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              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC">volume 
                1, issue 23</font></b></font></p>
              <p><font color="#0000FF"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0000CC"> 
                </font></b></font></p>
              <p>  <p><font face="Courier New, Courier, mono"><b><font color="#339900" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Today 
                in loonygames:</font></b></font></p>

<P><font color="#000000" face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-1">New!!</font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2"> The Archives have been cleaned up, fead links fixed, and printable versions restored! Also, don't miss the new comments <a href="../../../index.html">on the front page</a>!</font></p>
              
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        <p align="LEFT"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" color="#0022A8"><b><a target="" href="../../columns.1"><font size="-1">Pad 
          Happy</font></a><font size="-1">:</font></b></font><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="+3" color="#0022A8"><br>
          Mirror, Signal, Maneuver</font></p>
        <p align="RIGHT"><font color="#804000"><b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">By 
          </font></b><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"> <a href="mailto:nickf@saqnet.co.uk">Nick 
          Ferguson</a></font></font></p>
        <p align="right">&nbsp; </p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">But racers don’t have to 
          be even vaguely realistic to create a fun playing experience. Where 
          would the genre be without the <b>Ridge Racer</b> power-slide, those 
          ridiculously spectacular <b>Daytona USA</b> collisions, or the zippy 
          anti-grav &quot;future racer&quot;, as epitomized by the <b>Wipeout</b> 
          and <b>F-Zero</b> series’? From <b>RC Pro-Am</b> to the <b>Micro Machines</b> 
          series, there are plenty of examples where extreme <i>unrealism</i> 
          has proven just as much (or more) fun than the more sober alternatives. 
          Sega and Namco may be masters of the pseudo-realistic arcade title, 
          but Nintendo have made a massive contribution to gameplay with their 
          playful take on the genre. The launch of the SNES saw the arrival of 
          <b>F-Zero</b> – a blisteringly fast sci-fi racer with wonderful comic-book 
          characters and the most amazing 3D effect seen on a home console. Mode 
          7 was also used to great effect in <b>Pilotwings</b>, but it was the 
          speed of <b>F-Zero</b> which blew people away.</font></p>

        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">It wasn’t until <b>Mario 
          Kart</b>, however, that Nintendo produced (arguably) the finest racing 
          game ever made. Some might scoff at the notion that any game populated 
          by cute plumbers, princesses and dinosaurs could lay claim to the title 
          &quot;Best Racing Game of All Time&quot; but they would be missing the 
          point. OK, so <b>Wipeout</b> is faster, <b>Gran Turismo</b> is more 
          realistic and <b>Ridge Racer</b> has prettier tracks, but let’s face 
          it – none of them are as much fun to play from a competitive point of 
          view. <b>Mario Kart’s</b> simple blend of power-ups and speedy (on the 
          150cc setting, at least) racing action made for one of the most intense 
          gaming experiences ever. If you’re one of those people who couldn’t 
          overcome your hatred of &quot;cute&quot; to play the game (or have only 
          played the sadly inferior 64-bit sequel), I can only pity you. Ingeniously 
          precise control, a perfect balance of power-up items and amazingly competitive, 
          addictive, strategic gameplay - hell, I’d go so far as to say that <b>Mario 
          Kart</b>‘s battle mode was the first real deathmatch game. Think about 
          it.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Nintendo are often seen as 
          the weakest company when it comes to ‘serious’ racing games, but there 
          is a lot to learn from some of their more successful titles: <b>Wave 
          Race 64</b> is one of the most under-appreciated console games of all 
          time, as it provides an absolutely fantastic feeling of racing on water 
          (one that has yet to be matched by any other game) coupled with the 
          ability to perform some outrageous stunts. It’s such a simple mechanism, 
          but by modeling realistic waves they immediately managed to differentiate 
          the game from every other water-based racer! <b>Diddy Kong Racing</b>, 
          from Rare, was a brave attempt to merge the exploratory gameplay of 
          <b>Mario 64 </b>with the fun competition of <b>Mario Kart</b>. The final 
          gameplay experience was a tad uneven (and the &quot;cute factor&quot; 
          was a bit much, even for cute-meisters like myself) but at least it 
          was an attempt to be different from the multitude of arcade conversions 
          owners of other consoles are faced with.</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">Racing games can be violent, 
          too. I addressed the similarity between racers and shooters before so 
          it’s not too surprising that there’s a lengthy tradition of games that 
          merge the two genres (with varying degrees of success). <b>Chase HQ</b> 
          was one of the first violent racers (allowing you to, uh, rear-end the 
          bad guys into submission), but it wasn’t until the sequel that you got 
          to do what everyone <i>really</i> wanted to: lean out the window at 
          100mph and take aim with a rocket launcher. Electronic Arts’ original 
          <b>Road Rash</b> series on the Genesis did a better job than most of 
          balancing the racing action with the more vicious elements (and it even 
          found time to establish some characterization), but more recent takes 
          on the idea (<b>Destruction Derby</b>, <b>Twisted Metal</b>, <b>Vigilante 
          8</b>) have focused on sheer destruction, creating a bloody breed of 
          deathmatch titles rather than racers. Unfortunately, as is often the 
          case in the industry, a lot of developers use violence as a way of masking 
          the flaws in a rather lackluster title. Some things will never change…</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">In the future, when we’re 
          wearing jetpacks and going to Mars for long weekends, will people still 
          be playing racing games? I’d like to think so. There’s a purity in the 
          challenge of a good racer that the more complex likes of the first-person 
          shooter or role-playing game can’t quite touch. The best racing games 
          are easy to pick up, but hard to master – too often, games require a 
          good half hour just to learn how to play! So next time you’re drifting 
          by the arcade, or feel like buying something uncomplicated for your 
          console, consider the therapeutic value of a good racer!</font></p>
        <p><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif">(Accelerate. Brake. Steer. 
          Now <i>that’s</i> what I call a game interface).</font></p>
        <p align="right"><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif"><i><font size="-1">- 
          Nick Ferguson is a regular contributor to <b>loonygames</b>. Ironically, 
          he cannot drive.</font></i></font></p>
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      <p><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"> </font></i><i><font face="Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="-2"><b>Credits:</b> 
        Pad Happy logo illustrated and is &copy; 1999 Dan Zalkus. Pad Happy is 
        &copy; 1999 Nick Ferguson. All other content is &copy; 1999 <a target="_self" href="http://www.loonyboi.com">loonyboi 
        productions</a>. Unauthorized reproduction is strictly prohibited, so 
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