Original Release: Bandai, 2001, WonderSwan
The quick (and colorized) follow-up to Final Lap 2000 makes the driving action a little more challenging, but removes the checkpoint system and adds some new play modes
Final Lap Special (Wonderswan, Bandai, 2001)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
When the Wonderswan Color came out Namco fired up another Final Lap title for it, but this has enough new elements that it’s fair to consider it an entirely new game rather than just a touch-up of Final Lap 2000.
It seems to run on the same fundamental game engine, but the steering has been tweaked to feel a little more realistic (and challenging). With this change, the obnoxious timer on each individual lap has also been banished, instantly making the game more playable than its predecessor.
It also has a few new modes of play. F1 Mode is closest to the original experience – pick a top-of-the-line sports car, go through a straightforward series of tracks racing against a pile of Green Mooks and one competent rival you need to finish in front of. The difficulty here is that the rival drives very well all of the time.
GT Mode is another new addition, sort of a very limited version of the Turbografx port experience. This one starts you off borrowing Mom’s sedan to bring to the racetrack, you’ll have to deal with the clunker until you win some races and use the prizes to buy some better cars. This mode rudely ends the game if you place too low, however, even though you have to drive almost absolutely perfectly through three laps to win the first available race.
There are also three “extra games” that involve dodging various obstacles for as long as possible in a time attack sort of situation, but the track editor from Final Lap 2000 has been cut.
It’s well-made, but I feel this is the 2nd hardest version of the game behind the original Wonderswan version due to the CPU driving robotically perfect all the time in all modes and very little room for error. I like how it looks and handles, but I feel like it’s still just a little too annoying and unbalanced to get into.
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