Final Lap Twin (TurboGrafx-16) Playthrough
108A playthrough of NEC'S 1990 racing/role-playing game for the TurboGrafx-16, Final Lap Twin.
All three game modes are shown in this video:
0:14 Quest
2:42:23 F3000 GP
3:04:35 F1 GP
Final Lap Twin was a console-exclusive follow-up to the original Final Lap, Namco's 1987 hit arcade Formula One racing game.
The game features three primary modes. The first two, the F3000 and the F1 grands prix, pit you against twenty-five opponents over the course of a season as you race for points on a selection of real-life tracks - eight for F3000, and sixteen for F1. The third, Quest, takes a page from World Court Tennis (https://youtu.be/rWRsrf7EJ6o) in that it turns the game into a JRPG in the style of Dragon Warrior (https://youtu.be/J392i9NKvvo), but instead of turn-based battles, combat takes place on the race track.
The manual describes the quest as a "rock-'em, sock-'em adventure" in which "your job is to defeat a gang of Baby Four-Wheel-Drive Warriors from across the land [...] to become the world Baby Four-Wheel-Drive Champion!" That's total nonsense, though. It sounds like it's either describing a completely different game, or it's describing a series is events that were totally changed in the localization process.
Final Lap Twin's quest mode kicks off with a few words of encouragement from your father. Having taught you everything he knows, the time has come for you to go out and make a name for yourself in the racing world. He gives you his car and $500, points you in the direction of the first local champ, and from there, it's up to you.
The goal is to become the world champion, but you've got a ways to go in your climb to the top. As you travel between cities, random passersby will challenge you. The cash you win in these races provides you the means to upgrade your car so you can take down the local champs one-by-one and to collect their key secret items, and with each major win, you inch another step closer to the top.
Final Lap Twin's world and its RPG systems are far better developed and more engaging than World Court Tennis's, and I found the core gameplay more appealing overall. Even the NPCs manage to be stranger and more varied. The controls are sharp, the fast and smooth graphics are very nice for a console racing game of its time, and there's a ton of interesting content to dig into.
I'd call this another huge win for the TurboGrafx-16!
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