Daytona USA Longplay (Arcade) [4K]

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Developed and published by Sega in 1993
One of the greatest arcade racers of all time, it's almost impossible to believe that a fully 3D, texture-mapped racing game that looked as good as this could have ever existed back in 1993, let alone run at a solid 60 FPS!
Sega forged an alliance with Real3D, a spin-off from Lockheed Martin that brought the aeronautical engineering firm's 3D graphics simulation hardware to the consumer market. It was a partnership that resulted in the Model 1 arcade system, followed by the Model 2, which was used by Daytona USA.
Getting to experience networked multiplay in an arcade with an entire row of sit-down, Daytona USA machines was an experience unlike anything else, and it would be almost a decade before a home console could deliver the same level of performance as this revolutionary machine.
As for this video, it was recorded using Model 2 Emulator and general screen-capture software. The emulation probably isn't perfect, but it's reputedly the best out there, and I have to say, it's pretty darn good.
I chose to play this with a joypad with analogue thumbsticks for better steering, but the I found the controls to be unbelievably sensitive, not to mention twitchy. I'm not enough of an expert to remember what the real hardware felt like, so I'm just glad I managed to capture all three track victories (it took a fair few goes).

[@Waccoon]

It's hard to express how mindblowing this game was when it came out. The first time I saw it, I was stunned. Perspective-correct textures were barely a thing on the PC, and Daytona USA did it at a flawless 60 FPS using a cutting-edge DSP and most of the 3D code burned right into the graphics chip. I didn't play it much, since I was a sim racing fan, but I used to watch other people play it in the arcade for a whole hour.

[@AL82RetrogamingLongplays]

Yep - it was a technical marvel that would take the best part of a decade before we'd see a decent home conversion. I recall the Dreamcast release was really good and added some new features.

[@AchtungBaby77]

I don't think words can do it justice - this is one of those "you had to be there" games. This game was literally everywhere in the 90s from shopping malls to cinema lobbies. Nothing like it had really been seen by human eyes before and the incredible sounds, force feedback and graphics were just mesmerizing. I clearly remember some venues having 15 or 20 Daytona machines linked side-by-side down the length of the room and you'd see people queueing up to race against their friends and then yell profanities at each other for smashing them off the road! Classic 90s gaming right here.

[@muslimmetalman]

@@AchtungBaby77 this looks on the level of a decent 2000s/PS2 game. mind blowing

[@byronbury4779]

Ridge Racer was good aswell, id say GT3 when home consoles took over

[@Melo23982]

If this was mind blowing I wonder how mind blowing Daytona 2 was when it came out

[@duskshel8119]

DAYTONAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@TFD500Official]

LET'S GO AWAY

[@biffvanderhuge1000]

(let's go away)

[@dwindeyer]

DAYTONAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@oliviafebriana]

Ooooohhhhh...!!!!

[@user-gx3ez7pr1o]

(oooooooooooooooooh)

[@hateneko]

I am a Japanese and played in Japan. I am surprised to know that it is played all over the world. The elation at the rolling start. The downhill on the advance course made me feel giddy. Stunning graphics, background music with vocals, everything was great.

[@mcvgameplay]

in Italy it was a great classic in arcades. I played it for two entire summers, every night.

[@lNFERNO]

Possibly the game that I have the most insert coins of all the arcades, in its day it was a real revolution and it was very impactful to see this game in action in 1994. Greetings from Spain

[@87crimson]

Extremely popular arcade game in Argentina since 1995. Arcades still have plenty of Daytona USA cabinets. Daytona 2 was not as successful.

[@87crimson]

Extremely popular arcade game in Argentina since 1995. Arcades still have plenty of Daytona USA cabinets. Daytona 2 was not as successful.

[@salg23]

It was a huge success here in Argentina in the mid 90s and early 2000s. Every kid and teenager played it for sure at the arcades.

[@silhouettoofaman2935]

I read somewhere that this game had adaptive AI drivers that changed their driving based on the player's. You drove quite aggressively on the beginner course, and in turn the other racers put up more of a fight. Likewise, the game noticed you struggling on the expert course and so made the racers easier to pass. That was really cool of SEGA, that they made it so as long as you at least halfway know what you're doing, you can still cross the finish line with a half decent place!

[@Rokabur]

Aggressively? He drove quite terribly on the beginner course.

[@silhouettoofaman2935]

@@Rokabur He was also bumping into all the drivers in an attempt to pass them. I say that qualifies as aggressive!

[@nascarfanatic2425]

NASCAR '08 and '09 tried to do the same thing, but it just came off as more frustrating than player friendly compared to this.

[@GenetrySolar]

I remember my local (dying) arcade put in 8 of these machines working together. It was amazing and people would stand in line for an hour to get a chance to play a round. I finally got the chance on a saturday night after standing in line for at least an hour and about a minute into the race all the machines shut down abruptly. All the boos and yelling ensues and the owner came over right away and popped in 2 bucks in quarters for everyone giving us two games. Over the follwing years as the popularity waned he removed a pair of machines at a time till down to just 2 units. I went in years later i went in to visit and the same owner was there. I happen to bring up those days and he said he was making over 100 bucks an hour on that game alone and had the machines paid off in 2 weeks. Mind you this was during the slow fall of arcades. I miss those days of elbow to elbow people, loud arcade sounds, and the cheering everywhere.

[@spencethegreat38]

Man this gives me so much nostalgia. I was born in 91’. Regularly went to arcades from the mid 90’ to the early 00’s. Lived near a miniature golf course that had a huge arcade called Castle Park in Riverside CA. My mom would drop me and my brother off in the afternoon and say she’d be back to pick us up between 8pm-9pm (no cellphones at that time). We’d meet up with friends, play mini golf, eat pizza, then hit the arcade. I remember they had the same 8 car Daytona set up and it was ALWAYS a long line to play. We grew up in a Motorsport family so my and I always gravitated towards this game, the super bike racing one, the stand up jet ski games, boat racing, ect. Plus all the shoot em up games. Good times man. I cherish those memories. Arcades were a great place to get away from the parents for a bit, have some fun, make new friends, and maybe get into a little trouble haha. In the 90’s arcades had a special feel. Kinda sad to see them fizzle out, but I get it, things are different for kids now. Arcades are now more of just a novelty thing.

[@dylanvibing8148]

This game was at my local arcade, it was my favourite! The arcade is long gone now.

Try to go easy on the car!

[@Nina52117]

Daytonaaaaaa! Let’s go away! 🎶 I loved this game!! ❤

[@aktchungrabanio6467]

Holy fuck still holds up almost 30 YEARS LATER WTF!

[@FeenieVonKarma]

1993??? Good god, at least two of my colleagues at work were born after that. I'm pretty sure, down at Southsea, there is still a working '93 Daytona cab. Good times.

[@homemsolteiro8038]

Here in Brazil there are a few ones

[@daveweeks4748]

We just played on a 1998 2-player cabinet today while on holiday at Corton near Lowestoft. My two sons (ages 15 + 13) loved it with the pedals and force feedback steering wheel, 50p a play:). I wonder how much this cabinet is worth because it looked in a pretty good condition.

[@Melo23982]

DAYTONAAAAAA LETS GO AWAY🗣️🗣️🗣️🔥🔥🔥

[@user-gx3ez7pr1o]

Daytonaaaaaaa oooooooooooooooooh

[@multiplesifl]

My initials were the high score for a long while on this machine in the arcade at our local bowling alley. I was so proud of myself. :b

[@isaaczap]

I was born in 2000 but this kind of things really makes me feel nostalgic. What a great game and I can't imagine how the people who actually played this in arcades feel when seeing this.

[@thefog7067]

It's a weird feeling coz like Waccoon's comment said and I agree it's really difficult to some up how u felt when first seeing this coz I had never seen anything like it before it was truly mind blowing stuff. That was the days when arcade was KING

[@Hyoct]

I was born in 2000 too and this game was my childhood man. It was always in every mall arcades

[@nascarfanatic2425]

This was the first game I ever played in an arcade, and it still holds up as my favorite racing game of the '90s, my favorite arcade game of all time, and one of my all-time favorite racing games.

[@callistoscali4344]

Bad driving depicted here.

[@nascarfanatic2425]

@@callistoscali4344 I've seen worse. Lol

[@crunkwun]

I use to play this all the time back in 97-98 with my friends.. learnt how to use manual and was undefeated. Would beat anyone challenging me

[@peterbaini8752]

I would beat you possibly, I'm the drift king and quite dirty on the track lol

[@dinkyramirez9866]

When My Parents Were Playing In The Casino 🎰♠️♥️♦️🃏 I Was Down Stairs Playing Daytona USA! 🏁 Lake Tahoe, Nevada 90's Memories 😎 Good Times !

[@naosouogoleirodocorinthians]

You were the sigma in the casino

[@spencethegreat38]

Similar childhood memories here dude. My parents always stayed at casinos. Me and my brother were dropped off at the arcade with some money and one room key. No cell phones just living in the moment haha

[@azansheikh6361]

This game is leaps and bounds ahead of anything that ive seen on psx sega saturn and even n64 and remember this came out at the start of those consoles it really looks like a early 6th gen game

[@albertabramson3157]

I wonder if anyone is working on a Genesis/Megadrive demake. The VDP is capable of several important tricks that make high speed (60fps) versions of race games possible, and the 68000 and DMA (Blast Processing) are capable of moving a ton of data to the VRAM quickly enough to keep up with this game.

[@azansheikh6361]

@@albertabramson3157 i would like to see that but i think the polygon count would decrease and run at a lower framerate but it could be possible maybe a 32x homebrew port would be better

[@ashleyrichardson7493]

The main things I remember about this are obviously the song, and how the wheels stuck out so much 😂

[@erwinbreyson]

Those were the days 😢

[@PingpeLong]

este lo jugaba en los Diana de paseo ahumada (chile) habian 8 autos y las competencias eran a muerte !! que buenos tiempos !!

[@deltakid0]

Aqui en Colombia vi por poco tiempo las 8 juntas en el centro comercial Hacienda Santa Barbara, como por menos de un año, en los demás solo veía máximo de a 4 o incluso 2, luego repentinamente llegó la Playstation, el Pentium MMX y se me olvidó el arcade, lo pude volver a vivir via emulación porque no sé qué hicieron con esas gigantescas arcades, esa era la atracción principal de todo centro comercial, ahora que hay tanta tecnología debieron quedarselas y tenerlas en Free Play para motivar a la gente a visitar los centros comerciales pero como que no se les ocurre, ya con internet no hay nada que ir a hacer en esos sitios. En Hacienda incluso había pista de patinaje y la ocuparon con mesas de comidas que poco o nada se llenan.

[@marcelolopez7891]

Yo pasaba después de clases, había que hacer fila pa jugar. Te daban 15 fichas por luka

[@johnxenir5357]

Yo conozco "en persona" el daytona usa 2, y este daytona del video lo jugué sólo en el emulador de model 2. Juegazo, me gusta más que el 2, y eso que lo jugaba con el teclado. En el emulador se podrá jugar con volante?

[@kimberlymeyers4689]

Thanks for the memories!

[@juanpablopierini4676]

The music and the sounds are the best. You can feel the speed in this game. Good memories

[@Itwasalwaysme_Noone]

I think the description is a MUST READ before watching this video. Nice job AL82!..

[@uberschnilthegreat22]

I had the rare chance to play DAYTONA USA at a bowling alley in Grande Prairie and it was genuinely one of the most fun arcade racers I ever played, it holds up extremely well. The same bowling alley also had the Simpsons Arcade Game, still in beautiful condition, just like the DAYTONA USA cabinet.

[@brandonstokes-jackson4318]

Childhood nostalgia 💯, me playing in the arcade playing this by the coast in the UK when I was a kid 💯😁❤️

[@crueltygaming]

Awesome game. Good classic thumbs up

[@00zoNL]

Ohh dis game i played somuch in a arcade hall here in the netherlands, was my first race game were i could shift gears, i was so good in it great memories. ty for the ride

[@TitusRamos]

Nice game. My first racing game when I was a kid. Playing this at mall with my dad.😂

[@lucasmills1246]

Something about Sega games, they just give you this feeling other games don't. I'm pretty sure it's the sound effects

[@zorblaz]

Nice racing AL!

[@RaptureMusicOfficial]

Yes, was awesome to see and play the game 1994 in the Belgium arcades, mind-blowing! And lots of fun playing it!

[@ryanv3858]

Very impressive at the time as a kid seeing this game.

[@smartyjonez5470]

I used to play this everyday after school for years Miss it

[@redfoxbennaton]

This game scared me so much as a kid.

[@Davez621]

I remember being wowed by the reflections of the clouds in the car window.

[@nobbynobbs8182]

I spent a lot of coins in this machine back in the day, and it was totally worth it

[@DavideNastri]

I would love so much to have a fantastic version of Daytona like the one that was made for Virtua Racing on Nintendo Switch. For now I am happy enough with the Sega Saturn one :D

[@wearedevo1]

I had the Dreamcast version and it was fantastic, with online too

[@elluciano5808]

Get the PS3/X360 Version. Thats the true deal

[@DavideNastri]

@@elluciano5808 Fully agreed! In the end I got ps3 version + t150 Pro + playseat challenge. Perfection :)

[@animefan0077]

I remember playing this game at my local Walmart store when I was little Daytona Usa is Nascar on steroids.

[@Arkasification]

I only just spotted the statue of Jeffry on the final track! Only taken me 31 years to notice.

[@May_circle]

Omg I remember this game! Playing the demo on my Sega Genesis! There was this and parapper the rapper!

[@albertabramson3157]

The demo? Where is that?

[@ultimatesupersisiipad9927]

The best the authentic and the classic of the arcades

[@chrystalsudirman6465]

I remember daytona usa

[@scizorbullet8185]

The nostalgia of seeing 8 of the arcade machine Daytona usa screaming the themr song loud as fuck at dave and Buster's

[@JAFOpty]

pls do Crusin USA or World!

[@dankimbrell8995]

Daytooonaaaaaaa

[@byronbury4779]

Instantly think of my local arcades haha

[@Moss774]

My country only has 1 and its like a 1 hour drive and only 4 games work (the other games work but its gonna explode soon)

[@PadPoet]

2880P 60fps? Wow! Which emulator did you use for this? Model 2 emulator aka the old Nebula Model 2 emulator? Loving the stuff coming lately bro!

[@AL82RetrogamingLongplays]

Yep, Model 2 Emulator formerly known as Nebula 🙂 A 4x upscale wasn't quite enough for 1440p, so I went for 8x to maintain pixel perfect ratio. Because it's over a certain threshold KZbin has also created a 5K option 😀

[@marathi22]

@@AL82RetrogamingLongplays You can actually even run this in perfect 16:9, although that would be less than arcade perfect.

[@AL82RetrogamingLongplays]

I just went with the default 4:3 option 🙂

[@alejandrofantasia]

Hello, a Longplay from the "Sega Rally Championship" please ???, is also better known than the Daytona USA !!! Thank you!!!

[@heliojunior7719]

I remember it like it was yesterday... when I received my salary I spent half of it playing this game, 24 years ago

[@geetaligamingzone]

Nice game Play.......

[@Robloxi9fan]

Este juego es un clásico DAYTONAAA

[@worawatli8952]

I never thought about it, but having the game start on rolling start was out of the ordinary from racing games back then, both on concept and technical points, must be pretty hard to do, no one tried to make a true to spirit Nascar fantasy game, and Sega did it.

[@albertabramson3157]

Yup, and they could've done it for the Megadrive/Genesis. Read the VDP documentation and you'll see that the System 16--with enough game ROM--could've pulled this off better than the Saturn, albeit with fewer colors and audio. Heck, SEGA could've just pushed the Sega CD to its limits instead of the 32X and gotten tons of great games like this.

[@worawatli8952]

@@albertabramson3157 I still think it is the best arcade racing game ever, missed it, so few of arcades still have them. If i ever see one again, I would definitely play it.

[@landonjr5063]

Your running a good race

[@GuitarAnthony]

DAY-TON-AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[@hed-]

👹👹👹👍💩

[@chrisdavis8650]

Had this on the dreamcast, bought it for 6 dollars in 2001

[@jakklovediablo6293]

I remember play this game with my friends at the arcade I alway squeeze my friend to the wall to make him overturned 😂

[@alterbr33d]

0:10 That is Mt. Shuksan, WA. There is no race track around there.

[@qq447n5d]

懐かしすぎる…

[@sonic0405]

朝から元気になるなぁ！

[@axeldebove]

Moi j'ai déjà joué à ce jeu quand j'étais à Cité Europe dans le jeux d'arcade !

[@MVC2fan1]

I got this game on Xbox 360 via Xbox One Backwards Compatibility.

[@chickenbites8877]

Is this footage running on Mame?

[@lukeandfamilyvideos8234]

Rolling Start!!!!!!!!!!!

[@small_ed]

Why are the tires octagonal?

[@furydeath]

G A M E O V E R

[@JBMMA92]

This game smells like a bowling alley

[@xxxyyy9361]

where’s the version with rolling staraaaaaaaaaaaat music

[@maurogrimau9371]

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

[@HaveAniceDay2450]

I played this game in a bowling hall in 1995. I tried to impress my girlfriend 😁🤣 i remember the graphics back then was ahead of its time

[@rayman17578]

This was made by the creator of Yakuza

[@erick0zH]

Hay un salón de juegos cerca de mí casa que aún tiene el original

[@SK14RO88]

1993

[@SimonLaudati]

My first pc game 🥲

[@tiger-r3410]

4:47　幼かった当時の俺は、信号機は飛んでくるものと学んだ。

[@emelyne2232]

Waiting for the player to crash to hear ArE yOu AlRiGht??!!!

[@hendikasugandi7713]

DAAYTONAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@uhlalachulada6956]

Recuerdos

[@sonic_si_landak789]

DAYTONAAAAAAAA AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

[@thebig6official575]

Please SEGA put this into SEGA AGES

[@kimhenry4286]

Time extension!

[@IqwalFasichullisan]

Sega

[@WendelReis007]

Não consigo acelerar mano oque fazer ?

[@naosouogoleirodocorinthians]

Aonde vc joga

[@WendelReis007]

@@naosouogoleirodocorinthians ps3 pkg

[@BYG777]

나는 데이토나 중급은 1등이었는데 추억 입니다.

[@pabloandresquedadagonzalez4472]

Im play Daytona Usa Arcade

[@Itsgamingtime11-co5kp]

NASCAR!!!!

[@emelyne2232]

🤟🤟🤟🤟☝☝

[@Imgema]

This doesn't look that high res to me. I still see shimmering and aliasing. At 4k there's heavy pixellation. Looks more like 640x480 or something. Maybe there's something wrong with the video?

[@AL82RetrogamingLongplays]

The game's original resolution was 496 X 384 - the upscale is postprocessing that just increases the number of pixels. The end result will be far sharper than without the upscale, but I can't do anything about the fidelity of the original assets.

[@joekni2002]

Never good enough for some people

[@albertabramson3157]

@@AL82RetrogamingLongplays The maximum display resolution on the Genesis/Megadrive was 320x448i, and even using the Sega CD for audio and to stream some prerendered backgrounds in--even using the 256 out of 3,375 colors from Shadow/Highlight Mode--you'd still not quite get that arcade experience on that system. The road would run by at 60fps, while the other elements would pass by at 10-20fps. Still, that would've been awesome.

[@CalmBirthdayCake-pe5ui]

Should used manual

[@easportssucks4347]

Definitely one of the worst soundtracks in video game history

[@ytyndale3643]

Most overrated game in history in my humble opinion, car shakes like it's got parkinson's around corners and fences just magically disappear on stage 3. The only thing it has going for it is the music and the fact you start from the back of the pack and mow down the field. Other than that it bores quickly. Ridge racer, ace driver and rave racer are all better arcade racers than this.