Speed Racer PS1 Review

Speed Racer was developed for the PlayStation back in 1998 and this game was inspired by the iconic speed racer cartoon that was very popular back years ago. I remember myself even growing up used to see reruns of the cartoon that used to be on the tv in the evenings after school. 

So this game features the iconic car from the tv show along with the driver. Now there's no real story as such in the game but it does have different game modes like with championship and the time trial. 

Now with the championship, you only have access to three tracks so it's very typical of a lot of these arcade-type of racers that were very popular on the early days of the PlayStation.

This game reminds you a lot likes of Ridge Racer or even more to the point this game looks plays and even feels more like Daytona USA that was on the Sega Saturn and the arcades as even when you look at the tracks, the very first track in the game is almost comparable to the very first track you play on Daytona USA. 

What's unique about this game is the gameplay is fast-paced and it's frantic but you have a load of unique features that the car has on offer where you can use various weapons that you can use to your advantage like you have saw blades that come out of the bonnet of the car that allow you to literally wipe out your opponents in front of you but at the same time it can also hinder you because even though you can fling the other cars up in the air they never really go behind you they're always kind of stuck in front of you so they always end up nearly back where they started and it's very hard to overtake them especially when you're in a pack. 

You also have other unique abilities where you can use a spring kind of effect where you can jump over obstacles and even other cars as you're racing which is pretty cool. 

So with the tracks in question primarily with the game very similar to ridge racer you've only really got one track that you race on but depending on the different difficulties whether you're playing on easy, medium or the hardest difficulty, you'll get different variations of the track that will open up with different routes that you can take but it has some cool elements where you can take some useful shortcuts in the game where you can go through parking lots and some modern areas that will open up so that you can take advantage as the game does become quite difficult after a while as computer opponents, especially on the harder difficulties, can make a habit of catching up with you when you least expect it so you do have to have your wits about you in terms of the controls. 

You have to know the layouts of the tracks in order to be able to maintain your lead plus the game as you go throughout the course of the race does change in terms of its weather effects it has dynamic weather effects that change from morning to noon to even dark like at night all in the one race which is pretty cool and the buildings and the lighting effects around the track itself is very reflective of the day type or the weather type in question. 

Now it's a fun arcade racer that does warrant a playthrough if you do like these type of racers very similar to ridge racer and more to the point the iconic daytona as that's where this game is heavily influenced by. 

You will have a lot of fun with this game but again it's quite short you will literally go through the campaign in less than 20 minutes pretty much so you'll have the game pretty much finished in a very short space of time but there is enough unique features and enough fun aspects of the game to have multiple playthroughs of it so it is fun just to play it and just experience it for itself. 

There are no real story elements as i mentioned in the game it's just pure arcade racer with just using the speed racer kind of aesthetic but it's still worth the playthrough if you do like iconic arcade racing games. 

So i'd love to know your thoughts on speed racer for the PlayStation and i'd love to know what stories you have with the game if you have played it yourself and do you like these arcade style of racing games that were released on the system back in the day. 

Be sure to share it in the comments below and be sure to keep watching to see more content on other games similar to Speed Racer, you can check out the blog where we will be diving into the iconic elements of these classic video games and as always keep those gaming memories alive...