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The Rebirth of Arcade Racers -- On Kickstarter

Posted by timothy on from the insert-coin-to-pledge dept.

An anonymous reader writes: While big budget racers like The Crew and Forza chase realism, in recent years we've also seen a return to the racers of old with checkpoints, a ticking countdown, little in the way of AI and banging chiptune soundtracks. As a new article points out though, they're not in the arcades any more though — they're on Kickstarter. The author tracks down the creators of three indie games that look to Daytona rather than Gran Turismo for inspiration, and find out why we're seeing a resurgence in power sliding.

6 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Re:More arcade racers? by stoned_ritual · · Score: 2

    I miss GT2 and GT3 a-spec. Those were my favorite console racers of all time, besides the colin mcrae rally series (pre-dirt era, dirt is a bro racer that can go fuck off).

  2. Re:More arcade racers? by shadowknot · · Score: 2

    CMR 3 may be my favorite racing game of all time (off-road category!) I agree that the series went to hell with Dirt, just as the NFS series went to hell when "Underground" came along. NFS3: HP and HP2 are two of my favorite games.

  3. I used to game... by singularity · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Growing up in the 80's, I played video games quite frequently. Now, though, I find myself avoiding them.

    One reason is cost. I realize the cost really has probably not gone up that significantly from the NES days, but at that time it was my parents paying for a new console and games. Now I have to figure out how to justify a $60 game.

    Another reason is that I much more enjoy a "play for 10-30 minutes, have fun, and then walk away" type of game. MarioKart is a great example of this. I can play with 0-3 other people and have fun. We can play for 10 minutes, or we can play for an hour. When we get done I can put the controller down and not feel like there is more to do. The playability even remains after I have "beat the game". Commingled in there is an easy learning curve. Sure, the game might be challenging, but I do not want to spend an hour just getting the basic controls figured out.

    I am sure there are more games that fit this description, but as a casual gamer I am not willing to do the research just to figure out what games are out there. It is far easier to load up an emulator and play the original Castlevania for NES.

    The games described int he article do seem to be closer to the type of game I would like to play.

    --
    - (c) 2018 Hank Zimmerman
    1. Re:I used to game... by cheesybagel · · Score: 3, Informative

      I used to think the same thing. Then I started playing World of Tanks. It's free to play and each game takes 15 minutes.

  4. Nostalgia sells. by DerekLyons · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "in recent years we've also seen a return to the racers of old with checkpoints, a ticking countdown, little in the way of AI and banging chiptune soundtracks."

    As much as people bitch about Hollywood and it's endless sequels, remakes, reboots, and re-imagings... the reality is, that's what sells.

    1. Re:Nostalgia sells. by mangobrain · · Score: 2

      I don't disagree that nostalgia sells, but I do disagree that what we are seeing here is purely nostalgia-driven. I, for one, prefer unrealistic "drift-style" racers to simulations - I get a lot of enjoyment from going as fast as possible, negotiating courses through a mixture of careful positioning and controlled drifts, with the height of skill being completing a lap without releasing the accelerator, without crashing.

      Games which deliberately ape the looks & sounds produced by old systems may indeed rely heavily on nostalgia, but there are plenty of other games out there maintaining the old-fashioned arcade driving mechanics, whilst taking full advantage of modern hardware. Personally I would put Mario Kart 8 in this category (although it is debatable whether the Wii U can be called "modern" in the graphics department). In TFA itself, the Power Drive 2000 trailer may have retro music and a retro *feel* to the graphics, but the graphical fidelity itself is not artificially restricted. Elsewhere on Kickstarter, Formula Fusion [1] seeks to recreate the style and mechanics of the WipEout series, whilst not in any way pretending to be an old game - I for one am excited by the prospect of finally having what is essentially WipEout (in all but name) running on modern PC hardware, with all the bells, whistles and convenience that implies, but would probably be put off if they were to deliberately attempt an original-PlayStation aesthetic. The 90s Arcade Racer [2] is definitely playing heavily on nostalgia, littered with references to (as you may have guessed) various 90s arcade games, but again, it seeks to make the best of the underlying hardware.

      Nostalgia is certainly one aspect of all this, but don't underestimate the number of people who simply find these kind of games fun, and want to be able to play them easily & legally on contemporary hardware! I suspect I am not alone in finding that simulation-style games are not enjoyable without matching realistic controls, but have neither the space to dedicate to wheels, joysticks, throttles, pedals etc. - nor do I particularly want to spend the money or devote the time. For example, much as I am pleased that Elite: Dangerous and Star Citizen exist, I personally am holding out for No Man's Sky, simply because releasing on PS4 first means it is far more likely to have a simple control scheme which works on common controllers. Many will probably decry it as "dumbed down" or "retro"; I say it is just a different design decision.

      [1] http://www.r8games.com/
      [2] http://www.destructoid.com/rem...