The thread about next gen racers got me wondering: What racer on the DC was the favorite of folks here? I only had two DC friends and we were split. I was an MSR fan. One guy was all F355. The third, lock him in a room with Test Drive Le Mans. Edit: Per MBMM's suggestion, a game must have start and finish lines to qualify as a "racer".
Shutokou Battle series hands down. Can't stress that this series for the DC and then on to the PS2 has to be one of the best representations of Japanese street racing and the variety of vehicles used. Not just sports type vehicles here but also Nissan Cedric's and Toyota Chasers, those nice, large, VIP style sedans as well as other luxury vehicles later in the series. Best one for the DC though was Shutokou Battle 2. I have the first one and the second is the one to go for hands down. Here in the US it's Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2. Shutokou is the name of the expressway in Japan. Another famous one is the Wangan.
Is everything in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 the same as Shutokou Battle 2? (E.g., the gameplay in the Japanese version of Daytona USA CE for the Saturn was superior to the US version.) Good idea: Let's make start and finish lines required. So "soft" vehicular combat games like, say, Mario Kart would be fair because Mario Kart has start and finish lines.
It's pretty much the same, but in Shutokou Battle you can make Japanese licence plates and not the California US plates. Much prefer the Japanese plates. Also the money value is changed in SB2 to closer resemble the Yen value. I should say it was changed over for the US version because the Shutokou Battle series is made by Genki.
I also agree with TXR2. The game looks really nice visually and the gameplay is insanely addictive and immersive. The US version particular received a few minor improvement of JPN version. The latter release was much more prone to slowdown. Another Racer I enjoyed very much on DC was Demolition Racer. Kicking sountrack, very fast and really fun to play. Oh Hydro was also great on Dreamcast. Those are my top 3 I suppose. There are just so many to choose from that were pretty good. LeMans, V-Rally, etc.
Of course Sega Rally 2. It looks great, it's easy to get into and it's pure fun. MSR on second place because of stupendously solid visuals. That's it.
For me it's a toss-up between Sega Rally 2 and Metropolis Street Racer, but if Crazy Taxi counted as a racing game (rather than being more of a mission-based driving title) there would be no contest...
Crazy Taxi if it counts, Hydro Thunder if it doesn't. Surprised at all the mentions of Sega Rally 2. What a terrible port...
Yeah, I'm going to go with Hydro Thunder. Played that game quite a bit. I spent way more time with Crazy Taxi, but per the start/finish requirement we'll have to set it aside. I didn't spend all that much time with racers on the DC.
4x4 Evolution! Ok, that wasn't a DC exclusive, and not the best game, but it holds a special place for me. I really like MSR, but something about Daytona USA Dreamcast.. Roollliinggg Staaaaaaaaart!!!
I'm going against the grain here but these are good racers too: Sega GT - has to have a mention here. I used to think it was a Gran Turismo killer lol F1 World Grand Prix - The best of the F1 racers on the DC. San Fransisco Rush 2049 - Just a fun racer all around.
Thank you everyone for not saying Wacky Races. After the positive reviews, I spent far too much time trying to like that game.
MSR, F355, TXR2, and TDLM are all very strong racing games on the system. I've put a ton of time into each one and prefer them to some of the other racers such as Sega Rally, Vanishing Point and Sega GT. I love MSR but it is slow to start with and the earliest tracks and challenges are pretty short and lame and the cars slow and uninteresting (but of course the game has lots to offer after you play it a bit). F355 is great but I like more car variety in my racing games (yeah I know, that's sort of the point with this one). TXR2 does a lot of neat graphical effects that I saw for the first time in this game. Incredible graphics on the DC, tons of cars, lots of customization - I didn't like how little cash you get per race - which made it hard to test out the various cars in the game if you don't download someone else's saved game. Really cool for its time, but the slippery driving physics and the computer AI haven't aged well imo. TDLM, more amazing graphics, and this game even has 4 player mode (not like I've ever had enough interested people to give that a go...). There is a good amount of cars and tracks, and the day to night lemans race is pretty cool. Overall, if I had to take one to a desert island, I guess I'd go with MSR.
I think I'm in the minority when I say I thought South Park Rally was pretty good for a racer on the dreamcast.
I had forgotten about Vanishing Point! I actually liked that one, too. That was F355. It had something else going for it, though. As far as I know, this was the only racer that worked with the link cable. Two DCs, two VGA adapters, and two F355s was a hi-res treat (at the time.)
I have South Park Rally and while it's definitely not a good game, it can be pretty entertaining at times. I guess it depends on how willing you are to ignore the bad and how much you like being in the South Park universe. As a kart racer, it definitely has its sore spots.
