Awesome!

[A Black Falcon]

Arcadish racing games... I love them... yeah, I got Ridge Racer 64 two days ago. Solid game, but my opinion on it hasn't changed overall. The store had it, I don't, and I couldn't resist... I have 12 N64 racing games and I can think of at least ten more I wouldn't mind owning (hmm... Penny Racers, Re-Volt, Micro Machines 64, Rush 1, Stunt Racer 64, Mario Kart 64, 1080 Snowboarding (Wave Race 64 is just too similar to the GC game to be worth getting)... and there are so many more decent ones, from Destruction Derby 64 to Snowboard Kids 1 or 2 to Lego Racers and S.C.A.R.S.... um, yeah... er, Aero Gauge? Extreme-G 2, despite the fact that I have it already for PC? Heck, if they were cheap enough and I had some extra money I'd even consider Cruis'n USA and World and California Speed (though those three are right near the bottom of the list)...

... but that isn't the sad part. The sad part is how thin the GC lineup is. I have half as many GC racing games as I do N64 ones (6 vs. 12), and yet I can only think of five or six more that I wish I had... (Tube Sliders, Mario Kart Double Dash!!, Burnout 2, 1080 Avalanche, perhaps SSX Tricky... yes, there are also some in the 'maybe worth getting' category, though. Smashing Drive (only for really cheap), Speed Kings (yeah, probably, it's like Burnout...), Kirby's Air Ride (maybe... maybe not. I played it a bit, it's okay but nothing spectacular.) Crazy Taxi (rented, it's okay but I was getting bored by the middle of the rental -- not a good sign for a purchase.)... that's about all. I don't know if stuff like Wreckless or Smuggler's Run really count... and despite how great it is, SpyHunter definitely doesn't. The fact that I beat SpyHunter within the space of the rental, and still have that savefile on my memory card, doesn't help with that one either. :)

This collection will help with that, at least somewhat.

http://cube.ign.com/articles/613/613376p1.html

It's looking awesome... I still wish it was complete (that means that despite their mediocricy I wish it had California Speed and Arctic Thunder... as for the Crusin' games, I imagine that the Nintendo-published thing there means that doing them would need Nintendo's support, and I guess no one came up with the good idea of adding them as GC-exclusive extras. :(), but oh well, what's there is fantastic...

Oh, this makes me very happy.

I've never played the Super Off-Road Tracks Pack... I want to, Super Off-Road is a true classic and a great racing game.


Rush 1, great game.


Alcatraz is probably the best track in this game. And Rush 2 for N64 (which, as an N64 exclusive, isn't here.).

Hydro Thunder was cool. I'm not buying this for that game, though, because I have it for N64... just better graphics doesn't convince me. :)



the arcade machine was cool, but I don't know if it's aged well...


Offroad Thunder doesn't look too good.



And of course, the centerpiece of the collection. :) ... sure, I have it for N64. So? I don't have a Dreamcast, and this is the next best thing... though given that it's mainly an arcade port and presumably won't have all the features of the home ports, the DC version is probably still worth getting... for someone as big a fan of this game as me, anyway...



Yes, it WILL have multiplayer! I was really wondering about this, and am VERY happy to see it in. So... what about the other games? How many of them will have multi, and for how many players? I'm sure Super Off-Road will be 3-player, but the others... I'm wondering. Hoping for something to have 4-player support, too, but I'm not overly hopeful about that one. I don't know if any of these original arcade machines supported it... Rush 2049, Hydro Thunder, and others did support 2-player in the arcade, but 4? And in the home ports of these games four player support has been only occasionally iincluded (like Hydro Thunder for N64... but in 3 or 4 player mode you're stuck with the internal camera... or Rush 2049, with only 2 player for the actual racing...). But hey, I can hope, right? :)


Oh yeah, there's also S.T.U.N. Runner and Badlands in the collection. And videos linked on the IGN preview.