!! This is your crew chief! Your mileage may vary with these tropes, so good luck!
* AnnoyingVideoGameHelper: The crew chief's advice and guidance can come across as annoying at times. He'll often chastise you for "slipping and sliding" while drifting despite that being exactly what you want to do. This is especially prominent in ''Daytona USA 2'', where he interjects far more frequently and has a much, ''much'' wider array of voicelines.
* [[Awesome/VideoGameLevels Best Level Ever]]:
** ''SEGA Super GT'' manages to turn an EasierThanEasy course into one: The Super Beginner course takes place inside a ''house'' and your opponents are all various toys. And there's a bowling minigame on the back straight.
** The Beginner course in ''Battle on the Edge'' is set inside an environmental dome, which makes it [[SceneryPorn quite memorable]].
* BrokenBase:
** The instrumental soundtrack for ''Championship Circuit Edition''. Although critics and some players were pleased with the soundtrack because it ''lacked'' Takenobu Mitsuyoshi's singing, many fans of the original game's soundtrack weren't pleased that they removed his vocals, considering them a vital part of the game's fun. On the other hand, there are also fans of his who enjoyed the new remixes just fine.
** Which edition of ''Daytona USA 2'' is better: ''Battle on the Edge'' or ''[[UpdatedRerelease Power Edition]]''? ''Battle'' has a SceneryPorn Beginner course rather than the generic speedway course of ''Power Edition'', while ''Power Edition'' has some bells and whistles that some feel offset the generic Beginner course such as [[GuestFighter the Hornet]] and the Challenge course (the latter of which may have necessitated the aforementioned change on account of [[AllTheWorldsAreAStage its setup]], as an open-air oval racetrack would presumably be much easier to transition into compared to an indoor and completely enclosed biodome).
** Relatedly, which version of ''2'' has the better version of the Hornet Classic? In ''Battle on Edge'', the Hornet is [[SecretCharacter a secret vehicle accessible via code]] (which caused its presence in the game to go unnoticed for over two decades) with customizable stats and [[{{Retraux}} the same Model 2 graphics seen in the original]], but otherwise handles exactly the same as the other cars in ''2''. In ''Power Edition'', the Hornet is instead selectable from the start, and while it lost the customization aspects and had its design tweaked to match the Model 3 graphics used elsewhere in-game, its performance was altered to be identical to its counterpart in the original ''Daytona USA'', meaning it's [[MechanicallyUnusualFighter the only car]] [[GrandfatherClause able to powerslide with a 4-1-4 gear shift]] (something that is [[ObviousRulePatch otherwise absent]] in the sequel due to different car physics).
* CargoShip: Certain lines in the lyrics to "Sling Shot" in ''2'' can be interpreted as a man's rather intimate relationship with his car.
-->''Feel the heartbeat of my machine / through this tight seat / I feel every motion / of this machine''
-->''The race starts when two of us / become one''
-->''Hear the heavenly melody / my machine sings / I sense every rotation / of all four wheels''
* CommonKnowledge: That the Saturn port was slammed upon release and quickly deemed an absolute trainwreck. In truth, the Saturn port was very well received upon release, garnering 8’s and 9’s from most of the press. [[https://youtu.be/KT336AuCw5w?si=K_Nx3ok0FlRH4I04 This video]] goes into further detail about this historical misconception.
* ContestedSequel:
** ''2001'' is considered one of the [[PolishedPort better ports]] of the original game or [[PortingDisaster one of the worst]]. Those who enjoy it will claim it has the largest track selection in the series, including the ''Circuit Edition'' tracks, improved graphics, different cars and several racing options. Detractors tend to bring up the control sensitivity issue that plagued every review and odd car designs with large distracting tires, among other changes. Many in both camps were also disappointed that the game wasn't a port of ''Daytona USA 2'' instead.
** ''Daytona Championship USA''. Although many longtime fans weren't happy that the so-called "long-awaited sequel" turned out to be another [[VideoGameRemake remake]] of the original game, with the three new courses being variants of the existing ones, there were others glad to see the game updated for modern arcades, especially considering the deteriorating state of the original machines, and appreciated the fact that the game is functionally identical in just about every way to the original.
* CultClassic:
** ''Daytona USA 2'' [[FirstInstallmentWins was nowhere near as successful as its predecessor]], but those who did play it often hold it in high regard. When it was announced that the game would be included in ''VideoGame/{{Like a Dragon Gaiden|TheManWhoErasedHisName}}'', it was not uncommon to see people expressing interest in getting it solely to finally play ''USA 2'' at home.
** ''Scud Race'' was also nowhere near as successful or popular as ''Daytona'', but it's also held in high regard. For several years, there's been a strong demand for it to be re-released on modern platforms. But unfortunately due to legal issues surrounding the game, it likely won't ever get a re-release.
* FandomRivalry:
** The ''Daytona USA'' [[DuelingWorks vs.]] ''VideoGame/RidgeRacer'' feud was one of the most memorable ones of TheNineties.
** ''Daytona USA'' also had a bitter rivalry with ''[[VideoGame/TokyoXtremeRacer Shutokou Battle]]'' due to have releases on Sega consoles. However, it was toned down slightly when ''2001'' was outsourced to Creator/{{Genki}}, who developed the ''Shutokou Battle'' series.
** During the Creator/{{Nintendo}} [[MediaNotes/ConsoleWars vs.]] Creator/{{Sega}} rivalry in the 90s, there was naturally some beef between ''Daytona'' and ''VideoGame/{{Cruisn}}''.
* FanNickname:
** The player car in the original was referred to by fans as the "Hornet", in reference to the logo on the rear bumper and hood. [[AscendedFanon This was eventually canonized by Sega]] in both versions of ''Daytona USA 2''.[[labelnote:*]]As the Hornet Classic was a well-kept {{secret|Character}} in ''Battle on the Edge'' for more than 20 years, most players wouldn't learn this fact until the release of ''Power Edition'' later that same year (1998).[[/labelnote]]
** ''Daytona Championship USA'' is usually just called ''Daytona USA 3'' (partly due to the fact the game was originally promoted as "''Daytona 3 Championship USA''" before the "3" was removed from the title).
* FirstInstallmentWins: Very few people play or remember ''Daytona USA 2'' or ''SCUD Race''. While ''USA 2'' finally did see a re-release ([[VideoGame/LikeADragonGaidenTheManWhoErasedHisName of sorts]]) in 2023, ''SCUD Race'' still has the misfortune of having [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes a total lack of consumer ports]] (and is unlikely to ever be ported due to the potential licensing costs involved). On top of that, the first game has also been ported and seen [[UpdatedRerelease Updated Re-releases]] numerous times, including not one arcade HD remake, but ''two''.
* FriendlyFandoms:
** With ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog''. Being Creator/{{Sega}} series that have [[ShoutOut referenced one another]] at multiple points makes this something of a no-brainer, but special note goes to ''NASCAR Arcade'', one of ''Daytona''[='s=] many offshoots which featured the music stylings of Music/Crush40, giving the game a sound that'd be right at home with the [[Platform/SegaDreamcast Dreamcast]]-and-beyond era of the ''Sonic'' series. Because of this, it was fairly popular during the early 2000s for [[{{Fanvid}} AMV makers]] to mash up ''Sonic'' clips with music from ''NASCAR Arcade'' (and Crush 40's ''Thrill of the Feel'' album by extension).
** With ''VideoGame/FZero'', due to that game being one of the main inspirations for ''Daytona''. Sega also lent a hand with the development of ''F-Zero GX'' (including producer Toshihiro Nagoshi, who previously worked as the director of the original ''Daytona USA'' and the producer of ''2''), which helped bridge the two together. This kinship would be further strengthened when ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' unexpectedly featured an entire "F-Zero Medley" by none other than Takenobu Mitsuyoshi himself.
* GameplayDerailment: The original ''Daytona USA'' let you powerslide through corners through strategic gear-shifting. ''Daytona USA 2'' suggests that this wasn't the intended purpose of the shifter, as attempting the same technique on it will result in a spinout or explosion instead, although ''Power Edition'' allows you to do it again in the Hornet car due to a GrandfatherClause.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Invoked. With ''VideoGame/VirtuaRacing'' being a bigger hit in Japan and Europe than North America due to the States' preference for stock car racing over Formula 1, Sega [=AM2=] made a stock car racer with the Daytona license to attract Americans. It worked.
** Like [["VideoGame/TimeCrisis"]], Daytona USA is also not foreign to Indonesian arcadegoers. Back in the 90s (and 2000s), you could find at least one cab of it in arcade centres in the country. One local arcade even held a Daytona USA contest back in the 90s.
* HeartwarmingInHindsight: The music for ''NASCAR Arcade'' was performed by none other than Music/Crush40, better known for their many contributions to the ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series starting with ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', with ''NASCAR Arcade'' -- released before ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure2'' -- marking the first official formation of the band. After a long period of "inactivity" following ''VideoGame/SonicAndTheBlackKnight'', Crush 40 would have a triumphant return to the series by providing the main theme for ''VideoGame/TeamSonicRacing'', essentially bringing everything full circle.
-->'''Website/YouTube [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHW0Vn-wRzs comment]] by [=TheEFoy11=]:''' So Crush 40 went from making songs about fast cars, to Sonic songs, then did their own thing for a little while, until going full circle and making a song about Sonic driving fast cars. This is really satisfying to listen to with that in mind.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** The above ''Daytona USA''/''Ridge Racer'' rivalry from the 90s became this with the Platform/{{PlayStation Vita}} ''Ridge Racer'' installment, where [[GuestFighter the Hornet would join the races]] ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcPKS4XxZNQ accompanied by Mitsuyoshi's vocals, even!]]) [[DownloadableContent as part of]] a Sega/Namco {{crossover}} collaboration.
** Crosses over with RealLife: ''Scud Race'' was [[MarketBasedTitle renamed]] ''Sega Super GT'' for US cabinets. Years later, Sega published ''Sega Touring Car Championship'' and later ''Sega GT'', another two driving games with licensed cars (JGTC and DTM cars for former). And years later in Japan, the Japanese Grand Touring Championships (JGTC) was renamed ''Super GT'', making the US renaming of ''Scud Race'' even more hilarious.
** Seeing complex road circuits in featured in this game can be amusing since at the time, UsefulNotes/{{NASCAR}} didn't feature these very often. However, in UsefulNotes/TheNewTens, NASCAR started adding more road races to the lineup that weren't far off from what the game features, such as returning to Elkhart Lake: Road America, and utilizing the complete course at Sonoma Raceway. The real-life Daytona Road Course is roughly similar in concept to the intermediate circuit in the first game (Dinosaur Canyon).
** One of the cars in ''2001'', Lightning, eerily resembles an [=A80=] Toyota Supra. In 2019, Toyota put the DB-series Supra into NASCAR for real, even before the production model closed the 18-year SequelGap of the nameplate.
* ItsTheSameNowItSucks: ''Daytona Championship USA'', which turned out to be another updated version of the original game when it wasn't initially marketed as such. Considering that the game had already been remastered in HD for arcades (''Sega Racing Classic''), it's no wonder why fans were disappointed.
* JustHereForGodzilla:
** ''Daytona USA 2'' being included in ''VideoGame/{{Like a Dragon Gaiden|TheManWhoErasedHisName}}'' was a major selling point for some people.
** Crossing over with RetroactiveRecognition, a good deal of the attention given to ''NASCAR Arcade'' comes from the fact that its stellar soundtrack is the only involvement the ([[VideoGame/SonicAdventure then up-and-coming]]) Music/Crush40 has ever had in a video game series other than ''Sonic''.
* SugarWiki/MostWonderfulSound:
** "And they're underway!"
** "Time Extension!"
*** Bonus points go to the sequel, wherein the announcer starts off monotone but slowly gets more and more into the race with each successive lap on the Beginner and Advanced courses. By the time of the final lap[[labelnote:*]]or Lap 7 on the Beginner course[[/labelnote]], he's excitedly belting out "Time Extension!" (and [[ActingForTwo sounds indistinguishable from the crew chief]] as a result).
** "You're running 1st."
** "The white flag is out! This is the final lap!"
*** Courtesy of the crew chief in ''2'' (and easier to miss mid-race): "You're in the final stretch!"
** "A NEW WINNER!" Followed soon after by [[GoldenEnding "WELCOME TO VICTORY LANE!"]]
** "Now enter your name with the other champions."
* NarmCharm: Sure, the music is filled with [[BlindIdiotTranslation Engrish]] lyrics, but it's still very catchy.
* SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames: Quite possibly one of the most iconic examples for arcade games. There are even eight arcade cabinets in the Daytona 500 Experience museum. ''SCUD Race'' takes it a step further by using the licenses of famous supercars. ''Championship USA'' was even [[https://web.archive.org/web/20180920185332/https://segaarcade.com/news/daytona-wins-prestigious-brass-ring-award-for-best-new-product.html awarded the IAAPA Brass Ring Award]] in 2017 for Best New Product in the Arcade & Video Games Category.
* OlderThanTheyThink: ''Daytona USA'' was one of the first racing games to implement realistic driving physics, which made the game [[NintendoHard more difficult]] compared to other racing games at that time. The drifting mechanic was also somewhat realistic for the time, giving players who didn't know how to powerslide a hard time. This physics technology was later used in many racing simulators like ''VideoGame/GranTurismo''.
* PolishedPort:
** The Platform/Xbox360 and Platform/PlayStation3 ports of the original are easily the most [[ArcadePerfectPort arcade-perfect]] while further building on its foundation. Not only do they feature perfect recreations of the the original gameplay experience and soundtrack as well as the original graphics with HD textures and HUD elements retaining the original art style, but they also added various enhancements like widescreen, a mission mode, an optional arranged soundtrack, a karaoke mode (carried over from the original Saturn port), support for force feedback steering wheels allowing for arcade-perfect controls, and online multiplayer!
** The Japanese version of ''Circuit Edition''. The physics were reportedly altered to be closer to the original game, draw distance was improved, and it introduced the "Daytona USA Medley" as a bonus song sung by Mitsuyoshi.
** ''2001''. Aside from some minor control issues, the graphics and draw distance were tremendously improved, up to 40 opponents can be raced on all courses with no slowdown, and eight courses were included with four variants each (normal, reverse, mirror, and mirror reverse), making it the biggest game in the series.
* PortingDisaster: The Platform/SegaSaturn port captured the fun and music from the arcade game, but not the graphics or the silky smooth 60 FPS framerate, instead being capped at around 20 FPS. Hardly a "disaster" but it wasn't ideal either. The PC version, meanwhile, was an improvement over the Saturn version in terms of graphics but still retained the 20 FPS framerate cap. The developers sought out to fix this with the ''Championship Circuit Edition'' released later.
* TheScrappy: The crew chiefs from each game, as explained in AnnoyingVideoGameHelper above.
* ScrappyMechanic:
** One of the biggest downgrades of ''Daytona Championship USA'' was changing the series-traditional 4-position shifter and replacing it with a simplified up/down shifter. Given that many powersliding techniques rely on shifting down two or three gears at once, this is basically a screw-you to well-versed ''Daytona USA'' players. Although some machines do have a 4-way gear shift, not all of them do.
** In the same game, the Live Camera system, which can be very distracting for advanced players due to covering parts of the screen.
** The removal of 4-1-4 downshifting in ''USA 2'', which heavily {{nerf}}ed drifting and led to...
* SequelDifficultySpike: ''Daytona USA 2'' revamped the game's physics engine to make the A.I. opponents and driving physics more unforgiving and aggressive, and the tracks are somewhat longer in ''Battle of the Edge'' than in the previous games. ''Power Edition'' ramps up the difficulty even more and throws in [[AllTheWorldsAreAStage the]] [[HarderThanHard Challenge]] [[MarathonLevel track]] which gives even experienced racers a tough run to beat.
* SignatureSong:
** "Let's Go Away", which is played in the opening demo of the first game and in the Advanced/Dinosaur Canyon course. [[CreatorsFavorite It's also Mitsuyoshi's favorite.]]
** "Sling Shot", used for the Beginner course in ''USA 2'', is often regarded as the signature song from the second game.
* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: Though the two diverge after a time, the second game's opening theme, "Battle on the Edge," appears to take some cues from Music/DeepPurple's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wr9ie2J2690 "Highway Star."]]
* ThatOneLevel: The first game's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vr0kQlGYcH0 Expert level]] is tough. Ditto for [[SequelDifficultySpike the sequel's]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYRRXt9TO9Y Expert level.]]
* TheyChangedItNowItSucks:
** Although the graphics for ''Champion Circuit Edition'' were considered an improvement over the original Saturn port, fans weren't pleased that the racing arcade physics had been completely altered due to the game being developed by the ''VideoGame/SegaRally'' port team and not [=AM2=]. Fans of Mitsuyoshi were also a bit bummed that his vocals were nowhere to be heard in the game. Both of these were addressed in the Japanese version.
** For the second game, while ''[[UpdatedRerelease Power Edition]]'' is typically hailed as the better game overall, many fans preferred ''Battle on the Edge''[='s=] Beginner track, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ye1tfWnznJE Astro Waterfall Speedway,]] for its {{scen|eryPorn}}ic atmosphere as opposed to the update's more generic-looking [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9s5k9aFKjOo SEGA International Speedway.]] ([[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0YH_fAo1U4 The track layout is identical; only the accompanying scenery was changed.]]) [[AwesomeMusic/DaytonaUSA The music]] was left intact, [[DownplayedTrope so it wasn't a total loss]].
** ''Daytona Championship USA'' was subject to this as well. The new visual style attempted to combine realistic lighting and shadows with a bright and colorful arcade palette, but both styles tend to clash with one another. The HUD interface was altered, removing the radar and adding unwelcome live player cameras. Even the slot machine in Three-Seven Speedway, which players could use to add more time in the original, was removed. The 4-way gear shift had initially been replaced with an up/down shifter, removing a core element of the game, along with reports that the deadzone [[labelnote:Explanation]]the portion on the steering wheel that doesn't recognize input and is treated as being idle[[/labelnote]] had been altered and widened, altering the overall control scheme of the whole game. It's no wonder longtime fans of the original weren't happy.
* SugarWiki/VisualEffectsOfAwesome: The original ''Daytona USA'' was quite breathtaking for its time due to pumping out relatively well-textured and high-poly visuals at 60 frames per second. Five years later, ''Daytona USA 2'' would completely top the original thanks to the power of the Model 3 board. The Astro Waterfall Speedway in particular is often remembered for how awesome it looked.
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