Rush: The Height of Arcade Racing, Part 1

Back on March the 20th, I made a post about Cruis’n, an arcade racing game series that made its way from the Nintendo 64 all the way to the Nintendo Switch, with (most) of the entries being in good, while some were... less so. At the end of the post, I mentioned that I planned to make a series on arcade racing, and fear not, those plans have not been canned. This is a birthday post for a recent viewer of the blog, who happens to love this game series, but next week I’ll be back in with the Duke. Today’s blog post is all about Midway’s Rush series, which, at least in my opinion, is the height of arcade racing. This post will be split (I don’t have the time right now to do the whole Rush series justice), though I will post the second part sometime soon. Right, let’s get into it.

RUSH-rush-rush-rush...
Image Credit: GameSpot

It's Rush, baby.
Image Credit: Game Developer

Is it real? Or is it RUSH? This was the slogan of the first game in the series, San Francisco Rush: Extreme Racing. Only months after the original Quake game, Rush was released into arcades in December, 1996, running on a modified version of 3dfx’s Voodoo Graphics chipset with some modifications. The game plays across San Francisco, although this rendition is not true to its real counterpart, as the locations were changed to be more fun in-game. The original arcade version includes eight vehicles, playable across three maps based off of San Francisco. In October of 1997, San Francisco Rush was updated to San Francisco Rush: The Rock, including four new tracks (one of which is the Alcatraz track, originally intended for the N64 version) and four new cars. This led to the release of a Nintendo 64 port, which included all the content from the original arcade version, as well as three new tracks and all of the cars (other than some from The Rock). Early 1998 saw the release of a more barebones PlayStation port, including only three tracks (plus a new bonus one), a different soundtrack, a modified announcer and some gameplay changes, such as fiddling with the gravity. The PlayStation port was followed by a Windows version, San Francisco Rush: The Rock – Alcatraz Edition. This version took advantage of the Quantum3D graphics card (a spin-off of the 3dfx hardware powering the original arcade release), so much so that until a fan fixed it, the game was blocked from running on anything other than Quantum3D. Soon after, San Francisco Rush: The Rock – Wave Net was released, which is an updated version of the arcade release with online multiplayer capabilities. Rush is a very fun game, all about speeding through the tracks and getting in the air. It’s certainly one of my favourite arcade racing games, and it was great enough to receive a sequel.

The PlayStation port is a bit... lackluster in the graphics department.
Image Credit: ArmadilloZero / YouTube

Now with stunts.
Image Credit: Viperr818 / YouTube

Rush 2: Extreme Racing USA, released in November, 1998 onto the Nintendo 64, is to San Francisco Rush what Cruis’n World was to Cruis’n USA: a massive expansion of the boundaries of the predecessor. Sure, Rush didn’t expand to the whole world like Cruis’n did, but no longer are you stuck in the Golden City. Rush 2 includes tracks based off of Las Vegas, New York, Hawaii, Los Angeles, Seattle, and more. The car selection was also upgraded to 16. Strangely, Rush 2 was only released for N64, unlike the first game, which was released for arcade and then ported to home consoles. There were, however, apparently plans for a PlayStation version and a Windows 95 version, but there is no significant evidence to prove it. Because of this, Rush 2 has never received any modern rereleases, such as in the Midway Arcade Treasures collections, but we’ll get to that later. In my opinion, Rush 2 is certainly a worthy sequel to Rush, and in some ways, I enjoyed it more. Like its predecessor, Rush 2 received a sequel in 1999, the game that truly put Rush on the map.

Drive the future!
Image Credit: GameSpot

And now with rockets too.
Image Credit: LeopardYiu's Storage Wiki 

Remember how Rush 2 went country-wide? This time, we’re going sci-fi. San Francisco Rush 2049, released in June, 1999, is what happens when you take a reasonably grounded racing game (albeit with some silly bits here and there) and make it futuristic. Rush 2049 doesn’t have the large amount of cars like Rush 2 did, but what it lost in quantity, it made up for in quality. Rush 2049 features customisation for handling type, engine type, tire type, frame type, wing size, tire rim style and car colours. The game also has only a few tracks, less than the previous game. This could be seen as a bad thing, but this game really makes up for it with its soundtrack. The 2049 soundtrack is awesome; you should be listening to it while reading this post. The game was ported to Dreamcast and Nintendo 64 in 2000, with some changes such as the addition of stunt wings. The arcade version of Rush 2049 was upgraded, also in 2000, to the Tournament Edition, with some added tracks/cars and online multiplayer. A 2003 version, San Francisco Rush 2049: Special Edition, is a rerelease of the Tournament Edition, minus the online multiplayer, as Midway’s servers had shut down. San Francisco Rush 2049 is one hell of an excellent game, and is definitely one of my favourite arcade experiences.

Fun.
Image Credit: GameFabrique

That’s not the end of Rush. When I next talk about Rush, I’ll talk about the handheld games, the Midway Arcade Treasures collections, and that time that Rush went to Los Angeles. I hope you’ve enjoyed the post, and to the birthday boy, happy birthday. Another little thing I forgot to post last time was that I got shout-outed (probably not a word but who cares) in a YouTube video. Check out CD-ROM Fossil’s video on Knights of the Temple here for a bit of info on my amazing creation that I, ahem, created for him. Next week, I’ll be discussing something Duke3D-related, but I’m not sure entirely what yet. Well, that’s a wrap on THE SITH ARCHIVES OF DARTH FANDOM!