Rad Racer

Rad Racer, originally released in Japan as Highway Star (ハイウェイスター, Haiuei Sutā), is a racing game developed and published by Square for the Family Computer in 1987. In this game, players drive a Ferrari 328 or an F1 racing machine through a race course. The game was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America and Europe months after its debut on Family Computer. The game was part of an attempt by Square to make 3-D games, and was followed by several other games using the same technology. The game sold over half a million copies, and is considered one of the best racing games on the NES, but was also criticized as being derivative of other racing games from the period.

Gameplay

The idea of Rad Racer is to rally through a course and its checkpoints before the timer expires. The player's car crashes if it collides with a road sign or tree at any speed. Cars hit from behind slow down and cars hit from the side are jettisoned in that direction. Crashes take time and make it more difficult for the player to reach the check point. There are eight different levels of increasing skill. Even if time runs out, the vehicle can continue to coast for a while; if the vehicle reaches a checkpoint before running out of momentum, the game continues. If time runs out before the goal is reached, the game is over. Rad Racer players can activate a 3D mode during play by pressing the "Select" button and wearing 3D glasses. The game came packaged with 3D glasses which could be worn to give the player the illusion of three dimensions (Square had previously incorporated the usage of 3D glasses in 3-D WorldRunner).