Street Racer (1994 video game)
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Allister Brimble (SNES)
Brian Marshall (PS, SAT, MS-DOS)
| Street Racer | |
|---|---|
 North American SNES box art | |
| Developer | Vivid Image |
| Publishers | Ubi Soft Piko Interactive |
| Composers | Matt Furniss (Mega Drive) Allister Brimble (SNES) Brian Marshall (PS, SAT, MS-DOS) |
| Platforms | Super NES, Mega Drive, Game Boy, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, Amiga, Amiga CD32, MS-DOS |
| Release | |
| Genre | Kart racing |
| Modes | Single-player, multiplayer |
Street Racer is a racing video game published by Ubi Soft for various systems. It was released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994,[5] Sega Mega Drive in 1995,[6] PlayStation,[7] Sega Saturn and Game Boy in 1996,[8] and MS-DOS[4] and Amiga in 1997.[9] Marketed as a "cross between Mario Kart and Street Fighter",[10] the go-kart themed game combined racing with comedy and beat 'em up influenced violence. The game was a success on the SNES and Mega Drive and received mixed reviews across platforms.
Street Racer is a go-kart racing game which combines racing with violence.[7] Characters can strike opponents with their fists and must avoid explosives littered around the track.[7][11] The game's characters (including Surf Sister and Frank Instein)[12] possess unique power-ups such as the Screaming Banshee, Batmobile,[12] magic carpet and tri-plane.[9]
The game features the ability to race various championships beginning with the Bronze Championship and moving on to progressively more difficult competitions. An alternative one-on-one mode is also available.[11] The game awards points for final race positions, with bonus points given for accolades such as fastest lap. The competitor with the most points after all races wins the Championship.[7] The game includes a "Rumble" mode in which players attempt to force opponents from an arena.[7] The "Soccer" mode is a free-for-all football match with one goal and in which players tackle by colliding with the opponent.[11]
As in many racing games, the AI in Street Racer adjusts itself according to the player's performance, becoming harder to beat if the player does well and easier to beat if the player makes mistakes.[13]
One of the main selling points of the later PlayStation and Saturn versions was that they supported up to eight players on a split screen, something that would have ordinarily caused slowdown to the point of unplayability on contemporary gaming hardware.[13][14]
Development
While working on Second Samurai, Vivid Image was keen on kicking off a parallel project on the SNES. A number of ideas were considered, and they settled on a racing game similar to Super Mario Kart. Ideas for the game early-on focused on the inclusion of a famous Turkish folklore character, Nasreddin Hodja, and a "soccer mode". As the team grew, Vivid Image began renting out an office in Harrow. Newcomers to the team, twins Tony and Chris West, spearheaded the development and were able to use their coding skills on the 4-player mode to bypass the need for Nintendo's DSP chip, saving $3 per cartridge. Ubi Soft would later agree to add these savings to the royalty payouts, and were keen to grow the scope to many other platforms. This would mark the start of a 4-year relationship with Ubi Soft.[15]
