Rad Racer (NES) Playthrough

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Published on July 13, 2022 8:26:25 PM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2nTdJF8TuuE

Game:

Rad Racer (1987)

Category:

Let's Play

Duration: 27:19

46,399 views

857

A playthrough of Nintendo's 1987 racing game for the NES, Rad Racer.

Square Soft's arcade-style racer made a huge splash in the late 80s. 3D racing games were a rarity on the NES - the only example of the genre seen in the west at this point was Nintendo's 1985 launch title Mach Rider - but the popularity of Sega's ridiculously impressive arcade game OutRun (https://youtu.be/ntQzQNls0ag) prompted Square to try their hand at crafting a similar experience for the 8-bit console.

Rad Racer was built on the foundation laid by Square's work on The 3D Battles of World Runner (https://youtu.be/SbC5Wo2eXsk), and though it clearly couldn't compare to the spectacle of Sega's coin-op masterpiece, it was an impressively smooth-moving game that offered a real sense of speed, even going so far as to support stereoscopic 3D graphics with a pair of red/blue anaglyph glasses.

Driving either the Lotus 99T or the Ferrari 328 GTB Turbo, the goal of Rad Racer is to successfully complete all eight legs of a rally-style race across the American mainland (except for that one race that takes place in ancient Greece... weird). Each race features four checkpoints that have to be reached within strict time limits, and the roads are packed with traffic that you'll be constantly weaving in and out of.

The key to winning the early races lies in learning to manage your speed. Once you've hit 100kph, you can hold the up button to engage the turbo. The car maxes out at 255kph, but to avoid costly accidents, you'll be slamming on the brakes as you enter the turns - the sweet spot is usually somewhere between 180-200kph - and then hitting turbo on your way out.

The later races, on the other hand, test how well you handle getting around the other cars on the road. Many of the drivers intentionally swerve into your path at the last possible second, while others trundle along oblivious to the fact that they're blocking the ideal path through a sharp corner. Bouncing off the cars to keep your speed up through the turns is possible, but it's also incredibly risky - if you misjudge the timing, you'll likely find yourself being launched into one of the many obstacles lining the roadside .

Rad Racer pulls off the classic 80s arcade racing formula with aplomb, but it requires a huge amount of practice to play it well. It's an incredibly challenging game, but it's also an incredibly fun one.

It was also the most popular game of its type on the NES, in large part owing to the attention that Nintendo showered on it. Nintendo published the game themselves in America, and they regularly spotlighted it over the next few years: it was prominently featured in the 1989 movie The Wizard with the Power Glove ("It's so bad!"), and it was one of the three games used for the 1990 Nintendo World Championships (https://youtu.be/fJE8hbgBar8).

Even though Rad Racer has aged about as gracefully as its name, it's still as iconic and as playable today as it ever was.

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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.

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