Wow, I haven’t been this disappointed about an arcade game since… I dunno… Thundercross 2?
Sega Racing Classic is the new driving game coming from Sega, and as the flyer suggested, it’s an update of the famous Daytona USA. Yes, the 1995 title that still keeps it’s value; still keeps on earning at locations around the world.
SRC had the potential to be the most amazing/successful arcade update since Outrun 2. All Sega needed to do was…
- Keep the Daytona name
- Keep the Daytona song
- Upgrade the graphics using the Sega Rally 3 engine
And according to the location test (& gameplay videos) at 1UP.com, Sega have managed a Failsational™ 0/3.
Point 1. THE LICENSE. They’ve failed to retain “Daytona” license, so they had to change the name. So far, I’ve found nothing on why they lost the license. After famously signing up with Ferrari for Outrun 2 (& its updates) I find this pretty strange. Having a generic name like “Sega Racing Classic” is a pity, and it wouldn’t have been a deal-breaker, except for point 2.
Point 2. THE SONG. “DaytonnAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH… let’s fly away….” Oh no you don’t – you don’t have the license, so you can’t say that word.
Bugger. Sure it had more cheese than a Dominos Cheeserama Cheesybites pizza with Extra Cheese, but it just needs to be there. The song NEEDS to be there!
Point 3. THE GRAPHICS. According to Wikipedia, the game uses Sega’s new “Ringwide” hardware. Judging by the graphics, it’s not the Sega Rally 3 engine. (More like Thomas the Tank engine…)
1995 - Daytona USA
2009 - Sega Racing Classic
Yes, my grab of Daytona USA has a fair bit of ugly Youtube compression – but you know what the game looks like, and the “update” below it.. is so close to the original, I fail to see any point in its existance. OK, so it’s widescreen instead of a 4:3 display. But no-one’s refusing to play Daytona USA due to its old school aspect ratio.
Can you imagine your local pub/bar/arcade owner saying “Oooh, I should get SRC, to replace my Daytona USA! Sure, the lack of the original branding makes it look like a cheap clone, but I have all this useless money just clogging up my bank account”
Yes, I’m basing my opinion on footage of a location test. But the kind of tweaks/improvements that follow testing will never scale the mountain of hope that players/operators had for a new Daytona.
#fail Sega, #fail.
*Thanks to Arcade Heroes for the headsup.
*Volvo photo by Flickr user TJ&Kim
November 4, 2009 at 12:54 am |
Sega is doing a marvelous job lately of letting down their core fan base. I mean, putting Sonic in a car! What’s that about?
It’s clear that the brilliant people at their helm in the past, have moved on.
November 15, 2009 at 6:43 pm |
Actually I think Sega has not been inovative lately, they should spend more money on inovation rather than only graphics. just personal opinion