Today, September 12, is a pretty important day in the digital calendar – no, we’re not talking about the unveiling of Apple’s new iPhone X.
Today marks #NationalVideoGamesDay.
To mark the occasion we conducted a survey of Lookers employees to bring you Lookers’ some our favorite Car-Related video games.
(In no particular order...)
Super Mario Kart
Launched in 1992, Nintendo’s Super Mario Kart is was one of the world’s best-selling games, selling nine million copies worldwide.
The game itself allowed players to take control of one of eight ‘Mario’ characters, including Mario, Luigi, Princess Peach, Yoshi, Bowser, Donkey Kong Jr., Koopa Troopa and Toad, where they’d take part in the ultimate kart race around various tracks. It wasn’t simply a case of driving though; players also had ability to gain special powers and even throw the likes of shells and bananas to gain an advantage.
In fact, Super Mario Kart’ longevity and popularity has seen the creation of a real-life Mario Kart track, which recently opened in America!
Micro Machines
Another classic video game throwback, Micro Machines featured, as the name suggests, an array of miniature vehicles racing around somewhat unusual tracks; for instance, races could take place on top of the likes of a kitchen table, billiard table, or even in a garden.
The ‘top-down’ game, which saw many sequel versions released over the years, gave then player a choice of vehicle to race in, racing through the unconventional terrains against numerous other miniature vehicles. A tonne of fun to play!
Crash Team Racing
This whacky kart racing game, part of the Crash Bandicoot series, was first launched in 1999. In it, players get to control characters from the Crash Bandicoot universe, most of whom compete in karts. While racing, players can accelerate, steer, reverse, brake, hop or use weapons and power-up.
Need for Speed
One of the most successful game franchises that EA (Electronic Arts) has ever produced, Need for Speed is a car racing game centered around illegal street racing. Players are given various tasks and races to complete while avoiding and outrunning local and governmental law enforcement agencies.
Octane fueled driving experience included everything from crashing through buildings, taking down billboards, passing underneath trucks, cross country racing and obviously the all important NOS button. Players also had the ability to tune cars, swapping out engines and gear boxes etc for better power outputs as well as the ability to change alloys and to stick a honking big spoiler on the back of a car for the all important aesthetics.
Need for Speed, also known by its initials NFS is currently the most successful racing game franchise of all time, selling over 150 million copies. 23 main installments of the game have been released so far while the 24th edition, Need for Speed: Speed is in the works and the release date to be announced. The game franchise is so well established that there was even a film adaption starring Aaron Paul released in 2014.
Most of the titles in the franchise were made available across PC, Xbox and PS, probably helping it popularity.
Driver
Published by the video game powerhouse Ubisoft, the game centers around a character called John Tanner, a former race car driver turned undercover police detective. 5 main editions of the game has been released since its inception in 1999.
The game was noteworthy at the time of its release as it allowed players to explore each city as an open world environment and it also was the Game Critics Awards, best racing game (1999) award.
Fun Fact! Once the single mode player has been completed, players have the ability to drive in Newcastle upon Tyne where one of the developers, Reflections Interactive is based! Not sure you can visit our offices though!
While no means a mega-seller, the game was well received and rated well on gaming websites, one of the most fun features of the game included a ‘film director’ mode allowing the players to shoot a movie!
