Difference between revisions of "Metropolis Street Racer"

From Sega Retro

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| dc_rrp_de=99{{magref|segamagazin|85|13}}
 
| dc_rrp_de=99{{magref|segamagazin|85|13}}
| dc_date_fr=2000-11-02{{ref|https://web.archive.org/web/20001202221800/http://www.micromania.fr/zooms/?ref=16928}}
+
| dc_date_fr=2000-11-02{{ref|1=https://web.archive.org/web/20001202221800/http://www.micromania.fr/zooms/?ref=16928}}
 
| dc_code_fr=MK-51022-50
 
| dc_code_fr=MK-51022-50
 
| dc_rating_fr=tp
 
| dc_rating_fr=tp

Revision as of 17:54, 30 January 2022

n/a

MetropolisStreetRacer title.png

Metropolis Street Racer
System(s): Sega Dreamcast
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Peripherals supported: Jump Pack, Dreamcast Modem, Race Controller, Visual Memory Unit, Dreamcast VGA Box
Genre: Racing

















Number of players: 1-8
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Dreamcast
US
$44.9944.99[3] 51012
ESRB: Everyone
Sega Dreamcast
EU
MK-51022-50
ELSPA: 3+ OK
Sega Dreamcast
EU
(White Label)
Sega Dreamcast
DE
DM 9999[8] MK-51022-50
USK: 0
Sega Dreamcast
FR
MK-51022-50
SELL: Tous Publics
Sega Dreamcast
PT
STJS22399
Sega Dreamcast
UK
£39.9939.99[7][4] MK-51022-50
ELSPA: 3+ OK
Sega Dreamcast
AU
$89.9589.95[11]
OFLC: G

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Metropolis Street Racer, known as Metropolis during development and frequently listed simply as MSR, is a racing game developed by Bizarre Creations for the Sega Dreamcast. Highly praised at the time of release, MSR was often considered to be the Dreamcast's answer to the PlayStation's Gran Turismo racing series, as it has over 250 circuits (set in real-world locations) and numerous officially licensed cars.

History

Development

MSR's origins date back to 1997 when Sega's Kats Sato was tasked with finding out who had developed the PlayStation games Formula 1 and Formula 1 Championship Edition for Sony Computer Entertainment. Reportedly Sato purposely pulled the power cable at a display at E3 1996 to see the game's intoductory credits[12], and, upon discovering the team was Bizarre Creations, a meeting was arranged with Kazutoshi Miyake in an attempt to get the team to produce games for Sega instead.

Sega initially wanted the team to work on Sega Saturn titles, but the plea was rebuffed[12]. Bizarre Creation's head, Martyn Chudley, however kept in contact, and was won over when Sega demonstrated a prototype Dreamcast (then codenamed Dural)[12]. Bizarre weren't keen on the original proposal to create more Formula One games, but agreed to make a "serious city-based game with real cars"[13].

MSR entered production while the console was still being developed[14], which led to numerous engine revisions as the Dreamcast SDKs matured[15]

Metropolis Street Racer had an extremely rocky development cycle, being announced well in advance of the Dreamcast's Western launch and repeatedly missing deadlines over the course of a year. It was reportedly the first Dreamcast project to be started in the United Kingdom[16].

While initially aimed at the Dreamcast European launch date (1999-09-28 as it was then)[14], the game did not materialise fully until November 2000, at a time when Dreamcast sales were on the decline. Development on a Japanese release was started but never completed.

Thirty hours of real-life footage from the streets of London, Tokyo and San Francisco were captured in order to create accurate representations of the host cities[13][14], as well as 32,000[14][13]-35,000 photographs[17]. Initially the team wanted to let players drive down every street, but to maintain the same level of accuracy across the experience, the task proved too daunting[15]. Some of these roads are partially modelled in the final game, but are blocked off by invisible walls.

The cars in Metropolis Street Racer are officially licensed and are designed around real specifications supplied by manufacturers[18]. The use of licensed cars, however, meant that none of the vehicles were allowed to be deformable[15]. The physics model is mostly accurate, but the handling was slightly adjusted to make the game more fun[18].

Richard Jacques who had at this point composed many soundtracks for Sega, provided the audio for the game. He recorded car revving noises at a "motor industry research centre" (whose location was not disclosed through fears of tipping off rival developers)[19].

Associate producer Jose Aller borrowed Kats Sato's Fiat without his knowledge to obtain engine sounds for the game, taking it up to 140mph on a test circuit[20].

Release

Metropolis Street Racer originally launched in PAL regions with a number of bugs, so much so that the game was recalled and Sega felt the need to issue replacement discs (the later North American version is the bug-fixed version, although not all the bugs were actually fixed). A replay option, included in review copies of the game, was scrapped at the last minute due to time restraints.

Despite initially high expectations, MSR sold 101,757 units in the U.S. through January 2003 according to NPD Group. In the UK 13,297 were sold in the week ending November 4th, 2000 according to Chart-Track. In Germany it debuted at number one in Media Control's November 2000 Dreamcast chart. Martyn Chudley described releasing the game exclusively on the Dreamcast at this time was like "The Beatles exclusively selling The White Album on Mars". £1 million of Bizarre Creations' own money went into the project, and although the team was happy to port the game to the PlayStation 2, management at Sega declined the offer.

Bizarre Creations would use what they learned through Metropolis Street Racer to create their line of Project Gotham Racing games for the Xbox/Xbox 360 which are seen as a spiritual successors.

Production credits

Bizarre Creations Ltd.
Management
  • Managing Director: Martyn Chudley
  • Business Director: Sarah Dixon
  • Technical Director: Walter Lynsdale
Programming
  • Design, Structure and Frontend: Martyn Chudley
  • Technical Coding: Roger Perkins
  • Engine and Dynamics Coding: Walter Lynsdale
  • Tools and Effects Coding: Phil Snape
  • AI Coding: Dave Al-Daini
  • Sound Coding: Jonathan Amor
Artwork
  • 3D modelling and Textures (Tokyo): Jon Dugdale, Paul Spencer
  • 3D modelling and Textures (San Francisco): Matt Sharatt, Glen Griffiths
  • 3D modelling and Textures (Tokyo): Julie McGurren, Derek Chapman
  • Car Modelling: Steve Heaney
  • Car and City Textures: Lee Carter
  • Frontend Artwork and City Textures: Gren Atherton
Production
  • Senior Producer: Brian Woodhouse
  • Associate Producer: Peter Wallace
  • Production Support: Glynn Williams
  • Bizarre PR: Sarah Dixon
  • Office Management: Michelle Langton
Quality Assurance
  • QA Manager: Ged Talbot
  • QA: Kevin Reilly
Sega Europe, Ltd.
Product Department
Marketing Support
Sega Of America Product Development
  • Localization Producer: Howard Gipson
  • Supervising Producer: Jason Kuo
  • Lead Tester: Benji Galvez
  • Assistant Lead Testers: Shawn Dobbins, Robert Reich
  • Localization Manager: Osamu Shibamiya
  • Testers: Gabrielle Brown, Jason Jensen, Steven Jee, Devin Tomcik, Jason Mercer, Todd Slepian, Rafael Meza, John Saito, Eric Ling, Joseph Amper, Derek Wong, Aaron Poser, Walter Kim, Daniel Airey, Shaheed Khan, JR Villatuya, Raymond Kwan, David Taleg, Chester Lee, Michael Jones, Joseph Mora
Marketing
Source:
US manual
Metropolis Street Racer DC US Manual.pdf
[21]

Uncredited


Magazine articles

Main article: Metropolis Street Racer/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

DrivingGames DC FR PrintAdvert.jpg
FR print advert
DrivingGames DC FR PrintAdvert.jpg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Bonus (YU) #7: "7/2000" (2000-09-25)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) #10: "Holiday 2000" (2000-11-28)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) #12: "October 2000" (2000-09-07)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in MAN!AC (DE) #2000-12: "12/2000" (2000-11-02)
Logo-pdf.svg
Logo-pdf.svg
Print advert in Neo Plus (PL) #30: "Marzec 2001" (2001-xx-xx)
also published in:
Logo-pdf.svg

Artwork

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
{{{{{icon}}}|L}} Division by zero.
Based on
0 review
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
576 Konzol (HU)
98
[36]
Ação Games (BR)
65
[37]
Bonus (YU) PAL
95
[38]
Click! (PL)
60
[39]
Consoles + (FR) PAL
94
[40]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
100
[7]
Dreamcast Monthly (UK) PAL
90
[41]
Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
96
[4]
Edge (UK) PAL
90
[42]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
70
[43]
Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast (RU)
91
[44]
Fun Generation (DE) PAL
86
[45]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
88
[46]
Game Station (UK)
100
[47]
Game Informer (US) NTSC-U
89
[48]
Gamers' Republic (US) NTSC-U
100
[49]
Hyper (AU)
92
[11]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
91
[50]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
91
[51]
Neo Plus (PL)
90
[52]
Next Generation (US) NTSC-U
100
[53]
Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
90
[54]
Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) NTSC-U
90
[55]
Playbox (FR)
86
[56]
Play (PL)
94
[57]
PSX Extreme (PL)
93
[58]
Power Unlimited (NL)
98
[59]
Sega Magazin (DE) PAL
93
[60]
Strana Igr (RU)
95
[61]
Video Gamer (UK)
80
[62]
Video Games (DE) PAL
82
[63]
Sega Dreamcast
90
Based on
31 reviews

Metropolis Street Racer

Dreamcast, US
MSR US backcover.jpgMSR DC US Box Front.jpg
Cover
Metropolis Street Racer DC US Manual.pdf
Manual
MSRDCUSInlay.jpg
Inlay
Dreamcast, EU
MSR DC EU Box Back.jpgMSR DC EU Box Front.jpg
Cover
MSR DC EU Disc.jpg
Disc
50x50px
Manual
Dreamcast, EU (White Label)

MSR DC EU Disc White.jpg
Disc
Dreamcast, PT
MSR DC PT back.jpgNospine-small.pngMSR DC EU Box Front.jpg
Cover
MSR DC EU Disc.jpg
Disc
Dreamcast, AU
MSR DC AU front.jpg
Cover
MSR DC EU Disc.jpg
Disc

Technical information

ROM dump status

System Hash Size Build Date Source Comments
Sega Dreamcast
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
2000-10-10 GD-R Page
Sega Dreamcast
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
2000-05-09 GD-R Page
Sega Dreamcast
 ?
CRC32
MD5
SHA-1
1999-11-10 GD-R Page

External links

References

  1. http://www.sega.com:80/games/dreamcast/post_dreamcastgame.jhtml?PRODID=392 (Wayback Machine: 2003-10-20 04:18)
  2. http://www.ebworld.com/ebx/categories/homepages/dreamcast.asp (Wayback Machine: 2001-02-01 16:44)
  3. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "Holiday 2000" (US; 2000-11-28), page 87
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 15" (UK; 2000-11-02), page 62
  5. http://www.chipsworld.co.uk/detProd.asp?ProductCode=1103 (Wayback Machine: 2002-02-25 08:44)
  6. http://amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/feature/feature/-/videogames/50781 (Wayback Machine: 2001-02-11 06:17)
  7. 7.0 7.1 Computer & Video Games, "December 2000" (UK; 2000-11-15), page 82
  8. Sega Magazin, "Dezember 2000" (DE; 2000-1x-xx), page 13
  9. http://www.micromania.fr/zooms/?ref=16928 (Wayback Machine: 2000-12-02 22:18)
  10. http://www.futuregamez.net:80/outnow/dc.html (Wayback Machine: 2001-07-31 23:17)
  11. 11.0 11.1 Hyper, "February 2001" (AU; 2000-12-20), page 44
  12. 12.0 12.1 12.2 Edge, "June 1999" (UK; 1999-05-19), page 46
  13. 13.0 13.1 13.2 Edge, "June 1999" (UK; 1999-05-19), page 47
  14. 14.0 14.1 14.2 14.3 Next Generation, "July 1999" (US; 1999-06-22), page 32
  15. 15.0 15.1 15.2 Edge, "June 1999" (UK; 1999-05-19), page 48
  16. Arcade, "June 1999" (UK; 1999-05-06), page 13
  17. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "July 2000" (US; 2000-06-06), page 64
  18. 18.0 18.1 Edge, "June 1999" (UK; 1999-05-19), page 49
  19. Edge, "June 1999" (UK; 1999-05-19), page 50
  20. Next Generation, "July 1999" (US; 1999-06-22), page 34
  21. File:Metropolis Street Racer DC US Manual.pdf, page 25
  22. Bonus, "8/2000" (YU; 2000-10-25), page 82
  23. Bonus, "9/2000" (YU; 2000-12-25), page 82
  24. Bonus, "1/2001" (YU; 2001-02-25), page 82
  25. Bonus, "2/2001" (YU; 2001-03-25), page 82
  26. Bonus, "3/2001" (YU; 2001-04-25), page 82
  27. Bonus, "4/2001" (YU; 2001-05-25), page 48
  28. Bonus, "5/2001" (YU; 2001-06-25), page 2
  29. Bonus, "6/2001" (YU; 2001-07-25), page 46
  30. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "March 2001" (US; 2001-01-28), page 24
  31. Neo Plus, "Kwiecień 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 100
  32. Neo Plus, "Maj 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 100
  33. Neo Plus, "Czerwiec 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 100
  34. Neo Plus, "Lipiec-Sierpień 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 84
  35. Neo Plus, "Wrzesień 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 84
  36. 576 Konzol, "December 2000" (HU; 2000-xx-xx), page 40
  37. Ação Games, "Fevereiro 2001" (BR; 2001-xx-xx), page 47
  38. Bonus, "9/2000" (YU; 2000-12-25), page 50
  39. Click!, "3/2001" (PL; 2001-02-01), page 24
  40. Consoles +, "Décembre 2000" (FR; 2000-1x-xx), page 88
  41. Dreamcast Monthly, "Christmas 2000" (UK; 2000-11-23), page 84
  42. Edge, "December 2000" (UK; 2000-11-02), page 98
  43. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "January 2001" (US; 2000-12-05), page 193
  44. Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast, "Izdaniye chetvertoye, dopolnennoye" (RU; 2002-xx-xx), page 131
  45. Fun Generation, "11/2000" (DE; 2000-10-18), page 58
  46. GamePro, "January 2001" (US; 200x-xx-xx), page 105
  47. Game Station (UK) (+0:00)
  48. Game Informer, "December 2000" (US; 2000-1x-xx), page 123
  49. Gamers' Republic, "December 2000" (US; 2000-xx-xx), page 69
  50. MAN!AC, "12/2000" (DE; 2000-11-02), page 52
  51. Mega Fun, "12/2000" (DE; 2000-11-02), page 38
  52. Neo Plus, "Grudzień 2000" (PL; 2000-xx-xx), page 54
  53. Next Generation, "January 2001" (US; 2000-12-21), page 96
  54. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "October 2000" (UK; 2000-09-07), page 8
  55. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "Holiday 2000" (US; 2000-11-28), page 86
  56. Playbox, "Décembre 2000" (FR; 2000-1x-xx), page 41
  57. Play, "Luty 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 30
  58. PSX Extreme, "03/2001" (PL; 2001-0x-xx), page 38
  59. Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 9, Nummer 1, Januari 2001" (NL; 200x-xx-xx), page 42
  60. Sega Magazin, "Dezember 2000" (DE; 2000-1x-xx), page 12
  61. Strana Igr, "Dekabr 2000 1/2" (RU; 2000-xx-xx), page 48
  62. Video Gamer, "December 2000" (UK; 2000-11-01), page 46
  63. Video Games, "12/2000" (DE; 2000-11-02), page 102


Metropolis Street Racer

MetropolisStreetRacer title.png

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Sega Dreamcast
Prototypes: 1999-11-10 | 2000-05-09 | 10-10