Watch your step, for you’ve just entered theGraveyard. Inside, we’ll be digging up games that have long been without a pulse. You’ll see both good and bad souls unearthed every month as we search through the more… forgotten…parts of history.
The original Daytona USA led to a sea change in arcade racing games and console racers in general. The debut entry for Sega’s Model 2 hardware had the most-detailed environments seen in any racing game on any platform at that time and was largely seen as both a next-generation version of Virtua Racing while also being one of the best showcases for arcade hardware of all time. Well into the aughts, you could find at least a two-person arcade even if the legendary eight-player setups did largely dry up in the late ’90s. It got a few home incarnations over the years and yet its arcade sequel never quite got the same level of love in any way. It upped the multiplayer action to 16-players instead of eight, but never caught on to the same degree as the original.
It’s a shame too because the sequel takes the same core racing action of the original and amps it up with the Model 3 hardware to deliver graphics that have held up remarkably well a quarter century later. If it wasn’t for the inclusion of human pit crew members, the high level of detail and clarity for everything in the game would be above a lot of racing games we see on the market now – let alone mobile-centric ones that aim for the lowest-common denominator visually. It’s a remarkable achievement that stands out even more thanks to Daytona USA 2 getting a re-release for the first time ever as a part of Like a Dragon: Gaiden.
The version included in Gaiden was considered the definitive edition overall as the first version in arcades had a slightly different track setup and lacked the Hornet car from the first game, while the Power Edition featured in LaD: Gaiden has that and a set of tracks that is more in line with the first game. The original Battle on the Edge version of Daytona 2 had a beginner track in a domed stadium, while the Power Edition is a more traditional NASCAR oval-style track that allows players to learn the mechanics easier than trickier layouts with the Advanced and Expert tracks.
Unlike the original game, the sequel offers up more advanced racing techniques like drafting to allow for more strategy in races. Slingshotting from behind a car to in front of them is a key to any measurable success because this is a tough-as-nails racing experience across the board. One may think that going with a beginner track makes it a breeze to go through at least that raceway, but each track is best thought of as a teaching tool instead of a dead-on reflection of pure difficulty.
The beginner track has a simpler layout compared to the others, but will teach you about the importance of track positioning relative to the pack, avoiding contact that will slow you down – either with other vehicles or especially the environment itself. Getting stuck on a wall can easily set you back 5-10 positions and here, every move forward in the standings means something and shows that you’re getting better at the core game. As the tracks evolve, so too do your tactics to succeed.
Visually, there’s so much cool stuff going on here than in most games not only of that time, but now. One upside to this era of gaming is that arcades were still well above what was available hardware-wise for consoles since most games were using custom chipsets and you wind up with graphics like this that still impress many years later. The game runs at a silky smooth 60 frames-per-second and looks even better than the prequel that came out five years before. In hindsight, having Virtua Racing as a prototype of sorts for what would be the Daytona series is even more fascinating since every game in that style not only has a similar menu structure, but a visual style that ages nicely.
VR ran like a dream with its Switch remaster, while the definitive arcade and console versions of Daytona USA were massive improvements from any other versions available for many years. Daytona 2 in both arcade form and in console form holds up wonderfully as well. The console and PC-playable SRC 2 features a 4:3 aspect ratio to keep things in line with toe original release, but it does make it look odd when compared to playing the 360 version of Daytona USA via backwards compatibility, which has widescreen support from the arcade-only SRC release available.
Unlike Daytona USA, which featured vocals exclusively by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, Daytona 2 has two different soundtracks to work with overall. The alternate Mitsuyoshi soundtrack was electable in the arcade unit, but not enabled in the Sega Racing Classic 2 version. That uses the default soundtrack that was done by Dennis St. James, who delivers a heavy metal-centric soundtrack alongside the drummer and guitarists for Winger working on it as well. Both soundtracks are a lot of fun, with the alternate fitting the first game’s silly vibe better – and that meshes a little better with sillier setpieces like a giant ant robot being in the game. For the most part, I enjoy the mainline soundtrack more, though – just as listening music outside of the game, it’s better and is still plenty wacky lyrically.
Beyond a great soundtrack, Daytona 2 has tremendous sound design when it comes to on-track audio. It’s common to have the track full of cars at all times and playing with a top-notch headset allows me to tell where rivals are, how close the nearest car is and get a better idea of a game plan to deal with all of the opponents I can’t see in addition to the ones I can. The crunch for collisions is also impressive and is even better and more violent when you get a big crash that sends you flying – or better yet, sends an enemy flying. The physics still look goofy with cars just soaring up high and spiraling in the air, but it works for this aiming to be a flashy racing game and not so much a simulation in any way.
By any name and incarnation, Daytona USA 2 is a fantastic follow-up to one of Sega’s finest racing games and the release of the game in a home conversion was long-overdue. Thanks to Like a Dragon: Gaiden being available with Game Pass on PC and Xbox or via Game Pass Ultimate, it’s one of the most immediately-playable entries in the series to date and only takes about an hour of play to unlock the arcade to enjoy it. The game loses next to nothing in the conversion to SRC 2 and that’s impressive since the original lost lyrical music with the Daytona name being belted out which hurt the game experience. Daytona 2 has everything that made the first game a classic and improves upon it in even more ways to make an even more timeless experience. Hopefully the release of it in Gaiden results in a separate Model 3 collection down the road. If not, then SRC 2 may be the greatest mini-game inclusion in history.
