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Obscure Old Racing Game

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First post, by Yasashii

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I remember that when I was a kid I had a CD full of demos that came with an issue of the I/O magazine. There was one racing game I remember but have not seen it referenced anywhere since I got broadband internet connection, which seems to suggest that the game is not very mainstream. Sadly, in my infinite "wisdom", one day when I was making space for my new CDs I threw all the demo discs out. If only I had known what a valuable source of retro gaming information that would one day become...

The racing game was quite simple. You drove a fairly small blocky car. As far as I remember it, it was almost a complete cube and you raced other cubes. The game wasn't very advanced when it comes to graphics. The track was simple as well, just your normal tarmac race track. I'm not sure about it but I think the track was built above water, like a bridge but my memory may be failing me with this one. What I do remember for sure that the sky was either very dark or you drove around at night.

The game must be very old. It was probably early 2000s or maybe even late 90s. I think the game had a pretty interesting techno soundtrack but again, I'm not sure whether or not my brain is playing a trick on me.

Anybody have any idea what that might be?

Reply 1 of 33, by leileilol

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Either Superspeed (ANOTHER ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT!!!1!) or Slicks 'n Slide probably.

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Reply 2 of 33, by Yasashii

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I should have pointed out that as rudimentary as the graphics were... they were 3D. My bad, sorry. 😀

Also: it was a Windows game. Definitely not DOS.

Reply 4 of 33, by Yasashii

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Nope. That's not it.

As difficult as it might be to believe, the graphics were even more blocky than that. (also, keep in mind the night/dark visual style of the game)

Reply 5 of 33, by leileilol

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It could even be a local shareware/freeware game since Finland had such an exclusive gamedev scene, because I don't remember it. It could be rotting on mbnet.fi somewhere. The mention of a techno soundtrack certainly suggests as so (in using a tracker playback library being common for european gamedev)

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Reply 6 of 33, by Yasashii

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hmm, it might be. Although I couldn't find it on mbnet.fi.

I also searched through the racing games list on wikipedia. I checked every game released in the late 90s and the early 2000s one by one but no cigar.

Reply 7 of 33, by leileilol

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Wikipedia is useless for this kind of thing because of 'notability'. Better off browsing on Mobygames, but they don't have everything either.

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Reply 9 of 33, by Yasashii

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Nope, like I said, the game I want is 3D and for Windows, not DOS.

Reply 10 of 33, by 2fort5r

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Planet of Death?

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Reply 11 of 33, by Yasashii

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Nope. There are similarities, but the general "feel" of the game was very different. While P.o.D has a kinda dirty, junkyard-style thing going for it, the game I'm looking for was considerably cleaner. In fact, I remember the textures being very plain.

Reply 12 of 33, by Procyon

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Just firing some titles.

Speed Haste
Ultim@te Race Pro
XCar
Fatal Racing
Motorhead
Screamer 1 2 or Rally
Speed Demons (Microids)
Hi Octane

Reply 13 of 33, by leileilol

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Hoverrace?

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Reply 14 of 33, by Yasashii

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We are getting close in terms of graphics, but it's still not the game. It definitely included cars, not hovercrafts.

Reply 16 of 33, by Yasashii

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Again, not a DOS game.

Edit: Sorry, Procyon, I somehow managed to miss your post:

Procyon wrote:
Just firing some titles. Speed Haste Ultim@te Race Pro XCar Fatal Racing Motorhead Screamer 1 2 or Rally Speed Demons (Microids) […]
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Just firing some titles.
Speed Haste
Ultim@te Race Pro
XCar
Fatal Racing
Motorhead
Screamer 1 2 or Rally
Speed Demons (Microids)
Hi Octane

Of all of these Motorhead looks the closest to the blurry image in my memory. Might just be it. I'll let you know when I get my hands on it.

Reply 17 of 33, by vetz

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Yasashii wrote:

I think the game had a pretty interesting techno soundtrack

When I read this I immediately thought about Motorhead which has an excellent techno soundtrack, but then you started talking about rudimentary graphics which I don't think Motorhead has (compared to other games at that time)

You also drive around mostly at night.

3D Accelerated Games List (Proprietary APIs - No 3DFX/Direct3D)
3D Acceleration Comparison Episodes

Reply 19 of 33, by 2fort5r

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This reminds me of Destruction Derby 2 which has a crazy thrash metal soundtrack IIRC.

People playing old games without the original CDs are often missing out on some interesting music

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