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Race Days Gameboy

Format:
Gameboy

Genre:
Racing

Buy/Support:
Support Steve, click to buy via us...

Race Days on the original Gameboy is as good a game today as it was back then, only now it's even value for money.

• Race Days was great in 1993 .
• Amazingly, it's great in 2010.
• 2 different driving games.
• Dirty Racing + 4-Wheel Drive.
• Tweaks and power-ups aplenty.
• Retro graphics adds to charm.
• Loving the sound and music.
• Totally addictive game play.
• Wow, where did that hour go?

In My Experience

First up, 4-Wheel Drive. On firing it up, I thought 'uh oh' as the graphics were dire and it seemed like a poor man's version of Pole Position from the '80s with simple accelerate, break and steering left and right. But I'm still playing an hour later so there must be something entertaining here.

There are some basic options even though all the cars are exactly the same. The challenge is both obstacles and other cars who swerve towards you. It's a decent game made extra challenging by some annoying collision detection and unfair computer cars. But then, I'm a sucker for playing as an underdog.

The other game on the cart is Dirty Racing. I'm smiling already when I see the 3 difficulty names: 'taking it easy', 'hazardous' and 'totally dirty'. Naturally, I go for pure filth and charge into the game, a top-down race against 3 other competing cars similar to Micro Machines. Controls are easy, with flashing wall power ups available, including nitro speed, extra points, stalling other cars and position swap. This mix really adds to the game, as you have to decide whether to gamble on the power-ups in case you get a negative outcome.

Between races you can spend any earned cash on repairs and upgrades. For something so ancient, I loved it. There's lots of bashing races, championships and even the easy setting is tough. Tip, watch out for oil spills!

Last Word

2 games on 1 cart is always good. Both are very different to each other, but the best is easily Dirty Driving as you need skill, strategy and some luck to win a bruising race out there. Quick word on game music too - both have intros that last ages and deserve to be heard in full.

Off-Road and Dirty. My kind of racing.

Quote

Prepare to lose a few hours on these games, despite the 8-bit looks. Try and play them on the original Gameboy as it’s the best retro experience.

Written by Steve Manser

You can support Steve by buying Race Days



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Steve Manser writes the Teletext Gamer column.

"I remember watching and waiting for Teletext pages to tell me the latest and greatest video game news in the 80s and 90s. What better way then, to review the best of those old games with some choice new titles here and there."

Here are the games I've been playing recently:

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