It's RACING Time! Initial D Special Stage! One of PS2's Absolute BEST Arcade Racing Games from Sega!

[@ivn414]

"Forget Ridge Racer"? How dare you, take that back!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Lol I love Ridge Racer too

[@n64fan60]

Yeah, get him. How dare anyone forget Ridge Racer. Kaz Hirai won't forget Ridge Racer any time soon, that's for sure!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Haha just having a little fun with the title is all

[@simon41978]

Very nice. Because I'm a videophile, I wanted this on Dreamcast for so long but with the PS2 deblur option on it's best emulator, you can fix the graphics. Catchy tunes, also.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yeah the soundtrack is always great

[@imalittletoxicjustalittle]

its just AA the ps2 never had it

[@Pretendo27]

Do I drive around Hawai’i with Eurobeat blasting? Yes, yes I do. Love this game, very iconic music and i spent countless hours chilling in the stage 3 arcade seats while waiting to play ddr extreme at the arcade. What a time that was.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I miss the classic days of the arcades. Just not something that’s easily accessible now

[@patpatpong]

This game becomes 10x better if you have the racing wheel.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

They all do :)

[@mogueraguh]

I’m playing this on my jailbroken 60gb ps3 and I’m absolutely loving it

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Nice place to play

[@JustinCherriman]

The music style is similar to Para Para Paradise, that was early 2000's. I love the arcade game. Will have to try this series out sometime.

[@darktetsuya]

well both games are pulling from the same series 'super eurobeat' so there's a ton of overlap between the two. I own special stage already but my current holy grail is paraparaparaside with the 'pink biscuits of death' as my BEMANI friends' circle used to call it, haha.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Def try it out

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

That’s one franchise I know nothing of. I have no rhythm

[@beat-man5167]

This plays differently than other Japanese arcade drift racers. Shift points are close, and the handling is deceptively simple. For a game based on a series about drifting, the early entries don't feel drifty. This game really does punish mistakes, and you'll notice your top speed decreasing the more you make. I like how they sprinkled brand billboards to make the mountain roads look like race tracks. It's the devs appeasing car manufacturers that they are racing on closed circuits and not illegally street racing. The same thing with Wangan Midnight's yellow vans.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

The yellow vans in Wangan are an interesting touch. That series will be showing up on the channel soon

[@Charlie-Cat.]

I remember driving in Hawai'i like in Initial D VGE. The roads that I was on were just like in the game. Man, it was wild. 8^) Anthony..

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Similar to the PCE too

[@srvuk]

One of the problems with first person view in some racing games is that the action is so fast that it can feel like too much hard work. This one seems to have the speed just right that you don't need to be an F1 driver to control the vehicle.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yes they dialed in the first person fire really well in this game

[@AZBCDE]

Not being able to lower the engine noise is for me a deal breaker

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s a bit of a bummer

[@bartvb5059]

I love this game so much. My brother had an import copy back in the early 2000s. These days I play it on an emulator in glorious 4k. This and outrun 2 are some genre defining classics that still hold up 20 years later imo

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yes I have upscaled this and enhanced it for the video with PCSX2 vs going OG hardware

[@bubu5908]

Try Touge 3 on PS2. Best Japanese drifting game in my opinion.@@VideoGameEsoterica

[@PixelGod240]

I have a full sim racing set up with VR you would love it dude

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Sounds like a blast

[@kickdreaming]

THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEW BROTHER. GAME LOOKS GREAT. YOU SHOULD REALLY WATCH THE ANIME. YOU’LL LOVE THE GAME THAT MUCH MORE. I PROMISE YOU. TAKUMI SENT ME. NAMASTE 🙏🏽 FROM BROOKLYN.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Brooklyn eh? What part. I used to live in Park Slope

[@kickdreaming]

@@VideoGameEsoterica WILLIAMSBURG. AND OLD BROOKLYN. NOT THIS NEW SHIT. 😂

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

@kickdreaming haha nice

[@NLSagat]

Interesting video, somehow i always prefer 'normal' racing with several cars vs one on one, also had this with say metropolis street racer and pgr. One thing i am curious about as i do care about story in gaming (even fighting games, still haven't forgotten THAT comment :P ) are there no fantranslations for this game? Also settings up pcsx2 on my new rig. Als my old pc nearly died when i played gradius 5 and the first boss would warp in 🤣

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I don’t believe this one has an English patch no

[@carlosgabrieledicoes1914]

There isn't a fan translation but the "story mode" of Special Stage follows the manga. There's a KZbin channel that has a playlist with subs of the "Legends of Street Racing"

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Ooh I’ll def have to check that out. What channel?

[@carlosgabrieledicoes1914]

@@VideoGameEsoterica "Fujiwara Tofu Shop"

[@MajorPhilGraves]

Your channel always introduces me to fantastic games that had previously completely eluded me. Thank you so much for your efforts highlighting and contextualizing them!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

That’s what I’m here for :) and it makes me happy when someone finds something new!

[@bedwablackburn]

Perfect timing as I've been watching MF Ghost and just went back to start watching Initial D. 👀

[@bedwablackburn]

That's the other thing..... As I'm starting to get into the larger series, I'm starting to go down the Eurobeat rabbit hole.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Haha better start playing the games. Interactive viewing

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s def a vibe

[@PouchPotato]

Nothing hits the spot like initial D. What’s your best entry and version within the store?

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

7 is the one I find myself playing the most

[@bubu5908]

Try the Touge MAX Series on PS1 or Touge 3 on PS2. Touge 3 is really good with an FFB Wheel

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I’ll give it a look!

[@blastproc_dj]

I played the hell out of Stage 3 at our local mini golf place when I was in high school/college. The new Initial D arcade games are so easy and boring in comparison.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

They aren’t as exciting but they are still a great time IMO

[@0511224]

Surprised and happy to see you cover this ledser known gem. Im playing the ps3 version but this is certainly on my to do list

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I love the series so I try and feature it where I can :)

[@israelgonzalezabrego3551]

You don't need to use pcxs2 to make this game better visual, you need to play it on a CRT TV, don't need anything else

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Options are good for everyone and not everyone has a CRT

[@israelgonzalezabrego3551]

@@VideoGameEsoterica Agreed with you, I said that because not everyone has a PC that move pcsx2 good

[@METR0lD]

Well damn, the copyright strike didn't happen! Congrats! 😅 I've played an Initial D game in the arcade a long time ago, but I honestly don't remember which one it was. Very fun though!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Haha yeah this was fine. Last time it dragged me to hell and back to make it work

[@londonretrovideogames1473]

This game is indeed superb. I use the camera in the google translate app to read the Japanese text. Also managed to pick up 15 or so of the original manga recently (in Japanese obvs). Another racing game of this era I really like is Auto modellista, love the art style and I sometimes try to catch great action shots in the replays. With a bit of clean up of the jaggies you can get some really arty pics. Plus it has the kei cars in there, one of which I used to own (Daihatu Mira turbo)

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

It’s so funny how much I love the Initial D games yet have never watched a single episode of the anime or consumed any other media from it

[@cliftonchurch6039]

My local arcade had an Initial D Stage 3 machine, which I enjoyed for quite a while. I hear the PSP also got a good Initial D release that might be worth checking out if you weren't aware.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I have the PSP game in my collection :)

[@hideokojimajr]

It took having a Retro GEM’d PS2 for me to realize I prefer Ps2 emulated as well. The platform just didn’t hold up as well as the OG Xbox.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I tend to agree. I most emulate PS2

[@jsr734]

@@VideoGameEsotericaBut you play, and i guess, enjoy playing N64 in it´s native resolution. So, how come you can tolerate low res N64 graphics but not Ps2 native res graphics?. 🤨

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

PS2 is the era in which they TRIED to be realistic but didn’t have the tech. So it’s uncanny valley not good looking to me

[@jsr734]

@@VideoGameEsoterica Lots of N64 games were also trying to be "realistic" as the N64 tech allowed.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yes but they couldn’t get near close enough to age worse IMO

[@Renulph]

Looks better than the stinky one on Saturn.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Saturn one is still fun. Just way tougher visually

[@Renulph]

@@VideoGameEsoterica I felt the controls were really bad.

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

They were rough but you get used to them

[@Imgema]

What version of the game is this? Region?

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I’d have to check. I made this in like April lol

[@AfterBurnerTeirusu]

Bought this recently. The soundtrack is amazing. So much better than the PS3 Initial D game. I'd recommend playing with manual transmission though!

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

I don’t have a good shifting setup for PS2. One day

[@GAZZ707]

It's a shame that the modren initial d arcade stages are not ported

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yes basically all the modern ones are arcade exclusives

[@GAZZ707]

@@VideoGameEsoterica at least with have teknoparrot 🙂👍

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

Yes and since they are just PCs in cabinets anyway it’s basically the real experience if you have a wheel

[@cola6378]

go sega saturn real hardware vs mister test ?

[@VideoGameEsoterica]

When the core is done. It’s not fair until then