The N64’s Need For Speed

[@SolarMechanic]

It's obvious why this game failed: Every review mentioned the copious amount of Bugs it had.

[@zendell37]

This game was much more fun than it had any right to be. My dumb little kid brain didn't realize how bad most licensed games and shovelware were.

[@Soonjai]

I knew for a long time that this was originally supposed to be a Need for Speed game. The fact that the developers where like "Nah, screw that, we are doing our own original thing" makes BAR even better than it already is.

[@fenrillratz9890]

@@Soonjai Yes and no. Would have loved a nfs game. Plus, it's still a nfs games with only beetles, more jumpy tracks and items in like mariokart... and the nfs had alot of mario kart clones. On ps1 i would give it a pass, but the n64 honestly had to much of it. I bet another reason it failed.

[@speedwaynutt]

As an Australian we got a version where we had Holden V8 HSV cars instead of Beetles. I think we got the cooler version.

[@fenrillratz9890]

Sure you think that. As german i think we got the better version. XD But honestly, i would loved if all cars where in one game. Like the first nfs and this nissan version of it in japan.

[@Yuuretsu]

This game and Top Gear Overdrive have always remained memorable to me next to games like F-Zero X and Extreme G

[@gonzo7727]

So BAR came out in the first half of 1999. I know why it failed The world (including the N64) was in Star Wars fever. Nintendo was pushing Star Wars Episode 1 Racer as their premier racing game since Mario Kart 64 Case solved

[@GRIMEYtheFATMAN]

To be fair, as much as I liked BAR, I loved Episode 1 Racer...

[@Larry]

Man, if you could encapsulate the 1990s into a font. It would be the one used in this game. That font was everywhere!!! And those "new" Beetles, were really just a Golf with a different shell on top.

[@GeekGamerGui]

The N64 had some pretty decent car racing games, but I think most gamers who owned that console weren't looking for anything serious (like simulation games), they were looking for fun instead.

[@Controllerhead]

ADVENTUREEEE RACINGGGG!!!! I had / loved / beat (most if i recall) this game as a kid. It really does look and play extremely well in retrospect, challenging too. Thanks for showing it some love! I know the term "hidden gem" is tossed around, but i think it applies perfectly here. Also that title screen music BUMPS and i still think about it alot lol...

[@john.infinite78]

As I recall this got a player's choice gold which is something like an eight out of ten at the minimum out of 10 in EGM 1999 magazine...

[@BusyMEOW]

Beetle adventure racing was awesome! I had it and a steering wheel, unlocked a few fast cars. In Australia we also got HSV adventure racing but it was just a reskin of a Holden Commodore instead of the new VW Beetle. Worth a look at HSV Adventure racing if you don't like the Beetle style anymore.. 🙂

[@nobel11]

I was lucky, I remember being in the shop, looking to buy a game, and my dad picked this one up, "Hey, you like racing games, right? This one has the Beetle in it" The old beetle was my favorite car, and we both thought it would be in the game, too, along with other cars. Obviously, we were wrong, and my dad thought it was dumb there was just the one car, but I still had fun with the game.

[@rabidguineapig]

My favorite gaming stories involve developers being stubborn over their artistic vision. Crash Bandicoot was originally gonna be named something stupid like willy because universal studios tried to make them do it that way. Naughty Dog decided "If you're gonna do that we just won't make the game" and Universal was like "Wait, you can't do that.." and ND was like "Um... pretty sure we can" XD "We just kinda made what we want" is the same energy and I love it!

[@fenrillratz9890]

@@rabidguineapig Yeah. Just this was halfway a bad idea. It's like a modded nfs game. Same physics, sounds etc, just only one car and mario kart stuff cramped into it... honestly feels sometimes like a shitpost, because the n64 had to much mario kart clones. I also think that's the reason it failt. It's like a mario kart clones based on n64 without any memorable characters.

[@Ibisian]

I never did get a chance to play Beetle Adventure Racing when I was a kid, heck I'm not sure I was even aware of the title until way later. Cruis'n World on the N64 was my jam for racing.

[@goranisacson2502]

As someone who was allergic to realism and 'real world things' in my games back then, I never even gave it a chance. Knowing you were driving your Beetle through vast worlds that might see you enter a volcano or a large gold hoard, maybe I would've given it a chance... but I WAS busy with the Pod Racer game at the time, so I'm not aure about the odds that I'd ever really pay attention to mere Beetles.

[@Imgema]

I deleted my previous post about the game crashing so i can make a more correct one. Reportedly, the game seems to crash when you choose the unlocked Green Striped car (with the "8" logo) and choose "duel" on the first track. Can someone who has the real game on hardware confirm?

[@ccricers]

It was lacking in some genres, but the N64 had a surprising amount of racing games that covered several subgenres within it. Top Gear Rally was one of my favorites.

[@johnt7372]

I was a big fan of this when it came out. I probably played this the second most on the N64 after Mario Kart. It was something fun and different, kind of like a crusin but more refined,I would have loved if we got a sequel. Speed Devils comes to mind as a similar game still just not as good

[@V3ntilator]

I still own the physical cart. I hope this one too will get a native PC port.

[@LITTLE1994]

I still own and beaten this gem.

[@DissociatedWomenIncorporated]

The Switch 2 is the 5th home console since the N64. That means we’re getting the Nintendo 69!

[@joeconti2396]

And I'm over here screaming "Top Gear Overdrive was the N64 NFS. That game was excellent"

[@waymonstoltz5001]

It was the first N64 game I remember having actual music tracks

[@RobsonRoverRepair]

Had they made the game MINI vs Beetle Racing it would have sold absolute gang busters back in the day

[@ohareport]

BRANSFIELD

[@demondownload]

Aww, you had to go and mention Blur. Now I'm sad.

[@retrovideogamejunkie]

I always found funny how the cover art on n64 box is like a game is bad converted from ntsc to pal ... Btw, your beetle is mo slow than the our beetle in america?

[@jonbourgoin182]

Does this game support the expansion pak?

[@Vospi]

Thank you!

[@hemangchauhan2864]

0:31 pure poetry 📝🔥

[@wombatkidd]

beetle adventure racing is my favorite racing game on n64

[@swheelman7231]

It reminds me of boxster racing from the ps1

[@xamames2018]

??? did love the halloween track

[@waymonstoltz5001]

Adventure Racing was the best

[@fathersunglasses6085]

I loved this game

[@fenrillratz9890]

Sigh. Even i liked the game that it was close to nfs 4. Honestly, to get on the pc everytime i wanted to play a nfs game was sometimes annoying. If they just ported nfs 4.... i would have more fun with the game. Half realistic arcade, or slightly simcade Games like nfs 3 and 4 is honestly missing on the n64. I love the game, but we have so much cart racer and arcade games on the plattform. This would be something totally different...... sigh. So it could be a nfs on n64, if the devoloper didn't broke the contract? Thanks for that. Now i am sad that it could be more than a nfs put in mario kart mode.

[@Bransfiiiield]

The dev didn't break any contract - they were asked to put together a prototype for what was planned to be a Need For Speed game. They did this instead. And EA greenlit this, which will be where they got their contract. If they'd been breaching contract I don't think EA would have been happy with it.

[@GRIMEYtheFATMAN]

Did ya ever give Top Gear: Overdrive by Kemco a shot? Closest to an NFS I felt, with cars that, while unlicensed, were only outdone in 'this is obviously a -insert car here-' by TXR around that time...

[@fenrillratz9890]

@GRIMEYtheFATMAN I played some top gear games, but i honestly didn't like the handling on those ones. Never tested overdrive i think. But i still had also a pc, more my father had one. Also a few years later i had a ps2 so i could play all nfs on ps1. Still. I would loved to see how a nfs game would have looked on n64. I always hates some stuff the ps1 did. Those twitchy grafics plus you could often see through walls etc. XD (still loved those nfs games on ps1, because they where different)

[@GRIMEYtheFATMAN]

@fenrillratz9890 Very tangentially, there was a game with another connection to NFS on N64 - V-rally. On Dreamcast, it was called Test Drive: V-rally, but on PS1, it was called Need For Speed: V-rally, and on N64, it was just V-rally - thing is, those early V-rally entries were developed by Eden Games, who famously also did Test Drive: Unlimited 1+2, as well as the PS1 version of Need For Speed: Porsche Unleashed...

[@fenrillratz9890]

@@GRIMEYtheFATMAN btw. I looked the game up and remembered it. Played it just two times. From what i know see, the handling looked wierd on top gear. Like under and oversteery at the same time and much slower. The car speeds look so damn slow. But yeah, it seems to be a nfs clone. Without the charme. The music is more hardcore rock, no more european music in it too. And because no real cars also no showroom etc. It strips alot from nfs what i love. Sadly not my kinda game because of it. But even with traffic..... but strangely with nos.... maybe i should give it a try again soon.

[@AlexanderGreensmith]

Love a good Beatles pun I had to click and comment

[@anthonye81]

I missed it!

[@C.I...]

I dunno, looks pretty awful to me. The N64 really must have had a whole different audience, even if it was an audience who didn't buy it. I can't help thinking a real NFS would have sold much better.