Original Release: Midway, 1994, Arcade
Other Releases: Nintendo 64 (1996), Wii (2008)
Cruis’n USA became a major arcade hit by combining pleasant (if not cutting-edge) graphics with gameplay that felt a lot like OutRun.
Cruis’n USA (Nintendo 64, 1996, Midway)
Where to Buy: Amazon
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
Cruis’n USA is a simplistic racing game in the mold of Outrun, I dunno about the rest of the world but it had pretty great success in USA arcades during the 1990s. The reason it was so popular is that it focused on pleasant visuals and on being easy to jump right into. At least with the N64 version, even someone who has never played the game before can just step right up to it and set record times in the Expert tracks on their first play. The handling is unrealistically smooth, the tracks are wide with very few obstacles and sharp turns, and the computer opposition is lackadaisical even on the hardest tracks.
There are a number of tracks based on famous stretches of U.S. highways, but they don’t worry too much about being accurate as I don’t recall there being huge pits dug into Highway 101 that you have to use ramps to launch over. I used to live in San Francisco and I still can’t figure out what stretch of road that is supposed to be in that expert level. Golden Gate Park also doesn’t connect directly to the Golden Gate Bridge, which then goes on to connect to the Bay Bridge somehow about five seconds later. The physics also don’t worry too much about realism as you can plow head-on into an oncoming tractor trailer and send it flying backwards with no damage to your vehicle.
The N64 doesn’t quite have the horsepower to match up to the arcade version so the visuals lose something in the translation here. Without the visual hook of the arcade the game is kind of left with little to recommend it.
I wouldn’t go so far as to call the music “good”, but it has some classic moments such as Roadkill Jam and the one song that keeps using female orgasmic WAV clips over and over. The Finish line with partying fat shirtless dudes and repetitively gyrating trophy chick is also quite classic.
All in all this one is pretty mediocre, if you want an easy racing game for the kids or something it might be good, but it probably won’t hold your attention for very long.
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