Rad Racer - Review

High Speed Fun
Rad Racer on the NES

Square-Enix is primarily known for their role-playing games, and rightfully so. After more than two decades of Final Fantasy games, it's difficult to dispute their impressive track record for fantasy RPGs. However, mastery in one genre doesn't mean that a developer has to make only games of that description, but all of that was yet to come. In the summer of 1987, Final Fantasy was still months away, and even though the young company was flailing financially, it managed to release Rad Racer on August 7th in Japan and October 1st in North America.

History is all well and good, but video games are all about the gameplay: if the game isn't fun, it's not fun. Thankfully, however, Rad Racer remains an amazing game and one of the finest driving games on the NES. Given the hardware, developers had to keep things simple in those days, but Rad Racer's arcade style and exhilarating sense of speed keep Rad Racer remains enjoyable and excellent. Lest I lavish on the praise too thickly, let's talk about the game in a little more detail.

The first thing you're likely to notice when looking at Rad Racer is the graphics. The Super Nintendo with its “Mode-7” capabilities was still years away, but this game presents a very competent 3D illusion within the narrow bounds of the NES processing power. Compared to the sometimes tacky use of Mode-7 in SNES games, Rad Racer has a beautifully old school look because, of course, this game is old school, and with that title comes a certain level of difficulty. This is not an easy game, and you'll have to master the gas, brake, and boost mechanics before you can advance to the later levels. Aiding you in this effort are the wonderfully tight controls. In stark contrast to the too-much or too-little brakes of so many racing games, Rad Racer feels just right in the controls.

Uh-Oh...

My one complaint with Rad Racer would have to be the way your car interacts with the other cars on the road. You're not really racing with anyone in the sense that there are no positions and you don't have to pass any cars to win, per se, but if you don't pass cars, you'll run out of time and face a game over. The other cars move much more slowly than you do, so you'll come up to cars fairly often, but when you do come upon cars, you'll know it. Hitting another car squarely from the rear will slow you down, but if you touch another car from the side, you'll go flying off to the side of the screen where you'll likely crash and burn. Needless to say, it can be frustrating to be tossed off the screen by a car that continues on unfazed, and at times the game can seem more like bumper cars than anything close to driving a real car.

However, any shortcomings are more than made up for by the sheer joy of playing the game. There isn't really a better way to say it: this game simply appeals to me, as I'm sure you've gathered. You've probably heard good things about the game, and, while I hesitate to gush too much, I highly recommend that you pick this game up. There's really no reason not to have this game in your collection, especially given the fact that it can be purchased for just a dollar or two.

--Tom