Original Release: Namco, 2000, WonderSwan
The first handheld Final Lap replicated the look and feel of the arcade original with easier handling, but traded off for a more demanding checkpoint system
Final Lap 2000 (WonderSwan, Namco, 2000)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
The first handheld Final Lap title looks the most like the original arcade version (albeit in black and white), but incorporates the robust track selection of the NES port.
Speaking of that NES port, I came straight to this from that and was initially thrown for a loop by the extremely generous steering here. It requires only a very light touch, only having you skid and fight on the absolute sharpest of corners. It’s actually much easier to drive but I was doing poorly at first because of reflexive oversteering!
However, that doesn’t mean the game itself is easier. Quite the opposite. The design approach appeared to be to make handling much simpler, but also saddle you with some brutal lap checkpoint timers. You’ll often find you’re doing pretty well, cooking the CPU opponent, but still get rudely booted out of the game for not finishing a lap fast enough.
This also includes a rudimentary track designer, but it isn’t documented in-game at all and wasn’t all that intuitive despite seemingly being very simple.
While it’s impressive-looking and the gameplay is fine, I’d still have to say this is not a great port (possibly the worst of the Final Lap home options) just due to the awful lap time limits.
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