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The PAL version cover

Rapid Racer (known as Turbo Prop Racing in America) is a powerboat racing game developed by Team Soho, published by Sony Computer Entertainment, and released for the original PlayStation in 1997 (1998 in North America and Japan). It features six courses: Golden Sands in Miami, Wild Water Canyon in Arizona, Glacier Bay in Alaska, Bear Lake in Canada, Lost Valley in Costa Rica, and the fictitious Lava Trail in Hawaii (the only course where the boats raced on lava instead of water). In addition to those six tracks, there was also a random level generator.

Rapid Racer was one of the first PlayStation games to take full advantage of the then-new DualShock controller, as it allowed for both analog controls and vibrations. It also ran at 60 frames per second, a relative rarity for the PS1. That said, the fast speeds mean that the environments typically lacked great detail. Still, for its time, the graphics were quite impressive.

The soundtrack for the UK version of the game was by Apollo 440. When the game was imported to the US, their soundtrack was thrown out and replaced with music by Loudmouth.

See also Hydro Thunder, another powerboat racing game.


Rapid Racer contains examples of the following tropes:

  • Announcer Chatter: "Wrong way!" "Turbo!" "Yes, ho ho!" "No!" "Great!" "Last lap!" "Winner!"
  • Bonus Stage: If you collect five yellow orbs during a race, you get a bonus round where, if you complete it, you can upgrade your boat.
  • Classic Cheat Code: A code allows you to race as giant rubber ducks.
  • Fanservice Extra: One of the ending FMVs briefly feature some swimsuit-clad babes on the beach.
  • Lethal Lava Land: Lava Trail, though in an aversion, the lava doesn't hurt you. Actually, its distinct look arguably makes Lava Trail the highlight of the game.
  • Level in Reverse: The six tracks can also be played in mirror mode and night mode.
  • Nitro Boost: You can drive over green orbs, which give you turbos. However, avoid the red orbs, because they take turbos away (and three of them in a row temporarily slow you down).

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