An Annotated History Of The Cruis'n Series, Part 2...

ferrarimanf355

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Edited By ferrarimanf355

Hey guys, as promised, here's part 2 of my acclaimed Annotated History Of The Cruis'n Series. This section covers Cruis'n World. I'm going to go heavy on the YouTube vids here.

Part 2: Cruis'n World (image from arcadeflyers.com)

Released in late 1996 and running off of the same hardware as Cruis'n USA, Cruis'n World sure looked dated when standing aside the other arcade racers from that year, like Sega Super GT, or San Francisco Rush, or... wait, what's this? I can pop wheelies by pumping the gas? Or pop the car up on its side by pumping the gas while turning? Awesome!

Cruis'n World took the mechanics of USA and built on it. Wheelies and "skiing" (popping the car up on its side) added a bit of depth to the game. Besides just looking cool, pulling a wheelie or skiing maneuver off of a steep drop would reward players with a second or two off of their final time. Therefore, players were encouraged to pull as many of them as possible to shoot to the top of the leaderboards. Pulling a wheelie in front of an oncoming car would also provide a way to escape imminent danger, too.

As the name implies, Cruis'n World takes the race global. There were a few races in the USA (New York City, Florida, and Hawaii is a U.S. state, so that counts.), but the other levels took place in China, Japan, Russia, Australia, Africa, Egypt, England, Italy, France and Germany. The music was also appropriate to each area, on top of that.
Here's some footage of the arcade version, running in the Egypt level. Driving through the desert, through a pyramid... that can't be good on the cooling system.

The game was ported to the N64 in 1998 by Eurocom, and unlike Cruis'n USA, didn't totally suck. Why? Because Eurocom took the time to make it look, feel, and sound like the arcade original- and on top of

that, took the route Namco takes with their arcade ports and threw in a load of extras. There were a few things removed, like the starting and finish line girls, the ability to run over wildlife, and the arcade version's ending (with Clinton on the moon... trust me, this makes sense.), but added in split-screen multiplayer for four players, more cars, the ability to drift, a map in the radar section on the screen to show the turns as well as the traffic, and the ability to upgrade the car's top speed (like in the N64 port of USA), and add turbo boosts. Also added were circuit variations of the levels, and circuit and point-to-point races on the moon.

Here's some footage of the same Egypt level, with the N64-exclusive car, the McLaren F1... I mean, the "Speed Demon", the fastest car in the game. The player also does some tricks to knock 12 seconds off his final time.

... and here's the Germany level in the N64 port as well.

So, far, there's no word as to when Cruis'n World will show up on the Virtual Console, and that's a shame. I'd download it, and with Cruis'n USA on the VC, why not put up the superior sequel? Hopefully, this is rectified soon.

Tomorrow, I talk a little Cruis'n Exotica, what changed, why the N64 port isn't quite the same, and other stuff. In the meantime, here's the ending to the arcade version.

15 years ago

ferrarimanf355

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#1 Edited By ferrarimanf355

Hey guys, as promised, here's part 2 of my acclaimed Annotated History Of The Cruis'n Series. This section covers Cruis'n World. I'm going to go heavy on the YouTube vids here.

Released in late 1996 and running off of the same hardware as Cruis'n USA, Cruis'n World sure looked dated when standing aside the other arcade racers from that year, like Sega Super GT, or San Francisco Rush, or... wait, what's this? I can pop wheelies by pumping the gas? Or pop the car up on its side by pumping the gas while turning? Awesome!

Cruis'n World took the mechanics of USA and built on it. Wheelies and "skiing" (popping the car up on its side) added a bit of depth to the game. Besides just looking cool, pulling a wheelie or skiing maneuver off of a steep drop would reward players with a second or two off of their final time. Therefore, players were encouraged to pull as many of them as possible to shoot to the top of the leaderboards. Pulling a wheelie in front of an oncoming car would also provide a way to escape imminent danger, too.

As the name implies, Cruis'n World takes the race global. There were a few races in the USA (New York City, Florida, and Hawaii is a U.S. state, so that counts.), but the other levels took place in China, Japan, Russia, Australia, Africa, Egypt, England, Italy, France and Germany. The music was also appropriate to each area, on top of that.
Here's some footage of the arcade version, running in the Egypt level. Driving through the desert, through a pyramid... that can't be good on the cooling system.

The game was ported to the N64 in 1998 by Eurocom, and unlike Cruis'n USA, didn't totally suck. Why? Because Eurocom took the time to make it look, feel, and sound like the arcade original- and on top of

that, took the route Namco takes with their arcade ports and threw in a load of extras. There were a few things removed, like the starting and finish line girls, the ability to run over wildlife, and the arcade version's ending (with Clinton on the moon... trust me, this makes sense.), but added in split-screen multiplayer for four players, more cars, the ability to drift, a map in the radar section on the screen to show the turns as well as the traffic, and the ability to upgrade the car's top speed (like in the N64 port of USA), and add turbo boosts. Also added were circuit variations of the levels, and circuit and point-to-point races on the moon.

Here's some footage of the same Egypt level, with the N64-exclusive car, the McLaren F1... I mean, the "Speed Demon", the fastest car in the game. The player also does some tricks to knock 12 seconds off his final time.

... and here's the Germany level in the N64 port as well.

So, far, there's no word as to when Cruis'n World will show up on the Virtual Console, and that's a shame. I'd download it, and with Cruis'n USA on the VC, why not put up the superior sequel? Hopefully, this is rectified soon.

Tomorrow, I talk a little Cruis'n Exotica, what changed, why the N64 port isn't quite the same, and other stuff. In the meantime, here's the ending to the arcade version.

15 years ago

ferrarimanf355

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#2 Edited By ferrarimanf355

Let me also add the greatest thing ever on YouTube: the promotional video to Cruis'n World. Eugene Jarvis and crew talk about it, some WIP footage is shown (including the Devastator IV from Cruis'n USA as a placeholder car), and the hammiest acting ever. Like, a one-pound Honeybaked Ham hammy.

I also ask that you check out the YouTube page of the guy who uploaded that. He has quite a few of them for viewing.

15 years ago

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