The King's Favorite Racing Games

Recently I've been driven (ha) back to play one of my favorite racers of all time, and I'm having a blast going back through and unlocking everything. So I figured now's as good a time as any to list what have been my favorite racing video games of all time.

Most important thing to note is that I prefer racing games to driving simulators. I don't care about tuning or tweaking my car, I just want to get out there, drive, drift, and in some cases, crash some cars. So if you're wondering where some of the heavy duty sims are, there's your answer. I enjoy PGR, Forza, GT, et al., but just not as much.

All images gratuitously yanked from Wikipedia.

10. Pole Position
Atari/Namco (1982)

I remember playing this in the arcade at a local pizza place in my early, early years. I had so much trouble taking those turns and hated that you could never see what was coming. When we got a copy of this for the Atari 2600 I loved playing it. Hell, I'll still pop in a quarter to give this a go if I ever see it around town.


9. Outrun
Sega (1986)

My first and likely only experience driving a Ferrari. I remember how awesome the car crashes were and how cool it was to sit in on that big arcade rig and really feel like you're driving a car. When you're 6 and a decade away from the real thing, this was driving at its finest.

8. Cruisn' USA
Midway/Nintendo (1994)

To tell the truth, I preferred this one far more on the N64 than in the arcade - maybe this was because I was a broke teenager at the time, but more than likely it was because of the fun multi-player carnage that went on. The boost trick still cracks me up every time, with the car tearing up off its front wheels...

7. F-Zero GX
Sega (2003)

This game captures the feeling of speed better than most racing games. I preferred this one over the SNES original because of the depth this game has - more tracks, more racers, a story mode, etc.

6. Daytona USA
Sega (1994)

This game was a blast in the arcade and at home on the Saturn. I remember countless hours of left turn glory in those damned clunky stock cars.

5. Mario Kart 64: Double Dash
Nintendo (2003)

This was the right game at the right time for me. I was living in Knoxville and multi-player gaming was something I got to do a lot of - so whenever the boys were all over we'd fire this up and slap turtle shells and bananas at each other until the early hours. I loved the dynamic of having two drivers with two distinct weapon styles.

4. Mario Kart DS
Nintendo (2005)

My favorite multi-player racer found its way to the Nintendo DS and boy was it a blast. I loved having courses from all the previous MK games (Baby Park!) but it was the ability to play internet games over WiFi that sealed it for me. I love the hell out of some wifi MK:DS.

3. Virtua Racing
Sega (1992)

This game justified owning a Sega 32X to me. I played the snot out of this game, from the stock cars to the formula one cars. Yes, there were a limited number of tracks with limited action, but I freaking loved it. In fact, I'm going to go play a game of it right now and get back to finishing this later.

2. R4: Ridge Racer Type 4
Namco (1999)

This is seriously fun arcade-style racing. It's not overtly challenging and there aren't a bevy of configuration options for each car - but I don't mind. This one was fun to just sling around the track a few times when I had a little down time between class and work back in the day. I still keep this one in my case with the PSOne.

1. Burnout 3: Takedown
EA (2004)

Everything about this game is perfect. From the ability to put whatever soundtrack you want (the default soundtracks is good, it's a nice mix of metal, punk, and emo) to the detailed race strategies needed to achieve victory on some of the tracks - this game just wrapped everything I'd wanted a racing game to be into one well-made package. You crash other cars to get boost, and that whole aspect on top of the usual racing strategies (pick the best lines, drifting, etc) will keep this one up at #1 in my book for a while. For some reason, I didn't like the sequel (Burnout Revenge) as much, but I did love the hell out of the PSP version of this game. In fact, that was probably the only PSP game I really liked. Probably why I sold the damned thing.

Break In Case of Boredom

So I've been using this amalgamation of Buzz, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket, holding an FSU tomahawk with a head-dress as my icon:



About a week ago I got bored while using a South Park character creator, I made a doctor-looking character. I wanted to turn it into an engineering/doctor icon, so I fired up The GIMP and I added in a wrench, a hammer, and a stethoscope. Then of course, I changed the blue undershirt to be a Yellow Jacket, and here's what I ended up with:



For somebody with NO artistic talent whatsoever, I'm pleased.

Me divierten

From a recent Spanish assignment:

Imagina que alguien va al consultorio del médico porque tiene dolores de estómago. Escribe un posible intercambio entre el médico y el paciente.

[Imagine that somebody goes to consult with a doctor about pain they have in their stomach. Write a possible exchange between the doctor and the patient.]

Here's how I answered it (translation in italics):

Médico: ¡Hola!
Hello!

Paciente: ¡Hola, doctor!
Hi, doc!

Médico: ¡Cuál es el motivo de su visita hoy?
What's the reason for your visit today?

Paciente: Me duele el estomago.
My stomach hurts.

Médico: ¿Comiste esa botella de veneno en su mano?
Did you eat that bottle of poison in your hand?

Paciente: Sí. Era muy delicioso.
Yes. It was very delicious.

Médico: ¿Conjectura que? ¡Tienes veinte minutos a vivir!
Guess what? You have twenty minutes to live!

Paciente: Mierde.
Shit.

Man, am I gonna be a great doctor or what?