Daytona USA Review: Rolling Start!

Daytona USA Review

Rolling Start! The arcade classic Daytona USA was released onto the Xbox Live Arcade as well as the PlayStation Network for 800 Microsoft points or $9.99.

Daytona USA brings to you its classic arcade racing gameplay, in which the racing is a complete arcade experience and still handles in a way that takes a moment to get use to. This is especially true on the two advanced maps, as they have more turns within them. You will certainly need to get use to the gameplay so that you can learn how to take good turns. There will definitely be a learning curve with the handling of the vehicle, but it’s a lot of fun once you get a good feel for it. Daytona USA only features 3 playable tracks for you to race at which include an easy, advanced and expert track. Each track gives the option of playing it mirrored in order to provide it with a little more depth. Also, within the options before selecting your race is the option to change the amount of laps and the AI difficulty level that you will face. When it comes to vehicles you will only have the one vehicle to choose from as well, but thankfully when you race online it’ll provide everyone with a different color car.

Other modes include a challenge mode which gives you a list of challenges per each map for you to complete. I found this to be a good feature within the game as it provides for some more fun. The other modes include a survivor mode, time trial and a karaoke mode. So yes, while you are racing it’ll provide the words to the song for you to sing along with if you have a moment to take your eyes off of the road. So again, there is a little more depth added besides your basic arcade races. However, I just don’t see too many people getting into the karaoke mode, which to me just seems odd. Visually, they left the classic graphics of the original arcade hit with the enhanced widescreen format. It also features the original Daytona USA soundtrack for you to enjoy again as well.

For those who are fans of Sega racing titles or Daytona USA I can see you checking this title out. However, I just don’t know how long it will keep your attention after the first few times of playing through it. There are plenty of races to be done and challenges to complete. But, I will say that unlocking all of the achievements for the game took me under an hour. So, if you are looking for easy achievements then this would certainly be an option. Thankfully, as Daytona USA is classic racing goodness it would still be a game in which you would probably revisit for a few more races after your initial play through.

All in all this is still a fun classic arcade title that racing fans should look into. This is true for your basic single player arcade races, your challenge modes and the online competition and leaderboards. This is still a good title to own and one to make your mark in with playing either offline or online in multiplayer races and online leaderboards.

Score: 3/5

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  1. Reading your review brought back the memories. This title doesn’t sound like it held up well over the years. I’ll probably still buy it just because, but it sounds like its just something you would want to play at the arcade. You know with the seat and steering wheel.