"I BOUNCE AND YOU CANT SEE SHIT" says Wave Race 64.
I've never seen a racing game so...fuzzy? It's impossible to tell where you're going as mist and fog and tight turns keep you constantly scrambling around the courses. You bob in and out of the water and an inconvenient wave can mean the loss of all your power or slamming right into an obstacle. The game so desperately wants to fall apart and be an unplayable clusterfuck and the fun comes from doing your best to plug the holes and hold it together as one piece.