Rad Racer, known as Highway Star[a] in Japan, is a racing video game developed and published by Square for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1987. In this game, players drive a Ferrari 328 or a generic Formula One racing machine through a racecourse. The game was released in North America and Europe months after its debut. The title became well known for being one of two titles from Square that made use of stereoscopic 3D, which was made possible by wearing a pair of anaglyph glasses. Square president Masafumi Miyamoto initially conceived the game as an opportunity for developer Nasir Gebelli to demonstrate his 3D programming skills. Gebelli developed, and often drew by hand, the graphics for the game's 3D mode.
The game sold 1.96 million copies and is considered one of the best racing games on the NES, but was criticized as being derivative of other racing games from the period. Reviewers widely compared the game to Out Run, though opined that Rad Racer was different in some ways, and they praised the sense of speed. The game appeared in the 1989 film The Wizard and was one of three games to feature a unique competition course in the 1990 Nintendo World Championship.
Rad Racer is a racing game in which the player races in a "Transamerica" race from the West Coast to the East Coast.[3] The gameplay is sprite-based, and the player controls the car from a "behind the vehicle" perspective.[4] At the start of the game, the player chooses between two types of car to race, either a 328 Twin Turbo or an F1 Machine, though both cars perform exactly the same.[5] The objective is to complete eight driving stages of varying skylines, environments, and locations, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Athens.[5][6] Competitors' vehicles get faster as the stages progress and include Volkswagen Beetles to Ferrari Testarossas.[6] The player's car can accelerate to 100 km/h, which turbo can then be activated to accelerate to a maximum of 255 km/h.[6][7] The player can brake, steer, and change the background music while driving.[7] Hitting any obstacles or other cars may cause the player's vehicle to flip and crash.[5] Players have a limited amount of time to reach the next "checkpoint" in the course, which is indicated by a checkered flag; passing the flag adds additional time or may signal the end of the course. Players have a simulated dashboard that contains a progress bar, speedometer, tachometer, score, and time remaining.[8] Unlike in Out Run where the game ends immediately, when time runs out, the player's vehicle coasts and decelerates down to 0 km/h before the game ends, giving the player an extra five to ten seconds to possibly reach the next checkpoint.[9]
Players can activate a 3D mode during play by pressing the "Select" button and wearing 3D glasses.[4] Players could also use the Power Glove to control their vehicle.[10] The game was also compatible with the Famicom 3D, an accessory to the original Famicom released in Japan that utilized LCD "shutter glasses" to simulate 3D.[11]
The root cause for the game's development was the then-President of Square Masafumi Miyamoto wanting to implement newly hired programmer Nasir Gebelli's skills with 3D programming previously used to develop games for the Apple II.[13][14] Rad Racer was the second title by Square to use anaglyph-based 3D: Gebelli worked on both titles and was influenced by his work on the first 3D game titled The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner.[15][14] Two game programmers had left Square as Gebelli was hired, resulting in Gebelli to begin programming the game by alone.[16] Gebelli remained in Japan to figure out how to create realistic background movement of the game's scenery while the rest of Square was on vacation in Hawaii.[14]