"A decent Import car racing game with an unique quest mode keeps you coming back for more."

Being an import cars addict, I love any race car games that has licensed Japanese cars that allow you to fix it up and race without any rules or limits (Thank you Gran Tourismo.). Now when I first heard about Shutoko Battle (Tokyo Highway Battle in another word) for Sega Dreamcast. I was hyped with all the information I read from Genki, people who ported Virtua Fighter 3tb on Dreamcast, was working on an import racers game that you are able to fix up your car not only your engine but the looks too. It was like a dream come true to own all these speedy sports cars in one VMU. I did not care if it was only one track or night time only, all I cared about is the cars, the strangely new mode for racing game, Quest Mode, and most important, the cars.

To my surprise, Genki never got the rights to have the official brand names for this game. Instead, they made the exact model of the cars and labeled them with chassis numbers that coincidentally match with the chassis numbers car companies used to refer when building automobiles. Basically, you are driving the, Nissan 240 SX, Subaru Imprezza, Honda Civic Mitsubishi, Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 5, Mazda RX7, MR2, Toyota Supra, Lancer Evolution series, Acura Integra, and who could ever forget the Nissan Skyline GT-R that never made the state side. Thank goodness that Genki let you rename your car to the official brand name if you want to.

Now, as for the first generation game, graphics can not be highly expected. Then of course, a constant 30fps with speedy fast pace down the highway really gives you the rush. With dynamic lighting that leaves light trail when you pedal-to-metal against rival racers. The only problem is that it is only in night time. Sure, that is when the city really comes alive but it would be nice if you can race it down in day time. With scenery such as Tokyo Tower, but you will be going down the highway so fast, you barely get a glimpse of it. Sometimes there is slow down and frame rate drop radically when you have four cars on your screen at once. The graphics may not be impressive but the replay will knock you out. Dramatic racing camera angles let you see yourself race down the highway against equally challenging rival. You can even save the replay and show it off to your friends.

This is what made Tokyo Extreme Racer a hot cake, with all these modes such as Quick Race, Point Battle, Versus, Quest Mode, Practice, and more. But the only mode that gives you the rush is the Quest Mode. Quest Mode is where you get 25,000 credits for starter and you will buy yourself a new car then take off on the highway of Tokyo. Now you got yourself a new car, driving on the highway, and just cruising all over Tokyo until you saw another car that does not look right to you. Maybe because it is all fixed up or maybe because there is a big letter ‘R’ pointing at the car, which stands for ‘Rival’. These are gang racers. They belong to a gang that you must race against and burn his butt away. But first, you need to get his attention by high beam the rival and see if he accepts the challenge. Once he accepts it, you will be side by side and a fighting type health bar will be on top of the screen and a count down for take off will be going down. Now the objective is to fastest and farthest from the opponent. The farther you are, the faster your opponent loses its health. Once the health goes down to zero, then you win the race. You will win more money so you can upgrade your car or buy a better one. Later on, once you beat about six or seven of a certain gang, the leader of the gang will be challenge and of course, they are a bit harder than normal gang members. If you beat the gang leader, you get more money and a record says you beat this gang. Sometimes there’s The 4 Devas, they are like legends, they have custom race cars and they are hard to beat. After you beat the Devas, there’s the Devils, even harder customize race cars you need to beat. This is where all the fun and addiction of Tokyo Extreme Racer comes in. While you may think it is boring but once you get into the game, you will not let it go.

Overall, with industrial music that keeps you going to race down the highway and over 100 accessories available to improve your performance. With over 200 rival cars and drone trucks and cars you will face with you hit the highway, there’s almost not an end to this game. Tokyo Extreme Racer may not be a favorite in casual gamers’ heart, but hard core gamers and racers would love this game. Keep in mind though, it does not hurt to give it a try, rent it first, you might find it interesting.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 05/29/00, Updated 08/07/01