Original Release: Sega, 1994, Arcade
Other Releases: Saturn (1995), PC (1996), Dreamcast (2000), PS3/Xbox 360 (2011)
The debut of the Sega Model 2 hardware was a huge jump forward for arcade graphics and the music is some of the most earwormy of all time, but Daytona USA’s gameplay hasn’t aged as well as its vibe
Daytona USA (Dreamcast, Sega, 2000)
Where to Buy: eBay
How to Emulate: coming soon!
Review by: C. M0use
Fueled by sheer panache and booming Takenobu Mitsuyoshi songs, Daytona USA is a fond memory of anyone who spent time in arcades in the mid-to-late ’90s. But time has really revealed that it was built more on presentation and artistic energy than innovative solid gameplay and design, and the Dreamcast port doesn’t help by making the steering even worse than the arcade original.
It was no small feat when it came out in 1994, but what it essentially did was manage to get a high-end (for the time) PC racer off of PCs and into another format. It was pretty basic in terms of gameplay and options, but was still more than even 64-bit consoles could hack hardware-wise (as a somewhat sludgy and graphically limited Saturn port demonstrated).
The Dreamcast release improves the graphics, which were a big graphical leap forward at the time of the arcade release but that time was 1994. It also incorporates the tracks from the Saturn game and adds three new tracks of its own and new cars to unlock, along with online play for up to four players (though due to a major technical boner by Sega in handling the servers, this only lasted for a little short of two years of the original Japanese release).
It does a whole lot right, but everything comes down to the gameplay. Which is iffy at best. Steering is very imprecise and chunky, which actually requires you to ramp down sensitivity in the options menu to get to a more playable level … but even knocked all the way down it’s still not great, and on some of the tougher races it feels utterly impossible to ever catch up with the top three or four racers.
There’s long been a theory that the poor handling on the stock Dreamcast controller was an intentional move by Sega to “nudge” people into buying the add-on Sega Race Controller wheel (or Agetec Rally Wheel in the US), which reportedly improves the game control tremendously. I can believe it, as Sega was not known for its consistent business acumen in this period. Whatever the case, it’s probably best to just skip straight to one of the sequels if you’re interested in the series.
Links
Play online at Dreamcast Live
Videos
Live vocal cover by the man himself