Overview
Wangan Midnight is a street racing game developed by Genki and released by Namco for arcades (using their PS2-based System 246 hardware) on February 2, 2001. It received a limited overseas release.
The first video game adaptation of the manga of the same name, Wangan Midnight revolves around street racing on Tokyo's Shuto Expressway, namely the infamous Bayshore Route (the titular "Wangan"). Much of the game is similar to the studio's Tokyo Xtreme Racer series, including the "tension gauge" system similar to fighting games (in which each racer's gauge drains over time if they are far behind the leader).
Much of the game is driving around the Shuto Expressway while being challenged to street races from multiple characters from the manga (and their associated cars), with the goal being to defeat the legendary Nissan S30 "Devil Z" (driven by series protagonist Akio Asakura).
It later received a Japan-exclusive update on December 20, 2001 with the title Wangan Midnight R, as well as a Japan-exclusive home release for the PlayStation 2 exclusively in Japan on March 28, 2002. Along with the standard arcade mode (or "AC Scenario Mode"), the PS2 version features a story-based "Mission Mode" that closely follows the manga's plot (with players driving specific cars as specific characters).
While Namco reworked the series as Wangan Midnight Maximum Tune, Genki later revisited the series for the PlayStation 3 with the 2007 game Wangan Midnight.
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