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Accidents do happen, but this one goes off the charts.
We will analyze your driving technique at the end of the race, please start your engine.

Thrill Drive is an arcade-only Racing Game series by Konami. Although not well-known outside of Japan, it is notable for being one of the original influences for the Burnout series along with the car chases from Ronin (1998).

Games in the series:

  • Thrill Drive (1998)
  • Thrill Drive 2 (2001)
  • Thrill Drive 3 (2004)
  • Crazy Streets - Thrill Drive 4 (2007)


This work provides examples of:

  • Achievements in Ignorance: You can achieve a maximum curiosity level from the beginning by just simply pressing the change view button rapidly.
  • Apathetic Citizens: The first game features pedestrians in the course who are just basically crossing briskly across the street. They give 0 shits when there is an illegal street race ongoing and cars just blazing through them (though pedestrians would steer clear of the drivers, making running over them impossible).
  • Bland-Name Product: Has quite a subtle in the first game. Notably the USA course has faux brands, like Sumway (Subway) and Dandy's (Wendy's).
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: The AI rivals very rarely, if ever, make mistakes and crash. Averted in the third game, where AI rivals tend to crash a bit more frequently. Notably the railroad and clifftop sections.
  • Continuing is Painful: The Korean version of the first game is unique for having the Continue Screen feature, whereas other versions would rather end the game when the time runs out. If enabled, it makes the time limit stricter to the point where you must cross the next checkpoint with equal or better speed without causing an accident. When you run out of time and coin up, the music and weather will reset back to the "zero crashes" state and you are allowed to continue racing, which would've Subverted this trope had it not been for the fact that your overall performance also resets each time you continue.
  • Cultural Translation: All three games by default use Japanese yen as the currency for which monetary values are displayed, as well as an option to change it to US dollars, using an exchange rate that was commonplace during the nineties (100 JPY = 1 USD). The second game in particular had additional currency options beyond JPY and USD, and these are Euros and Hong Kong dollars.
  • Dangerous Clifftop Road: Parts of the mountainous road have no guardrails. Falling down the road will result in an accident.
  • Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: Got entangled in a serious or fatal accident? Nah, Only a Flesh Wound. You'll just simply respawn an continue racing.
  • Don't Try This at Home: "When driving in real life, please drive carefully and sensibly."
    • In 2: "The violent images depicted in this game are fictious. Please drive defensively in real world."
  • Drives Like Crazy: Invoked, seeing as this is your best bet to finish the course in time and earn a spot on the high score list.
  • Eiffel Tower Effect: The third game puts some iconic landmarks in its respective courses; USA has the Golden Gate Bridge, Europe has the Arc de Triomphe and Japan has Tokyo's Rainbow Bridge.
  • Empathic Environment: In the first game, the weather changes each time you crash, turning from bright and sunny to gloomy and overcast and finally a thunderstorm.
    • No longer the case in the sequel due to all three courses now featuring their preset weather condition (Night for Japan, Sunset for USA, Foggy for Europe; the weather intensity can also be set by holding the shifter up or down in the selection menu), while in the third game these weather options are chosen by the pre-race selection menu.
  • Fortune Teller: At the end of a race in 3, depending on your performance, the game reads your fortune (in style of Omikuji) for certain days of the week ranging from great fortune to small fortune (possible machine trouble on Friday) to great misfortune (bad luck on weekends, with the game outright telling you not to drive).
  • Gameplay Grading: After the race, you're shown an End-Game Results Screen detailing your skills in a web chart (accompanied by a rank, such as "Gentle Driver", "Role Model", "Need More Guts" etc.), your performance in the different sections of the course, in addition to your overall score. In 2 and 3, the results screen will also include a list of any and all moving violations committed and instances of property damage, which includes things such as ignoring traffic signals, going through an occupied railroad crossing when a train has not completely cleared it, and smashing road-works, as well as how many demerit points (according to Japanese traffic laws) said violations will cause a licensed driver to incur.
    Narrator: (upon getting a D rank) You should be banned from public roads.
  • Gratuitous Foreign Language:
    • The police in the third game all speak in its course's respective languages; English for USA, French for Europe and Japanese (obviously) for Japan.
    • The hammy male announcer in the third game has "CHECKPOINT! REFUELLING!"
  • Hot Pursuit: Police will occasionally show up to chase the racers, and your only recourse is to evade them until they give up.
  • Interface Screw: The camera glitches and blurs during an accident, complete with a P.O.V. Cam and an instant replay.
  • Joke Character: The game adds secret cars that can be used. The first game allows you to play as a school girl who for some reason runs 6 times faster than Usain Bolt. The third game has a giant rubber duckie with wheels on, which the police address you as "Mr. Ducky" ("Ahiru-chan"note  in Japanese, "Coin-Coin"note  in French). However these secret cars perform as par as the regular cars, making them more like Lethal Joke Characters.
  • Karma Houdini: The player gets no punishment for reckless driving.
    • Averted big time for accidents: not only do they negatively affect your score, but between the damage counter, screams and ambulance sirens, it's strongly implied that your disregard for road safety has resulted in the injury and death of innocent people.
  • Mid-Season Upgrade: Mid-Race Upgrade to be exact. Driving through a Parts Shop will automatically upgrade the car's engine, as well as the tire and brakes, improving its grip and braking respectively.
  • Multi-Track Drifting: Large vehicles like a bus, rig and tow truck have a tendency to drift like crazy.
  • No One Could Survive That!: Well obviously, a serious accident like that would likely kill or severely injure a driver in Real Life!
  • Racing the Train: Railroad crossings are present in some courses. Hitting the train spells instant death at any speed.
  • Rubber-Band A.I.: Unless you're maintaining your top speed, the AI drivers will blaze suddenly past you.
  • Screaming Woman: The infamous loud female scream can be heard when you crash. The third game adds a male scream along with a redubbed female one, with both being different in Japanese and English versions.
  • Shows Damage: The car is seen with lots of dents and cracked windows after respawning from an accident in the third game, unless you drive through the Repair Shop.
  • Songs in the Key of Panic: Present throughout the series. With 0 accidents, the background music is intense but upbeat. After 1-2 accidents, it becomes like something out of a horror game. 3 or more accidents, and the soundtrack turns into a panicky, discordant cacophony to let you know that you really screwed up.
    • However, if you manage to get nearly through the course without a single accident, it becomes a Near Victory Fanfare, turning it into an angelic but even more uplifting tune.
  • Space Compression: All of the courses take you through the city, then the highway, and then the mountains, then again the highway, and finally back to the city in less than 10 miles.
  • You Must Be This Tall to Ride: Deconstructed. While the game recommends players to wear a seatbelt when playing as the game simulates the accident via haptic movements, players under 130cmnote  are not required to wear one when playing.

Congratulation. You reached the finish line.
NOW ANALYZING YOUR TECHNIQUE............

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