Rad Racer (NES)

Rad Racer

Platform:	NES
Year:	1987
Developer:	Square Co., Ltd.
Buy:	Amazon

Rad Racer AKA ハイウェイスター (Highway Star) is a racing game for the NES similar to Sega's OutRun (ARC). You drive either a Ferrari 328 or an F1 racing machine through eight courses around the world. As you progress through the courses they become more difficult and the competing drivers become harder to pass. While it brought nothing new to the concept of racing games, Rad Racer did bring a decent over-the-shoulder view racing game to the NES, which desperately needed one.

As a bonus feature, Rad Racer included 3D glasses and allowed the game to be played in 3D mode by pressing select. However, due to the slow refresh rate of televisions of the day, it just made the game very hard to view.

Screenshots

The title screen.

What car do you want to race with?

The Sunset Coastline is a breeze.

Volkswagen Beetles along the Coastline.

Chevrolet Corvettes coat the California course.

Racing Citroëns at the Grand Canyon.

Music

Again, copying OutRun (ARC), Rad Racer allows you to change the radio station, although unlike OutRun, you can change the radio station while driving by pressing down on the D-pad, an even turn the music off, which is a nice feature. The songs are rather short and uninspired, and aside from two fanfares, the only other music is the ending, which few players ever hear. It's quite amazing to think that a mere four months later, Final Fantasy (NES) would be released with its amazing soundtrack by the same composer, Nobuo Uematsu.

Recording

#	Title	Composer	Arranger	Length	Download
01	Radio Station 1	Nobuo Uematsu	Nobuo Uematsu	2:03	Download
02	Radio Station 2	Nobuo Uematsu	Nobuo Uematsu	1:23	Download
03	Radio Station 3	Nobuo Uematsu	Nobuo Uematsu	1:52	Download
04	Running Out of Time	Nobuo Uematsu	Nobuo Uematsu	0:06	Download
05	Finished Course	Nobuo Uematsu	Nobuo Uematsu	0:03	Download
06	Congratulations	Nobuo Uematsu	Nobuo Uematsu	0:54	Download

Credits

Ripper: Unknown
Recorder: TheAlmightyGuru
Game Credits:
- Not Credited Composer: Nobuo Uematsu
- Not Credited Programmer: Toshiaki Imai

(Source: Square Enix's Japanese website); game lacks credits.

The game was developed at a time when credits were uncommon. However, various official sources list Nobuo Uematsu as the composer. One of these is the 2021 release of Square Hizou Ongen-shuu Preserved Tracks Collection from 1986～1996.