Cruis'n USA

Cruis'n USA is an arcade racing game originally released in 1994. It was developed, published, and distributed by Midway Games. It is the first game in the Cruis'n series and features races set in locations across the continental United States.

Cruis'n USA
North American Nintendo 64 cover art
Developer(s)Midway Games (arcade)
Williams Entertainment Development Division San Diego (Nintendo 64)
Publisher(s)Midway Games (arcade)
Nintendo (Nintendo 64)
Director(s)Eugene Jarvis
Programmer(s)Eric Pribyl
Carl Mey
Artist(s)Xion Cooper
Ted Barber
Composer(s)Vince Pontarelli[1]
SeriesCruis'n
Platform(s)Arcade
Nintendo 64
ReleaseArcade
  • WW: November 1994
Nintendo 64
  • NA: December 3, 1996
  • EU: January 30, 1998
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade systemMidway V Unit

Cruis'n USA is branded as the first release of the Ultra 64 platform collaboration between Midway and Nintendo when it was based on the Midway V-unit arcade hardware, predating the Silicon Graphics based version of Ultra 64 which would become the Nintendo 64. Along with Killer Instinct, it was planned as a Nintendo 64 launch game. Neither game was released at the Nintendo 64's launch, but received Super NES and Game Boy remakes before their Nintendo 64 releases.

It proved to be a critical and commercial success in arcades, outselling Sega's Daytona USA. However, the Nintendo 64 version received poor reviews, but was a commercial success. It was released on Wii's Virtual Console in Europe on March 28, 2008, making it the first third party developed Nintendo 64 game to be released on the service. It became available on the Virtual Console in North America on March 31, 2008.

Gameplay

Like in most racing games, players race down one-way courses consisting of streets vaguely based on real-life locations. While racing, they do their best to avoid various road hazards such as oncoming traffic and construction. Players chose between seven different cars to race with. The car can simulate either an automatic or manual transmission. Automatic increases the speed of gear shifts, while players using the manual transmission must switch during races. The environments of the tracks range from Golden Gate Park, in San Francisco, to Washington DC. Players must reach first place to move on to the next track; however, advancement is also possible by using a continue should the player fail to win the race. For every race, there is a time limit to reach the goal; if the player does not finish before the timer reaches zero, the game ends prematurely. This time limit can be extended by driving through checkpoints along the road. Unlike most racing games, there is the option to change the music by pressing the music button. Whenever a race is completed, the player unlocks either a new vehicle or a new color, depending on the difficulty completed. Each new color represents a performance upgrade, as indicated in the specifications when selecting a vehicle. Players have the option to select the color of the car that they choose to play, with each color being a higher or lower spec.

Development

In early 1994, Nintendo signed a licensing agreement with WMS Industries, Midway's parent company, which allowed Midway to release two arcade games advertised as the first version of Ultra 64 hardware and formed a joint venture named "Williams/Nintendo" to port those two games to its consoles. Nintendo wanted a arcade racing game to compete against Sega's racing game Daytona USA and Namco's Ridge Racer, both of which were successful at the time. Eugene Jarvis, who had developed Defender (1981) and Robotron: 2084 (1982) for Williams Electronics, served as lead developer. Jarvis pitched a racing game concept to Williams and Nintendo. Along with Killer Instinct, created by Rare, the arcade original was showcased at the June 1994 Consumer Electronics Show as running on Ultra 64 branded arcade hardware, sharing the branding of Nintendo's upcoming home console, codenamed Ultra 64. A few months later, Nintendo of America chairman Howard Lincoln admitted that Cruisin' USA was actually programmed before the MIPS CPU based console version of Ultra 64 development tools were available from Silicon Graphics, and that even at this point Rare was the only development company to have access to these development tools.[2] The Cruis'n USA cabinet shown at the Consumer Electronics Show was actually running on a modified JAMMA board.[3]) Cruis'n USA runs on a Midway V-Unit, which is very different from what would become the Silicon Graphics based Nintendo 64. The Midway V-unit consists of a 50 MHz TMS32031 CPU, a 10 MHz ADSP-2115 DSP for sound, and a custom 3D chip that can render perspective-correct but unfiltered quads at a high resolution (512 Ć— 400 pixels).

Williams, the developers of the Nintendo 64 version, had to downgrade most of the graphics in the home version. Originally announced as a Nintendo 64 launch game along with Killer Instinct,[4] less than a month before launch day, it missed the release window and was brought back to Williams for retooling because it did not meet Nintendo's quality standards, while Killer Instinct's release was delayed and converted for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System and Game Boy.[5] Several elements of the game, such as the ability to run over animals, were censored from the Nintendo 64 version.[6] During the last couple of months of development, people sent letters or emails about the censorship.[7] Jarvis also publicly objected to it: "It seems like they don't have a sense of humor. I don't know what's wrong with these people."[8]

Reception

The arcade version of Cruis'n USA was a commercial success.[21] Next Generation reviewed the arcade version of the game, and stated that "While less graphically impressive than its rivals, Cruis'n USA is the OutRun sequel Sega should have done, and is our pick for the driving crown."[20]

The Nintendo 64 version met with mostly negative reviews, and earned a GameRankings score of 50.63% based on 16 reviews.[9] Reviews widely criticized the jerky frame rate,[13][17][18][21][24] poor collision detection,[18][21][24] and music, which they said to be both stylistically inappropriate and poorly composed.[13][17][18][21][24] A reviewer for Next Generation concluded that "this half-hearted, rough-shod conversion is exactly what Nintendo 64 doesn't need".[21] GameSpot's Jeff Gerstmann and GamePro's Air Hendrix had more mixed reactions than most. Gerstmann praised the controls when using the Nintendo 64 controller's analog stick, but concluded the game to be a major disappointment.[17] Air Hendrix, while heavily criticizing elements like the pop-up in the two-player mode and lack of variety in general, said it is essentially a faithful conversion of the arcade game and worth trying out as a rental, though not an outright purchase.[24] Peer Schneider of IGN and Kraig Kujawa of Electronic Gaming Monthly both said the two-player split-screen mode is the highlight of the game, while noting that the frame rate problems are even worse in this mode.[13][18] Kujawa's co-reviewer Dean Hager said the game "certainly fails to show off the processing power of the N64",[13] and Shneider said it lacked excitement and was "probably doomed to be the nadir of N64 racing games for many years to come."[18]

Despite the negative reviews, the Nintendo 64 version of Cruis'n USA saw strong sales, thanks largely to a combination of the console's popularity and the small library of games available for it at the time.[25] It was the sixth best-selling video game of the 1996 Christmas shopping season according to TRST data, with three of the five games which outsold it also being Nintendo 64 games.[26]

Reviewing the Virtual Console release in Nintendo Life, Damien McFerran echoed many of the same criticisms leveled at the Nintendo 64 version upon its original release (jerky frame rate, poor collision detection, lack of speed and excitement), and said that even the arcade original was a fairly poor game.[22]

References
  1. Vince Pontarelli. "Vince Pontarelli Sound Designer & Composer". Vince Pontarelli. Archived from the original on 2014-04-26. Retrieved 2012-02-16.
  2. "At the Deadline". GamePro. No. 75. IDG. December 1994. p. 288.
  3. "Which Game System is the Best!?". Next Generation. No. 12. Imagine Media. December 1995. p. 84.
  4. "Howard Lincoln: Ultra 64's Man in the US". Next Generation. No. 14. Imagine Media. February 1996. pp. 42ā€“43.
  5. "Launch Surprises: Nintendo Cuts Price of N64, Drops Cruis'n USA as Launch Title". GamePro. No. 98. IDG. November 1996. p. 26.
  6. IGN staff (October 16, 1996). "Nintendo to censor Cruis'n". IGN. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  7. IGN staff (October 28, 1996). "Results of Cruis'n USA Poll". IGN. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  8. "In the Studio". Next Generation. No. 25. Imagine Media. January 1997. p. 21.
  9. "Cruis'n USA for Nintendo 64". GameRankings. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  10. Baize, Anthony. "Cruis'n USA (ARC) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  11. Ziegler, Adam. "Cruis'n USA (N64) - Review". AllGame. Archived from the original on November 14, 2014. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  12. Edge staff (January 1997). "Cruis'n USA (N64)". Edge (41).
  13. EGM staff (February 1997). "Cruis'n USA (N64)". Electronic Gaming Monthly (91): 150.
  14. Whitehead, Dan (March 28, 2008). "Virtual Console Roundup (Page 2)". Eurogamer. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  15. Reiner, Andrew; McNamara, Andy; Anderson, Paul (January 1997). "Cruis'n USA (N64)". Game Informer (45). Archived from the original on October 21, 1997. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  16. Dr. Moo (February 1997). "Cruis'n USA Review (N64)". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on June 6, 1997. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  17. Gerstmann, Jeff (December 4, 1996). "Cruis'n USA Review (N64)". GameSpot. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  18. Schneider, Peer (November 14, 1996). "Cruis'n USA (N64)". IGN. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  19. Thomas, Lucas M. (April 2, 2008). "Cruis'n USA Review (Wii)". IGN. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  20. "Finals". Next Generation. No. 1. Imagine Media. January 1995. p. 104.
  21. "Cruisin' [sic] USA". Next Generation. No. 26. Imagine Media. February 1997. p. 118.
  22. McFerran, Damien (March 28, 2008). "Cruis'n USA (Wii Virtual Console) Review". NintendoLife. Retrieved November 14, 2014.
  23. "Cruis'n USA". Nintendo Power. 92. January 1997.
  24. "Nintendo 64 ProReview: Cruis'n USA". GamePro. No. 101. IDG. February 1997. p. 64.
  25. "Who Won the Videogame Wars of 1996?". Next Generation. No. 28. Imagine Media. April 1997. pp. 16ā€“19.
  26. "Interview with Howard Lincoln". Next Generation. No. 29. Imagine Media. May 1997. p. 47.
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