Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge (NES)

Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge

Platform:	NES
Year:	1992
Developer:	System 3

For the Sega Genesis version, see Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge (GEN). For the Game Boy version, see Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge (GB).

Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge is a racing game developed by System 3 and published by Acclaim Entertainment. The game also saw a Japanese release published by C Dream. It was the only NES game developed by System 3.

In the game, you race your Ferrari F1 racer through a series of sixteen tracks; America, Brazil, San Marino, Monaco, Canada, Mexico, France, Britain, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, Japan, and Australia. In each race, you must first qualify, in which your F1 runs at a slightly slower pace. Your qualifying time will determine your starting position in the race, which will always be last or next-to-last due to the way the game's set up. During each main race, there are five laps in which you must clear. The better position you finish each race with, the more points you'll be awarded. Whoever has the most amount of points at the end of the championship wins the game. You can also have your car manually worked on by the pit crew if you need to.

Unfortunately, there is no two-player mode, so it's just you against the computer opponents. Also, since the game uses less-than-realistic physics in its racing engine, you never have to let go of the gas or hit the brake in order to make any sharp turns in the game, so you can use that to your advantage to skate by the computer opponents. While the game has no battery backup, it does contain a password so you can continue from where you left off with your progress and points intact.

The game received mixed-to-positive reviews. Most people who played the game said that the game was decent enough, but were more impressed by the game's soundtrack. The game also received a release on the Game Boy and Sega Genesis.

Screenshots

The title screen.

The main menu.

Setting up the car.

The lineup of the first race.

San Marino.

I win!

Music

Ferrari Grand Prix Challenge features nine musical tracks by Neil Baldwin. Most people who have played the game give its soundtrack the most praise above all. Most of the songs are fast-paced rock tracks which go along quite nicely with the high-speed action of the game. What's more is most of the songs are pretty lengthy, so they don't get annoying. On top of all of that is that Neil's sound engine is one of the best-sounding on the NES, up there with Geoff Follin, Tim Follin, and Jeroen Tel. Most of Neil's works use what sounds like an electric guitar with a wah pedal for good measure. He also makes great use of arpeggios and delay much like his other works. There are four different racing themes, and each track is used four times within the 16-track championship.

On Neil's old website, he talked in great detail about working on the game. According to Neil, his development studio, Eurocom, was going through financial difficulties, and so he sought work with other companies to help keep Eurocom afloat. He explained:

“

They'd asked for some rock-style tracks which I thought was a tall order on the NES but I think a couple of the tracks turned out pretty good, if a little short. I also didn't get paid a great deal for the project so I was determined to turn it around in as short a time as possible.

„

He also said that he did not see the game at all during its development. In fact, he stated that it wasn't until his blog post about the game that he had even seen footage of the game itself. Neil stated that the title screen music was one of his favorite songs he ever wrote.

One interesting thing to note is the Ranking track was actually from a previous game Neil worked on, James Bond Jr. (NES). Neil explained that this was due to various reasons; he couldn't think of another track to write, was pressed for time, as well as he was not being paid well for his work on the game.

To compose the music, Neil wrote in assembly macros into his own sound driver that he developed with Tim Rogers. Because the PAL version plays at the same speed and pitch as the North American release, a recording of it is unnecessary. The Japanese version features the same tracks.

For some reason, there is a bit of silence at the beginning of each track in the NSF for about 2 seconds. This has been omitted from the recording below.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Length	Download
01	Title Screen	Neil Baldwin	5:02	Download
02	Menu / Next Round	Neil Baldwin	1:08	Download
03	Race Theme 1	Neil Baldwin	4:16	Download
04	Qualifying Times	Neil Baldwin	0:48	Download
05	Results / Race Theme 2	Neil Baldwin	1:42	Download
06	Continue Screen	Neil Baldwin	0:10	Download
07	Race Theme 3	Neil Baldwin	0:56	Download
08	Race Theme 4	Neil Baldwin	3:45	Download
09	Ranking	Neil Baldwin	2:33	Download

Credits

Ripper:
Recorder: Doommaster1994
Game Credits:
- Not Credited Composer: Neil Baldwin

(Source: Verification from composer; game lacks credits.)

When you beat all 16 courses, you are treated to a simple congratulatory screen, but no credits. The game's instruction manual also lacks credits.

Neil Baldwin verified on his old website (dutycyclegenerator.com) that he was the game's composer, and spoke in great detail about his involvement with the game. This can also be supported by other games using the same sound engine (which he developed) giving credit to Neil.