If this is true would you please make these again? For me? Throw in a 350hp+ turbo charged engine and just let me drift a Volvo wagon like I did back in High School!
i got burnout 1 bc it really is the thrill drive at home i knew of burnout before but when i later saw an arcade machine i was like did criterion crimped konami's style?
@@JamesWilliams-je7tm Bullshit. If you drive Burnout 2's first track 100% flawlesly with the super car, there every time there comes truck outside of the track sideways once, completely blocking entire road. Traffic behaves identically every time, nothing is random or based on skill.
Konami should revive these series, there's nothing like this anymore especially from AAA studios, I know 100% it would be popular especially if they keep the horror vibe and the ragdolls.
@@VideoGameEsoterica Yup I'm crossing my fingers here that someone at Konami finally sees the light, these series has always been such a wasted opportunity, they always had gold with this and they squandered it big time. At least they seem to be paying attention to their old games now so who knows. Maybe a remake or remaster at least would be nice.
Well I can see where the original Burnout got it's inspiration and i loved that game, more so than its sequels which focused more on the crashing. Definitely going to try this one out
@@VideoGameEsoterica I would love to see that. VERY curious to hear your thoughts on B1/2 vs B3. IMO B2 DC is one of the best console racers ever made, and B3 is an excellent game, but not a better "racing" game.
This looks like so much. I've never heard of this one, but I love it just from watching this video. 😍 Reminds me a bit of the first 2 Burnout games with all the oncoming traffic.
Great game suggestion. 👍 The game is both unforgiving and forgiving. Unforgiving in the sense of all cars cross the finish line at the same time, but forgiving when it comes to crashes. It doesn't punish you just for slightly brushing another car. Unusual for an arcade game. Also, when I was a young man, my parents had a Volvo wagon, (known as an estate car here in the UK). It was a massive 2 series thing, a 244GL IIRC, and was built more like a tank! I share you admiration for these cars. 😊 Happy new year. 🎆
@VideoGameEsoterica That is so true. As well as a months worth of groceries, we managed to cram me, both my parents AND our family dog in the Volvo! The car was extremely reliable too and lasted years and even a couple of crashes without issue. At the risk of showing my age, they don't make 'em like they used to! 😂
The car you want is the 850 R wagon (or "estate" as they're called in Europe). 2.3L turbocharged 5-cylinder engine, 247 hp. I am in love with these boxy but beautiful wagons. Volvo even entered them into the 1994 British Touring Car Championship (yes, the wagon!) which was absolutely unheard of at the time (the story behind that is really interesting and worth looking up). In touring car form, the engine was reduced to 2L and the turbo was removed, but it made 290 hp!
@@HunterTinsleyThat's because the game is literally marked as not working in MAME. There's a red screen that pops up before the game starts that tells you this.
that looks amazingly fun. that station wagon is such a funny car option. if i ever hear one pull up and rev the engine ill wave hi to you. happy new year.
A) Reverse engineering the security scheme? Dude, that’s a video I would LOVE to see! And B) If you haven’t already, you REALLY need to check out the BurnOut series on the NGC, PS2 and Xbox180!
Love you channel Robert to the point I'm going to dig out my mister and re set it up. I bought a whole bunch of console controllers and snac connecters for old console controllers and do something covering that in a video. Also! I had stroke last year. It absolutely helps when I play video games I feel. Helps the brain and eye/hand coordination. Have a fantastic 2025!
Ever since this became emulatable whenever I come home stressed from work after a hard day I just sit down and play this and my stress melts away, it's instantaneous fun with no frills, thanks to being an arcade game it's so easy to pick up and play. The only problem I have is that I get some bad frame drops here and there but that's more of a problem with my hardware and emulation and not the game.
I did not know this one (another I discover thanks to your channel). What a strange premise and setting for an arcade game. WIth the music, the crash cutscenes and the serious tone, it seems to take itself quite seriously. No wonder they tone it down (based on what you say) for the following installments. A game with a serious tone, about average people, driving average cars, doing street racing and trying to get good at it. How cool is that! I will definitely give it a go.
Most obvious flaw you don't notice is that it appears to use the same semi trucks for all three destinations. In the US, cab-over trucks are extremely rare.
I played this arcade game back at the end of the 90´s near the village. Unfortunately, this game took many times (for at least 2 weeks) after the arcade board stopped working and they took it away. Oh and Happy New Year.
What makes this special is that you get the feeling that if you were to actually drive at such speeds on an actual motorway, you would require racing driver skills at best to actually survive. The way the vehicle moves feels closer to reality and it was nice to see the wheels actually turn in another real world manner. The word authentic is so overused these days but this one has me thinking it for a good reason. Driving the likes of a Volvo estate instead of a sports car just adds to the appeal. It is a game that I would never actually master. If real AI were used to create a modern version, then the possibilities would be huge. Konami could make a mint today if they expanded this, keeping the graphic style and gameplay exactly the same. Rural London? Now that made me laugh.
Arcades series are back, btw arcade games quickly made this year on gaming, so much better for me, such a great era...alot of good stuff, btw are you planning on doing videos about the late 80s race stuff? some pretty unique games from that era.
The more I stare at this game, the more interesting it is. I would not have guessed that this is 3dfx hardware. The board seems to be using an interesting implementation and while I usually feel that Konami's early 3D arcade games looked inferior to their competition, their style of textures and artwork here does a good job of making it look less "3dfx," which I think is a good thing. The 3dfx hardware (both arcade and PC cards) has a certain look to it which I've grown to like less over time. There's just too much filtering and smoothing going on, and color depth was often not great. The hardware is fast, but the trade-off is image quality. On the PC side of things, in particular, I often find myself preferring software rendering over the look of 3dfx-enhanced graphics, like in Quake. On the arcade side, some games I think utilized the hardware very well, such as the San Francisco Rush games, but in general you can kind of tell when a cabinet is using 3dfx hardware. This game is more interesting, because while there are subtle touches to clue you in, overall it really doesn't look that similar to other 3dfx games, and as such I think it stands further apart from those other games. I love the "Fatal Accident!" stuff as well.
Will you be making a video on the new Tokyo Xtreme Racer? It's looking better than I ever dreamed. I didn't think Genki still had the people to make a game like this.
My friend, you make brilliant videos, you don't *NEED* ( 😉) to do the silly SEO titles like those which a certain TH-camr with a transformer related moniker would use. You know, that one who believes (or used to) that all the things they review are a " *_BEAST_* " 😏 Anyway, yeah ... keep up the good work!
@@VideoGameEsoterica sorry to put a statement there that you felt needed defending ... that wasn't the intent ... I was just having a bit of fun ... never mind.
Sorry to bother you again with another comment, but could I ask for help with two additional issues I have? 1.) While I can choose a vehicle, I cannot change the track. It always stays on US. How do I fix this? 2.) How do I change views? As soon as the race starts, it goes into interior view and I can't get it to change. Thanks for any additional help you can give. :)
Zero worries! 1) you need to calibrate the analog control values in the test menu so you can turn further left and right to select diff tracks. 2) you need to bind the change view key in the tab menu
Hey Esoterica, Ive been trying to get into the discord for months but the link in the description says that it is invalid when you click on it. Maybe its just expired?
Also, question. You mention it's emulatable? Installing the latest MAME version, I get "gc713ud.2q not found" and "gm676ua_m48t58y.35d not found" errors? What do I do to get it working?
So managed to get this on my Steam Deck and I can't get past 'Test Switch'. I've tried F2 and TAB-change input but it wasn't in the menu, any help would be appreciated.
Looking to upgrade the CPU in my cabinet, curious what CPU people are using to get playable framerates with this title. My Ryzen 5600 isn't playable even with frameskip :(
Hey VGE. Have you thought about still taking into consideration the request to have a dedicated video on Pigskin 625 A.D.? Would love to see it from you bro. 8^)
I mean, I love it but it was unrealistic as Hell- If you've ever seen a Volvo V240 Wagon in an accident the other car gets instantly vaporised due to the V240 being made of solid granite. Edit: Yeah, I saw the other comments and see that it's a V70. Joke still stands.
@VideoGameEsoterica it is a good looking game I love the days where developers were restricted by hardware limitations Devs really get creative and you see it shine through the game
Gameplay looks appealingly hectic with impactful crashes. The visuals are underwhelming for '98 in my view however. I'd call them "PS 1.5" with an image quality a generation behind Sega's Model 3 racers. The soundtrack is an interesting mix of garage rock and action movie music. It fits the game well, but it seems to be more about creating a mood instead of offering any memorable tunes.
The protection has been fully reversed and I've made many NVRAM files as well as dumped over 5000 games. I can help with the nv if you contact me directly.
So many arcade games never got console releases. These things are begging for a Dreamcast port!
Would have been perfect on Dreamcast
I work at Volvo in the design division, this video put a huge grin on my face
If this is true would you please make these again? For me? Throw in a 350hp+ turbo charged engine and just let me drift a Volvo wagon like I did back in High School!
those sharp edges are timeless and beautiful. Love the old Volvo's
My father drove a Volvo back in the 80s.
Classics
Thanks for posting. I never heard of this game before. Dumped it on my racing cab tonight and had a great time. Definitely a favorite.
Happy to help you discover it :)
Thrill Drive is great, but Criterion perfected that concept with Burnout 2 and it's sequels!
Well sure but they had Thrill Drive to study haha
Burnout is worse. -It's impossible to completely avoid crashing on Burnout, or even sequels.
i got burnout 1 bc it really is the thrill drive at home
i knew of burnout before but when i later saw an arcade machine i was like
did criterion crimped konami's style?
@@M1XARTSkill Issue
@@JamesWilliams-je7tm Bullshit. If you drive Burnout 2's first track 100% flawlesly with the super car, there every time there comes truck outside of the track sideways once, completely blocking entire road. Traffic behaves identically every time, nothing is random or based on skill.
Your channel continues to surprise and entertain me, I think it's going to grow really big soon. Excellent selection of games on here.
I hope it gets huge soon too! Haha
@VideoGameEsoterica 2025 good luck
Appreciate it
Konami should revive these series, there's nothing like this anymore especially from AAA studios, I know 100% it would be popular especially if they keep the horror vibe and the ragdolls.
Maybe with Konami becoming more interesting lately they may
@@VideoGameEsoterica Yup I'm crossing my fingers here that someone at Konami finally sees the light, these series has always been such a wasted opportunity, they always had gold with this and they squandered it big time. At least they seem to be paying attention to their old games now so who knows. Maybe a remake or remaster at least would be nice.
I wouldn’t say they squandered it. Just never ported it
Well I can see where the original Burnout got it's inspiration and i loved that game, more so than its sequels which focused more on the crashing. Definitely going to try this one out
Story is Burnout devs had a Thrill Drive cab in their offices while developing this game
Yes, loved the original Burnout, great game for it's time. Weaving in traffic, running crossroads and red lights. Good course selection too.
I need to do a burnout retrospective
@@VideoGameEsoterica I would love to see that. VERY curious to hear your thoughts on B1/2 vs B3. IMO B2 DC is one of the best console racers ever made, and B3 is an excellent game, but not a better "racing" game.
I’m sure I’ll do it soonish :)
This looks like so much. I've never heard of this one, but I love it just from watching this video. 😍
Reminds me a bit of the first 2 Burnout games with all the oncoming traffic.
Yes it’s got Burnout vibes as it inspired the Burnout devs
Great game suggestion. 👍 The game is both unforgiving and forgiving. Unforgiving in the sense of all cars cross the finish line at the same time, but forgiving when it comes to crashes. It doesn't punish you just for slightly brushing another car. Unusual for an arcade game.
Also, when I was a young man, my parents had a Volvo wagon, (known as an estate car here in the UK). It was a massive 2 series thing, a 244GL IIRC, and was built more like a tank! I share you admiration for these cars. 😊
Happy new year. 🎆
Old Volvo grocery getters are the best car design ever imo. But my opinion is not shared by many lol
@VideoGameEsoterica That is so true. As well as a months worth of groceries, we managed to cram me, both my parents AND our family dog in the Volvo! The car was extremely reliable too and lasted years and even a couple of crashes without issue.
At the risk of showing my age, they don't make 'em like they used to! 😂
Haha they were the car of choice for kids in high school when I went so def understand the age thing
The car you want is the 850 R wagon (or "estate" as they're called in Europe). 2.3L turbocharged 5-cylinder engine, 247 hp. I am in love with these boxy but beautiful wagons. Volvo even entered them into the 1994 British Touring Car Championship (yes, the wagon!) which was absolutely unheard of at the time (the story behind that is really interesting and worth looking up). In touring car form, the engine was reduced to 2L and the turbo was removed, but it made 290 hp!
Then I can drop a new engine in. Make it extra stupid fun
Never heard of this. Nice!
It’s def not a common title
Wow TIL Thrill Drive works in MAME. As a huge Burnout fan I always wanted to try this game.
And now you can :) enjoy it!
@@VideoGameEsoterica What CPU do you have? I've got a 9600k. Just tried it and it chugs and stutters too much to be enjoyable, unfortunately.
i9 12900K
@@HunterTinsleyThat's because the game is literally marked as not working in MAME. There's a red screen that pops up before the game starts that tells you this.
MAME can sometimes warn a bit too hard imo. Says not working but really means “not working well enough”
that looks amazingly fun.
that station wagon is such a funny car option. if i ever hear one pull up and rev the engine ill wave hi to you.
happy new year.
Happy new year!
A) Reverse engineering the security scheme? Dude, that’s a video I would LOVE to see! And B) If you haven’t already, you REALLY need to check out the BurnOut series on the NGC, PS2 and Xbox180!
I’m going to work on it in 2025 and yes I’ve absolutely played and own all the Burnout games
It's already been reversed and is quite simple. I made several nvram files in the past to fix games where the nvram chip battery was flat.
Lmk how to get in touch with you
Love you channel Robert to the point I'm going to dig out my mister and re set it up. I bought a whole bunch of console controllers and snac connecters for old console controllers and do something covering that in a video. Also! I had stroke last year. It absolutely helps when I play video games I feel. Helps the brain and eye/hand coordination.
Have a fantastic 2025!
lol but my name is Anthony 🤣 u appreciate the sentiment all the same
@VideoGameEsoterica sorry Ant!!
Haha zero worries
i love 90's konami racers, especially Thrill Drive 2
One of my favs. I have a video up on real hardware
Ever since this became emulatable whenever I come home stressed from work after a hard day I just sit down and play this and my stress melts away, it's instantaneous fun with no frills, thanks to being an arcade game it's so easy to pick up and play.
The only problem I have is that I get some bad frame drops here and there but that's more of a problem with my hardware and emulation and not the game.
Yes just not perfect emulation. That being said my board still won’t boot so I can’t complain
What CPU do you have?
@@penguinsushi8442 Ryzen 2600
The dramatic scare chords are absolutely hilarious. I did not enjoy the screaming faces as a kid lmao. The Volvo is a V70. My dad had one.
I want this exact same Volvo one day
I did not know this one (another I discover thanks to your channel). What a strange premise and setting for an arcade game. WIth the music, the crash cutscenes and the serious tone, it seems to take itself quite seriously. No wonder they tone it down (based on what you say) for the following installments. A game with a serious tone, about average people, driving average cars, doing street racing and trying to get good at it. How cool is that! I will definitely give it a go.
It’s a very weird premise but it works so well
Most obvious flaw you don't notice is that it appears to use the same semi trucks for all three destinations. In the US, cab-over trucks are extremely rare.
Keen observation honestly. Never noticed
Is not often i hear of an old coin op machine for the first time. Appreciated 👍🏻.
That’s what I’m here for
That game definitely has the sense of speed going on, must be fun when your getting through that traffic without hitting anything
Yes when you thread the needle perfectly the gameplay just hits
I played this arcade game back at the end of the 90´s near the village. Unfortunately, this game took many times (for at least 2 weeks) after the arcade board stopped working and they took it away.
Oh and Happy New Year.
What makes this special is that you get the feeling that if you were to actually drive at such speeds on an actual motorway, you would require racing driver skills at best to actually survive. The way the vehicle moves feels closer to reality and it was nice to see the wheels actually turn in another real world manner. The word authentic is so overused these days but this one has me thinking it for a good reason. Driving the likes of a Volvo estate instead of a sports car just adds to the appeal. It is a game that I would never actually master. If real AI were used to create a modern version, then the possibilities would be huge. Konami could make a mint today if they expanded this, keeping the graphic style and gameplay exactly the same. Rural London? Now that made me laugh.
Yes it has a vibe of authenticity that most arcade racing games don’t
Arcades series are back, btw arcade games quickly made this year on gaming, so much better for me, such a great era...alot of good stuff, btw are you planning on doing videos about the late 80s race stuff? some pretty unique games from that era.
Arcades always hit
These are the games I love!!! Thank’s buddy
You are welcome
90s volvo box, SN95 Mustang (with the split tri spokes!), Lexus GS
pretty great car selection ngl
Some iconic designs
The aesthetics of this game remind me of the original driver game, but if it were made for something like the Hyper Neo Geo 64.
And I love it for those vibes
@@VideoGameEsoterica Absolutely!
The more I stare at this game, the more interesting it is. I would not have guessed that this is 3dfx hardware. The board seems to be using an interesting implementation and while I usually feel that Konami's early 3D arcade games looked inferior to their competition, their style of textures and artwork here does a good job of making it look less "3dfx," which I think is a good thing.
The 3dfx hardware (both arcade and PC cards) has a certain look to it which I've grown to like less over time. There's just too much filtering and smoothing going on, and color depth was often not great. The hardware is fast, but the trade-off is image quality. On the PC side of things, in particular, I often find myself preferring software rendering over the look of 3dfx-enhanced graphics, like in Quake. On the arcade side, some games I think utilized the hardware very well, such as the San Francisco Rush games, but in general you can kind of tell when a cabinet is using 3dfx hardware.
This game is more interesting, because while there are subtle touches to clue you in, overall it really doesn't look that similar to other 3dfx games, and as such I think it stands further apart from those other games. I love the "Fatal Accident!" stuff as well.
Konami games always have a specific look and it’s usually “inferior” in 3D but also very charming
Even better than Outrun 2!? The betrayal!
For me personally…yes!
I felt that.
Haha I said what I said
@@VideoGameEsoterica 😆
Will you be making a video on the new Tokyo Xtreme Racer?
It's looking better than I ever dreamed.
I didn't think Genki still had the people to make a game like this.
Oh absolutely will he when it comes out
This looks great. it's like a combination of cruis'n and burnout.
CruiseOut
@VideoGameEsoterica i'd buy that lol
This game would be perfect background footage for a commentary video, kinda like CS surf.
Haha that’s one idea for sure
VGE do you have a driver's cab for pcbs or do you have a supergun with a wheel setup?
Wheel setup
Is there a way to get rid of the huge rectangle on top?
Only on real hardware. Which sadly still fights me
My friend, you make brilliant videos, you don't *NEED* ( 😉) to do the silly SEO titles like those which a certain TH-camr with a transformer related moniker would use.
You know, that one who believes (or used to) that all the things they review are a " *_BEAST_* " 😏
Anyway, yeah ... keep up the good work!
But I believe what I wrote
@@VideoGameEsoterica sorry to put a statement there that you felt needed defending ... that wasn't the intent ... I was just having a bit of fun ... never mind.
Have you played the 4th one/spinoff called Crazy Streets Thrill Drive? It seems to be quite rare and is still unemulated.
No. It barely exists. A few test cabs were made. It never went into full production because apparently it was not good and failed at location tests
@@VideoGameEsoterica At least we have some YT footage of it.
I’m trying to find a board to acquire and dump
Sorry to bother you again with another comment, but could I ask for help with two additional issues I have? 1.) While I can choose a vehicle, I cannot change the track. It always stays on US. How do I fix this? 2.) How do I change views? As soon as the race starts, it goes into interior view and I can't get it to change.
Thanks for any additional help you can give. :)
Zero worries! 1) you need to calibrate the analog control values in the test menu so you can turn further left and right to select diff tracks. 2) you need to bind the change view key in the tab menu
Damn this does look like a lot fun, what a shame it never got a port, arcade racers are so much fun, they are a lost art these days.
And this one is unique amongst almost every other arcade racing of its generation
Hey Esoterica, Ive been trying to get into the discord for months but the link in the description says that it is invalid when you click on it. Maybe its just expired?
Sorry I had to delete some due to harassment. : discord.gg/CYeaNDNm
How is it compared to Racing Jam? are those games related?
Related as in the same hardware yes. This is better than Racing Jam IMO
Also, question. You mention it's emulatable? Installing the latest MAME version, I get "gc713ud.2q not found" and "gm676ua_m48t58y.35d not found" errors? What do I do to get it working?
Just means that dump is missing chips. Try archive. You’ll find a more recent version
If you're running it from MAME directly it should tell you what ROM set those 2 ROMs are part of.
True
Thanks guys, I got it working. :)
Nice!
Will the 4th td get dumped for emulation
If I can find it
So managed to get this on my Steam Deck and I can't get past 'Test Switch'. I've tried F2 and TAB-change input but it wasn't in the menu, any help would be appreciated.
Hmm that should just be F2. Try binding F2 to a diff button
Do you play it with a racing wheel? If not, what controller do you prefer
I do use a wheel but I always recommend a Series X controller for Windows if you go the controller route
The game Remember me on GTI Club from Konami.
Look very good.
Konami make very good racing games.
racing jam is allso a very good game in the arcade.
Yes GTI club has a lot of similarities in a good way
Happy New Jersey!
The happiest place on earth
Looking to upgrade the CPU in my cabinet, curious what CPU people are using to get playable framerates with this title. My Ryzen 5600 isn't playable even with frameskip :(
This was captured with an i9 12900K
Looks like it’s running on 3do M2??
NWK-TR. similar but not the same
This game gives me Road Rash / Burnout / Need For Speed Pursuit vibes
All very close in gameplay and style
Seems like the Burnout devs owe these guys a drink.
They had a cab for this game in their offices while developing Burnout
so, you must love Burnout 2 too
You know it!
Hey VGE. Have you thought about still taking into consideration the request to have a dedicated video on Pigskin 625 A.D.? Would love to see it from you bro. 8^)
It’s on my list. But my list is like 300 games deep!
Never tried this one, kinda looks like midtown madness mixed with earlier n4speed games.
Midtown Madness was so much fun
I was hoping the rear view mirror would work by now
I was hoping my actual Thrill Drive board would work by now
I mean, I love it but it was unrealistic as Hell- If you've ever seen a Volvo V240 Wagon in an accident the other car gets instantly vaporised due to the V240 being made of solid granite.
Edit: Yeah, I saw the other comments and see that it's a V70. Joke still stands.
🤣 they do take a beating like they owe you money
For a game that looks like a PSone title it looks really fun
Gotta check it out when I upgrade my PC lol
PS1? Lol what game looks this good? I want to play it! (Joking)
@VideoGameEsoterica it is a good looking game
I love the days where developers were restricted by hardware limitations
Devs really get creative and you see it shine through the game
Yes you had to think a lot more about how to impress when you have hardware constraints
Rush2049 is still the GOAT but this game looks great
This is like somehow a diff genre in a lot of ways
Is that a million mile Lexus LS?
Haha could be
Gameplay looks appealingly hectic with impactful crashes. The visuals are underwhelming for '98 in my view however. I'd call them "PS 1.5" with an image quality a generation behind Sega's Model 3 racers. The soundtrack is an interesting mix of garage rock and action movie music. It fits the game well, but it seems to be more about creating a mood instead of offering any memorable tunes.
Was just less powerful = expensive hardware for arcades
I Drive.
I would buy a ps5 for this
And you’d love it
Whut 😮
What what? Lol
The protection has been fully reversed and I've made many NVRAM files as well as dumped over 5000 games. I can help with the nv if you contact me directly.
I think my NVRAM might be iffy. How do I contact you?
@@VideoGameEsoterica eh? I have a yt channel.....
Oh it’s you Guru. That doesn’t come across in my studio. I’ll just send you an email