A series of racing games by Genki, known also in Japan as
Shutokou Battle and dating to the SNES days, although few of the earlier games made it to the United States. It got more notice when the
Sega Dreamcast versions came stateside. (Genki also developed the first
Wangan Midnight console games.)
The main feature of the game is its free roaming environment (not introduced until the first Dreamcast game) and the "SP" system, in which both your car and the opponent's car have life bars that go down when either car is ahead or hits a wall/civilian traffic.
List of the games in the series (note that localized releases are listed by their English titles):
- Drift King Shutokou Battle '94 (Super Famicom, Japan-only)
- Drift King Shutokou Battle 2 (Super Famicom, Japan-only)
- Highway 2000 (Saturn, known as Wangan Dead Heat in Japan)
- Tokyo Highway Battle (PlayStation, known as Shutokou Battle: Drift King in Japan)
- Shutokou Battle '97 (Saturn, Japan-only)
- Shutokou Battle R (PlayStation, Japan-only)
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer (Dreamcast)
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2 (Dreamcast)
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer Zero (PlayStation 2)
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 (PlayStation 2)
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift (PlayStation 2, part of spinoff series Kaido Battle)
- Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 (PlayStation 2, also part of Kaido Battle)
- Street Supremacy (PSP, known as Shutokou Battle: Edge of Control in Japan)
- Import Tuner Challenge (Xbox 360, known as Shutokou Battle X in Japan)
The Tokyo Xtreme Racer series contains examples of the following:
- Cap: On your speed; TXR0 caps you at 430 km/h / 267 mph, and TXR3 to 370 km/h / 230 mph.
- Cultural Translation: The North American version converts all measurements to U.S. measurements, ''even though the game is set in Japan. Also see the Race Lift example below.
- Easy Mode Mockery: Some games have an "easy" life meter option in which you only lose SP for trailing (as opposed to losing SP for trailing as well as hitting stuff). However, using this option reduces the amount of currency won from battles.
- Game-Breaking Bug: Due to an error involving converting currency, one opponent in Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 requires you to have more money than is permitted. And she's one of the 599 opponents you need to defeat to challenge the Final Boss. As a result of this hard lesson learned, every subsequent localization of any Shutokou Battle / Kaido Battle game leaves the currency as is.
- Guide Dang It: Many of the requirements to summon and/or be able to challenge "Wanderer" opponents. In TXR3, some of the opponents' requirements are hinted at in their profiles, but for many others, as well as those in other games, you may as well hit up a guide.
- Heroic RROD: In TXR3, driving for too long without stopping occasionally in the parking areas results in drastically reduced engine performance (from water and oil temps overheating). Driving for too long in a single night will also wear down your tires and make the car less responsive to steering inputs, and have less grip overall.
- Life Meter: The SP gauge system.
- Mirror Boss: In Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3, the Final Boss is a ghost copy of your own car
. - Race Lift: Many characters in TXR0 had their names changed from Japanese names to Western names. The result: Tokyo's highway racing scene is comprised mostly of Westerners.
- Rain of Blood: In TXR3, if you race Blood Hound in the rain, the rain turns into blood.
- Shout Out:
- Wide-Open Sandbox: When you're not racing opponents, you're more or less free to drive around the city with impunity, unless you're playing a game with water and oil temperature as gameplay mechanics, and even then a quick pit stop will remedy that.
0 reviews