Racing & Speed

From kart tracks to simulation circuits — games where the track itself is the opponent.

21 games in this room

Shipped with a full track editor in 1984, before the concept had a name. Excitebike (Famicom/NES) invented user-generated con

Family Computer (Famicom) / NES

Excitebike

エキサイトバイク

Racing / Motocross · 1984

Excitebike is a 1984 Famicom motocross racing game that introduced a track editor — Design Mode — allowing players to bu…

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Nobuo Uematsu scored a racing game the same year he wrote Final Fantasy. Square's Highway Star / Rad Racer (1987, Famicom) —

Family Computer (Famicom) / NES

Rad Racer

ハイウェイスター

Racing · 1987

Rad Racer is a 1987 racing game developed and published by Square — known in Japan as Highway Star — featuring pseudo-3D…

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Family Computer Disk System

Famicom Grand Prix: F-1 Race

ファミコングランプリ F-1レース

Racing · 1987

Released in October 1987 for the Famicom Disk System, Famicom Grand Prix: F-1 Race was one of the earliest racing games …

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HAL Laboratory put stereoscopic 3D in living rooms in 1988 — the same active-shutter tech Nintendo brought to the 3DS in 2011

Family Computer Disk System

Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally

ファミコングランプリII 3Dホットラリー

Racing · 1988

Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally launched in April 1988 as the sequel to the original F-1 Race, shifting focus from c…

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Yu Suzuki's first major Sega arcade project put players inside a leaning motorcycle cabinet. Super Hang-On (1989, Mega Drive)

Sega Mega Drive / Genesis

Super Hang-On

スーパーハングオン

Racing · 1989

Released in October 1989 as a Mega Drive launch-adjacent title, Super Hang-On brought Sega's beloved 1987 arcade motorcy…

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Kart racing was not a genre before 1992. Super Mario Kart (SFC) faked 3D via Mode 7 flat-bitmap rotation — then launched a 20

Super Famicom / SNES

Super Mario Kart

スーパーマリオカート

Racing · 1992

Super Mario Kart is the 1992 Super Famicom game that founded the Mario Kart franchise and invented the kart racing genre…

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PlayStation

Ridge Racer

リッジレーサー

Racing · 1994

Ridge Racer launched alongside the original PlayStation in Japan on December 3, 1994, and became the console's defining …

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Sega Rally was the first racing game where gravel felt different from tarmac. Saturn (1995), produced by the man who later ma

Sega Saturn

Sega Rally Championship

セガラリーチャンピオンシップ

Racing / Rally racing · 1995

Sega Rally Championship is the 1995 Sega Saturn port of AM3's arcade rally racing game, one of the most acclaimed Saturn…

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'Let's Go Away' was sung by a sound designer with no singing training. Daytona USA (Saturn, 1995) — 100,000 arcade cabinets s

Sega Saturn

Daytona USA

デイトナUSA

Racing · 1995

Daytona USA (1995 Saturn) is the home port of what became the most successful arcade racing game of all time. Developed …

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Blue shell targets only human racers, never CPU. Mario Kart 64 (N64, 1996) sold 9.87 million and defined Saturday-night couch

Nintendo 64

Mario Kart 64

マリオカート64

Racing · 1996

Mario Kart 64 was the second entry in the Mario Kart series and the first to render its tracks in full 3D polygonal envi…

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Wait on the Dolphin Park sound screen long enough and you hear Totaka's hidden 19-note melody. Wave Race 64 (1996, N64) — wat

Nintendo 64

Wave Race 64

ウェーブレース64

Racing / Jet ski · 1996

Wave Race 64 is the 1996 Nintendo 64 launch-window jet ski racing game produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, remembered above al…

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Yamauchi could not drive when he started. Gran Turismo (1997, PlayStation) — five years, 140 licensed cars, the PS1 best-sell

PlayStation

Gran Turismo

グランツーリスモ

Racing simulation · 1997

Gran Turismo (1997) is the game that invented the modern racing simulation genre for home consoles. Designed by Kazunori…

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Nintendo 64

Diddy Kong Racing

ディディーコングレーシング

Racing · 1997

Released in 1997, Diddy Kong Racing distinguished itself from Mario Kart 64 by adding a full adventure mode with an over…

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The developers later co-founded Vanillaware. Snowboard Kids (1997, N64) — Atlus's four-player cartoon snowboard racer, an N64 Uncommon

Nintendo 64

Snowboard Kids

スノーボードキッズ

Racing / Sports · 1997

Snowboard Kids (1997) is Racdym and Atlus's cheerful N64 snowboarding racer — a cartoon-styled game where a cast of chil…

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No items, no luck — thirty racers at 60fps on N64. F-Zero X (1998) is the purest racing game Nintendo ever built. Skill is ev

Nintendo 64

F-Zero X

F-ZERO X

Racing · 1998

Released in 1998, F-Zero X achieved something that seemed impossible: 30 racers on screen simultaneously at a locked 60 …

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PlayStation

Gran Turismo 2

グランツーリスモ2

Racing Simulation · 1999

Released in December 1999, Gran Turismo 2 expanded Kazunori Yamauchi's vision of the 'Real Driving Simulator' to an unpr…

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Only the Dreamcast version keeps the original Offspring soundtrack — every port replaced it. Crazy Taxi (2000), the home vers

Dreamcast

Crazy Taxi

クレイジータクシー

Arcade racing · 2000

Crazy Taxi (2000), developed by Hitmaker (formerly Sega AM3) and directed by Kenji Kanno, is an arcade racing game that …

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Ferrari F355 Challenge for Dreamcast (2000) — Yu Suzuki's AM2 racing sim built with real Ferrari telemetry data. Dreamcast on Uncommon

Dreamcast

Ferrari F355 Challenge

F355チャレンジ Passione Rossa

Racing Simulation · 2000

Directed by Yu Suzuki — creator of Out Run, After Burner, and Shenmue — and developed by Sega AM2, Ferrari F355 Challeng…

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No two races are identical — Blue Storm's wave physics ran entirely in real time. Wave Race: Blue Storm (2001) was a GameCube

Nintendo GameCube

Wave Race: Blue Storm

ウェーブレース ブルーストーム

Racing · 2001

Released as a GameCube launch title in 2001, Wave Race: Blue Storm was Nintendo's showcase of the console's water-simula…

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Uncommon

Nintendo GameCube

F-Zero GX

F-Zero GX

Racing · 2003

F-Zero GX (2003) is a GameCube racing game co-developed by Sega's Amusement Vision division and published by Nintendo — …

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One drives, one throws — swap mid-race. Mario Kart: Double Dash!! (GameCube, 2003) tried a two-character system no sequel has

Nintendo GameCube

Mario Kart: Double Dash!!

マリオカート ダブルダッシュ!!

Racing / Kart racing · 2003

Mario Kart: Double Dash!! is the 2003 GameCube entry in Nintendo's kart racing series, introducing the two-character sys…

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