The game consists of four courses (five in the original arcade release), along with the car having two speeds, one propelling the player car to around 196 km/h (120 mph), and the other hurtling the car at 400 km/h (250 mph). Naturally, going at such an insane speed isn't without its risks, as colliding with objects such as side railings or trucks would cause the car to explode; crashing into any other car or an oil slick is a tad less risky, but can and will chain into a deadly collision if the player isn't careful enough. Konami Man also makes a cameo appearance in some levels and grants the player a bonus should they be able to race their way through without any collisions.
Ports for the MSX and the Nintendo Entertainment System were later released in 1985 in North America, with a European NES release in 1991. Since its release on the NES, it has become a staple of pirate multicarts and NOAC-style plug and play systems in the 90s and well over into the early 2000s, with some releases (one such example being the NTDEC bootleg removing the Konami logo and replacing the copyright notice to "1990 NTDEC") removing any copyright notices as an attempt to dodge the authorities.
The game was also re-issued as part of Konami Arcade Classics in 1999 and on Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits for the Nintendo DS, with a Japan-only mobile phone version for i-mode devices being released in 2005.
This game provides examples of:
- Beach Episode: One level takes place on the beach.
- Bottomless Fuel Tanks: Averted in that the fuel meter is essentially a countdown timer of sorts, depleting even further once the player drives faster or after respawning from a crash.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: Somewhat averted when colliding with AI cars, but not on guard rails or trucks.
- Superman Substitute: Konami Man is quite obviously based on Superman, granting the player bonus points should they make it halfway through without bumping into any car or obstacle. He would later be developed into a superhero mascot character in his own right, and was given his very own starring role in the 1988 Famicom crossover game Konami Wai Wai World.
- Top-Down View: We see the tops of the objects and the environment.
