Developer: Square Publisher: Square Released: 1990 Genre: Racing
It is funny to look back on video game releases during the 8-bit era. Without many publications or a centralized hub for information no one knew when specific games were releasing outside of the vague seasons in Nintendo Power and EGM. For most of us games just showed up in stores when they were complete. And so it goes for Rad Racer II, a game that I would have looked forward to had I known it even existed prior to release. While a retread of the first game it is still a solid effort nonetheless.
Rad Racer II makes few adjustments in terms of its UI and general gameplay compared to its predecessor. The first is the removal of the F1 car. This has little impact; both the F1 and Lamborghini were functionally identical and most probably settled on the sports car anyway. The user interface now has a turn signal in place of the mini-map which is much more useful. The most controversial change is the slower acceleration which I question why. Well the answer is obvious but I don’t particularly like it.
The only major feature added to Rad Racer II is the power boost. With this you can immediately jump blast off from a complete standstill to the max speed of 255 mph. While it sounds cool in theory the method of activation is questionable. By holding down plus the brake button you build up the power meter and release it at its maximum with A. Since you have to come to a complete stop it is a bit counterintuitive since you are wasting seconds to build it up. But when used at the start of a race or if you are close to running out of time near a checkpoint it is a godsend.
One of the best aspects of Rad Racer was its control. The handling was tight and you felt the resistance going into every turn at high speed. Here the control is looser and does not feel as good when going into tight turns. But I will say in general it feels like magic when cruising on straight paths or slight corners. The loose feel allows you to practically glide through the track, a feat reserved for only the most skilled in other driving games. While it was realistic I certainly do not miss being thrown off course by a sudden turn multiple times in a row.
The addition of the power boost does little to spice up the general racing. Rad Racer II, more so than other titles looks like an expansion pack than a full blown sequel. Part of this is due to the NES’ limitations; with its viewpoint you can only do so much. But even with that in mind the similarities are blatant. The Big Apple and Las Vegas are near carbon copies of Los Angeles from the first game. Change the color palette slightly and you could easily mistake Key West for Sunset Coastline. I’m not saying Square needed to go intergalactic like Astro Fang but they could have at least chosen more diverse locations.
While Rad Racer II looks similar to its predecessor there have been improvements under the hood. There are more pseudo hills and peaks which adds variety to the vanilla racing. The overall level of detail in each environment has been increased and is instantly noticeable. There is even a few layers of fake parallax scrolling for that extra touch. I do miss the gradual shift in the time of day certain tracks had. As well there is more flicker present. You take the good with the bad. That sadly applies to the soundtrack. There are only two music tracks and while great the game could have used more.
Despite its similarities Rad Racer II’s gameplay is still solid. The difficulty curve is a lot steeper than the original as checkpoints are a lot tighter. Don’t be surprised if you barely reach each track’s three checkpoints with seconds to spare if that. The over the top crashes have been removed; bumping other cars at top speed or a roadside object will instead cause a spin out. This might be even worse due to the slow acceleration and the long windup time of the power boost. By the mid-game one or two spin outs are enough to more or less ensure you can’t finish. The AI drivers become more aggressive by that point and will actively block your path and purposefully crash into you. If you thought the original was intense you haven’t seen anything yet.
In Closing
While it is a bit too similar to its predecessor Rad Racer II is still a good game. Some of its new features do not pan out but its core remains solid. This could have been a much better game with a few changes despite being iterative but it is still one of the better racing games for the system.
