Super Cars (NES) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
167A playthrough of Electro Brain's 1991 racing game for the NES, Super Cars.
Super Cars is an NES conversion of a popular Amiga game that was created by Magnetic Fields (known for the Lotus games) and published by Gremlin in 1990.
It's a top-down racer that shares a fair bit of DNA with Rare's R.C. Pro-Am and Codemasters' Micro Machines (https://youtu.be/5ICJ3gQuyps ). And before you ask, yes, Magnetic Fields was an English company. The Brits have always been known for their racing games, it seems, and they're usually quite good at making them.
The game features nine tracks that you'll tackle over the course of three increasingly difficult classes. Winning races will net you prize money, and you'll need that cash if you're going to get very far. Not only will you need to upgrade your car - or replace it with a better model if you're playing well enough to afford it - but you're also responsible for the upkeep of your car. If you blow your engine or run out of gas during a race, it's an instant game over.
The NES version of the game retains most of the content of the Amiga original: as far as I know, the only difference is that the Amiga has four difficulty classes instead of the NES's three.
The Amiga game was known for its graphics thanks to its impressive shadow effects, and while the NES game doesn't look nearly as nice as its computer counterpart, it runs much more smoothly and it manages to approximate the game's signature graphic effect with some clever dithering work. The Amiga game was also known for its excellent music, but the NES game's soundtrack would make Helen Keller weep. It's hideous and it makes me want to set those shrill arpeggios on fire.
Super Cars is a neat game overall, but it lacks the speed and excitement of the NES's better racing games. I had some fun with it, but I think that this cart is most notable for how it demonstrates the divide between what console and computer gamers wanted and expected in the early 90s. For Amiga fans, Super Cars was a classic, but on the NES, it became an all-but-forgotten obscurity the moment it was released. Still, if you enjoy this style of game, you'll find plenty to like here.
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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