Tokyo Xtreme Racer

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Tokyo Xtreme Racer
System(s): Sega Dreamcast
Publisher: Crave Entertainment (US, Europe), Genki (Japan)
Developer: Genki
Supporting companies: T's Music (audio)
Distributor: Halifax (IT)
Licensor: Toyota, Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Honda
Peripherals supported: Jump Pack, Dreamcast Modem, Race Controller, Visual Memory Unit, Dreamcast VGA Box
Genre: Racing
Number of players: 1-2
Release Date RRP Code JP 1999-06-24 ¥5,800 (6,090)5,800e T-30801M US 1999-09-09 $49.9949.99 T-40202N EU 1999-10-14 T-40201D-50 DE 1999-10-14 T-40201D-50 ES 1999-10-22 8,990Ptas8,990 T-40201D-50 FR 1999-10-14 T-40201D-50 UK 1999-10-14 £39.9939.99 T-40201D-50 AU 1999-12-15 $94.9594.95

Tokyo Xtreme Racer, called Shutokou Battle (首都高バトル) in Japan and Tokyo Highway Challenge in Europe, is a 1999 racing game for the Sega Dreamcast in Genki's Shutokou Battle series.

While Shutokou Battle's roots date back to 1994 with the release of Drift King Shutokou Battle '94 on the Super Famicom, Western localisation has been sporadic and inconsistent. Tokyo Xtreme Racer was the second Shutokou Battle game to be released outside of Japan, following Tokyo Highway Battle on the PlayStation, released in 1996. Being a launch title for the Dreamcast, this is likely the most well known entry in the franchise.

Gameplay

The Shuto Highway, the game is almost a perfect representation of the C2 line

The game is also one of the first mission based driving games. The player challenges other drivers on the Shuto Expressway in order to gain money to modify and enhance his or her car. The game features a wide variety of Japanese cars and tuning parts to purchase as the player progresses through rivals.

The game is based on illegal highway racing in Tokyo's Wangan highway with custom tuned cars. A such phenomenon is growing popular in Japan since the 90's with its dedicated manga (Shutokō Battle's biggest inspiration being Wangan Midnight), anime series and video games (C1 Circuit, Wangan Trial, Naniwa Wangan Battle).

The objective is to race every gang member on the Wangan Tokio Highway and become to top highway racer. To do this, the player starts with a Low-performance entry car and he has to challenge gang members while on a free run session on the highway. The player doesn't have an option to challenge rivals on the menu, instead, he has to be on the Highway and find a rival for itself. When a rival takes his challenge, 2 lifebars appear in the upper part of the screen, these lifebars decrease when a player is in the back (Second). If the lifebar is out, that player loses. No matter if the player won or lose, it wins money to buy parts and upgrade the car, also when winning, the gang member is recorded in a "encyclopedia" where every gang member is listed with personal info.

The unlock-upgrade system is also very basic, the player has some customization options divided in Visual and Performance. Visual upgrades let the player customize the look of his car, from bumpers to color or spoilers. The Performance part lets the player upgrade his engine, brakes, or suspension. To win these upgrades the player just has to win races in a day: A day is when you enter the Free Run mode, and then going back to the garage where all the options are, if the player decides to go back to the Free run, it will be the next day.

Car List

Entry cars

• Toyota
  • (AE86T) Toyota Sprinter Trueno GT A'pex 3DOOR 1986
  • (AE86L) Toyota Corolla Levin GT A'pex 3DOOR 1986
  • (JZA80) Toyota Supra Type RZ TWIN TURBO 1997
  • (JZX100) Toyota Chaser Tourer-V TURBO 1998
  • (SW20) Toyota MR2 GT1997
  • (XE10) Toyota Altezza RS200 "Z EDITION" 1998
• Nissan
  • (RPS13) Nissan Silvia 180SX type X 1994
  • (S13) Nissan SILVIA K's 2000cc 1988
  • (S14) Nissan Silvia K's AERO SE 1996
  • (Z32) Nissan Fairlady Z Version S Twin Turbo 2 seater 1998
  • (R32) Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec II 1994
  • (R33) Nissan Skyline GT-R V-spec 1997
  • (Y33C/Y33G) Nissan CEDRIC BROUGHAM VIP/Nissan GLORIA Gran Turismo ULTIMA 1997
• Mazda
  • (FC) Mazda SAVANNA RX-7 ∞-III 1989
  • (FD) Mazda RX-7 Type RS 1995
  • (MX5) Mazda Miata Eunos roadster 1985
  • (MX5) Mazda Miata MX5 2000
• Mitsubishi
  • (CE9A) Mitsubishi Lancer GSR Evolution III 1995
  • (CP9A) Mitsubishi Lancer GSR Evolution VI 1999
• Subaru
  • (GC8) Subaru Impreza 2DOOR WRX type R STi Version V 1997
• Honda
  • (DC2) Honda Integra type R 3DOOR spec'98 1998
  • (EK9) Honda Civic type R spec'98 1998
  • (NA2) Honda NSX type S Zero 1997

Extra cars

• Honda
  • (AP1) S2000 1999
• Nissan
  • (S15) Silvia Spec-R 1999
  • (R34) Skyline GT-R V-spec 2000
  • (S30) Fairlady Z 1978 (Wangan Midnight tuned version)
• Porsche
  • (964) 911 Turbo 1989 (Wangan Midnight tuned version)

Special cars

• Four Devas
  • (FDD) Midnight Cinderella's RX-7 1999 (flame version)
  • (NA2D) Banshee's NSX 1999 (flame version)
    • Banshee's only available in the Japanese edition
• Four Devils
  • (JZA80D) Exhaust Eve's Supra 1999 (racing stripes version)
  • (R34D) Raven Blood's Skyline 1999 (red tuned version)
• Initial D
  • (AE86TD) Takumi Fujiwara's Trueno 2000 (Fujiwara Tofu Shop "Home Delivery" version)
    • only available in the Japanese edition
• Mitsubishi
  • (GFLF) Eclipse GS-T 1999
  • (GFLS) Eclipse Spyder GT 1999
    • not available in the Japanese edition

History

Car Types & Licenses

Since it's introduction in the mid '90s, like similar games, the Shutokou Battle series never used licensed cars but the usual type designation such as "TYPE-86" and later "TYPE-AE86L3". Nicknames were used instead in the "Wangan Dead Heat" sidestory (e.g. "Rapid Fire" for the "Nissan Skyline GT-R R33"). These "types" are actually the real chassis code used by the Japanese makers to designate the various grades of a lineup. As the graphics quality was improving with each release, from 16-bit 2D to 3D/CG 128-bit, the featured cars were becoming more and more similar to the actual cars appearance. In a similar way, the chassis codes became longer and more precise, allowing the player to determine each grade and to use the "rename car" feature. Inevitably, the game becoming a solid best seller, the Japanese makers forced Genki to buy the license of their cars. The very first Genki licensed game was Wangan Midnight for PlayStation 2 (28.03.2002), while the first licensed "Shutokō Battle" was Shutokō Battle Online released on PC, the 9th of January 2003. Since then, every Genki racing game uses licensed makers, and ingame cars with Honda chassis codes don't appear anymore in the Shutokō Battle games (However, Honda is licensed in the Kaido Battle series).

In the western release of the Dreamcast game, Banshee's controversial forehead tattooed Hindu swastika was removed.

Release

Shutokou Battle became one of the top selling Dreamcast titles after its Japanese launch. As a reservation privilege of this game, Japanese die-cast modelscompany, Tomica, released a limited edition of Banshee's NSX in 1999.

Legacy

Tokyo Xtreme Racer spawned a number of sequels, most notably Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2, also for the Dreamcast, and further entries on the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance. The Tokyo Xtreme Racer name did not stick, however - the Xbox 360's Shutokou Battle X became Import Tuner Challenge and another Shutokou Battle for the PlayStation Portable became Street Supremacy.

Versions

Localised names

Also known as

Language	Localised Name	English Translation
English	Tokyo Highway Challenge	Tokyo Highway Challenge
English (US)	Tokyo Xtreme Racer	Tokyo Xtreme Racer
Japanese	首都高バトル	Shutokou Battle

Production credits

Japanese version

• Producer: Tomo Kimura
• Director: Shigeo Koyama

Graphic Design Team

• Car Design Lead: Noriyuki Sanada
• Car Design: Ai Azuma, Jun Suzuki
• Assistant Car Design: Rainosuke Hirao, Tatsuo Asai
• Car Design Advisor: Tsunemi Akiyama
• Course Design Lead: Choushuu Minami
• Course Design: Nobuyuki Suzuki
• Assistant Course Design: Kentarou Noguchi, Mika Urushiyama
• Building Design: Yukiko Iwasaki
• 2D Design: Hiroshi Fujimoto, Kinji Sato
• Visual Direction: Manabu Tamura

Programming Team

• Lead Programmer: Shigeo Koyama
• Vehicle Motion: Kenji Shimizu
• Car Collisions: Toshiyuki Kobori
• Course & Visual Effects: Wataru Minegishi
• 2D & Effects: Yuji Kitajima
• 2D & Sound: Haggy
• Car Control & Peripherals: Yasuhiro Nomura
• Fine-Tuning: Yoshinari Sunazuka, Satoshi Ishii

Game Design

• Lead Design: Kiyotaka Naoi
• Game System: Daizo Harada
• Design Advisor: Takashi Hoshino

Sound Design

• Music & Sound Effect: Tomoyuki Kawamura, K-UNIT, Mika Matsuzaki
• Composition: Rock'n'Banana
• Composition: T's Music
• Music By Ziggy: "Without...", "Konosora no shita no dokokani"

Sales Promotion

• Promotions Manager: Manami Kuroda
• Promotions Assistant: Mitsuyoshi Kubota
• Manual Design: Terumi Shibata
• Sales Manager: Tsuyoshi Nagano
• Sales Assistant: Keiichi Kadomasu

• Special Thanks: Masaaki Bandoh, Auto Freak, SMEJ Associated Records, Noboru Ube, Masaki Honma, Yoshiyuki Awano, Atsuo Takayasu, Powered by DODA
• General Coordination: Tsutomu Hagiwara
• Executive Producer: Hiroshi Hamagaki

Shutokō Battle

Genki

©1999 Genki Co.,Ltd.

Source:

In-game credits

Other version

• Executive Producer: Mike Arkin
• Associate Producer: Chris Scaglione

Magazine articles

Main article: Tokyo Xtreme Racer/Magazine articles.

Promotional material

Print advert in (JP) #1999-22: "1999-22 (1999-07-09,16)" (1999-06-25)

Print advert in (US) #1: "September 1999" (1999-08-24)
also published in:

• (US) #124: "November 1999" (1999-10-05)
• (US) #2: "November 1999" (1999-10-05)

Print advert in (DE) #1: "Oktober 1999" (1999-10-14)

Print advert in (FR) #1: "Octobre/Novembre 1999" (1999-xx-xx)

Print advert in (US) #125: "December 1999" (1999-11-09)
also published in:

• (US) #127: "February 2000" (2000-01-11)

Print advert in (AR) #11: "Diciembre 1999" (1999-xx-xx)

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average
Publication Score Source

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Based on 0 review

Sega Retro Average

Publication Version Score (UK) NTSC-J 25 (FR) NTSC-J 87 (UK) PAL 60 (FR) PAL 40 (DE) PAL 25 (JP) NTSC-J 77 (UK) PAL 73 (JP) NTSC-J 83 (FR) PAL 60 (UK) NTSC-J 30 (US) NTSC-U 70 (RU) 81 (JP) NTSC-J 80 (DE) PAL 60 (US) NTSC-U 55 (UK) 58 (FR) 20 (US) NTSC-U 53 (US) NTSC-U 75 (DE) PAL 69 (PL) PAL 60 (US) NTSC-J 50 (DE) NTSC-J 70 (DE) PAL 70 (UK) 50 (US) NTSC-U 60 (FR) 43 Play (PL) 80 (ES) PAL 60 (DE) NTSC-J 74 (DE) PAL 64

	60
Based on 31 reviews

Tokyo Xtreme Racer

Dreamcast, JP
Cover
File:ShutokoBattle-DC-JP-Manual.pdf Manual

Dreamcast, US
Cover
Disc Manual Inlay

Dreamcast, EU
Cover
Disc

Dreamcast, PT
Manual

Technical information

Main article: Tokyo Xtreme Racer/Technical information.

External links

• Sega of America webpage: Dreamcast
• Sega of Japan catalogue pages (Japanese): Dreamcast
• Crave Entertainment webpage Dreamcast