Metropolis Street Racer

From Sega Retro

n/a

MetropolisStreetRacer title.png

Metropolis Street Racer
System(s): Sega Dreamcast
Publisher: Sega
Developer:
Genre: Racing

















Number of players: 1-8
Release Date RRP Code
Sega Dreamcast
US
$44.9944.99[3] 51012
Sega Dreamcast
EU
MK-51022-50
Sega Dreamcast
AU
$89.9589.95[4]

This short article is in need of work. You can help Sega Retro by adding to it.


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 ECTS 1997 to see the game's intoductory credits, 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.

While an initial plea to create Sega Saturn titles was rebuffed, Bizarre Creation's head, Martyn Chudley kept in contact, and his team began working on MSR while the console was still being developed[5].

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[6].

While initially aimed at the Dreamcast European launch date (1999-09-27 as it was then)[5], 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[5], as well as 32,000[5]-35,000 photographs[7]. Richard Jacques who had at this point composed many soundtracks for Sega, provided the audio for the game.

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[8].

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
[9]

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 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

Artwork

Physical scans

Sega Retro Average 
Publication Score Source
94 №107, p88-90[11]
100 №229, p82-83[1]
90 №91, p98/99[12]
86
92 №88, p44-45[4]
86
82
80 №1, p46[13]
Sega Dreamcast
89
Based on
8 reviews
Sega Retro Average 
Publication Version Score
576 Konzol (HU)
98
[14]
Ação Games (BR)
65
[15]
Bonus (YU) PAL
95
[16]
Click! (PL)
60
[17]
Consoles + (FR) PAL
94
[11]
Computer & Video Games (UK)
100
[1]
Dreamcast Monthly (UK) PAL
90
[18]
Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
96
[19]
Edge (UK) PAL
90
[12]
Electronic Gaming Monthly (US) NTSC-U
70
[20]
Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast (RU)
91
[21]
Fun Generation (DE) PAL
86
[22]
GamePro (US) NTSC-U
88
[23]
Game Station (UK)
100
[24]
Gamers' Republic (US) NTSC-U
100
[25]
Hyper (AU)
92
[4]
MAN!AC (DE) PAL
91
[26]
Mega Fun (DE) PAL
91
[27]
Neo Plus (PL)
90
[28]
Next Generation (US) NTSC-U
100
[29]
Official Dreamcast Magazine (UK) PAL
90
[30]
Official Dreamcast Magazine (US) NTSC-U
90
[31]
Playbox (FR)
86
[32]
Play (PL)
94
[33]
PSX Extreme (PL)
93
[34]
Power Unlimited (NL)
98
[35]
Sega Magazin (DE) PAL
93
[36]
Strana Igr (RU)
95
[37]
Video Gamer (UK)
80
[13]
Video Games (DE) PAL
82
[38]
Sega Dreamcast
90
Based on
30 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
Dreamcast, EU (White Label)

MSR DC EU Disc White.jpg
Disc

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 File:CVG UK 229.pdf, page 82 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:CVG UK 229.pdf_p82" defined multiple times with different content
  2. File:SegaMagazin DE 85.pdf, page 13
  3. File:ODCM US 10.pdf, page 87
  4. 4.0 4.1 4.2 File:Hyper AU 088.pdf, page 44 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Hyper AU 088.pdf_p44" defined multiple times with different content
  5. 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 File:NextGeneration US 55.pdf, page 32
  6. File:Arcade UK 07.pdf, page 13
  7. File:EGM US 132.pdf, page 64
  8. File:NextGeneration US 55.pdf, page 34
  9. File:Metropolis Street Racer DC US Manual.pdf, page 25
  10. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "March 2001" (US; 2001-01-28), page 24
  11. 11.0 11.1 File:ConsolesPlus FR 107.pdf, page 88 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:ConsolesPlus FR 107.pdf_p88" defined multiple times with different content
  12. 12.0 12.1 File:Edge UK 091.pdf, page 98 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:Edge UK 091.pdf_p98" defined multiple times with different content
  13. 13.0 13.1 File:VideoGamer UK 01.pdf, page 46 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name ":File:VideoGamer UK 01.pdf_p46" defined multiple times with different content
  14. 576 Konzol, "December 2000" (HU; 2000-xx-xx), page 40
  15. Ação Games, "Fevereiro 2001" (BR; 2001-xx-xx), page 47
  16. Bonus, "9/2000" (YU; 2000-12-25), page 50
  17. Click!, "3/2001" (PL; 2001-02-01), page 24
  18. Dreamcast Monthly, "Christmas 2000" (UK; 2000-11-23), page 84
  19. Dreamcast Magazine, "No. 15" (UK; 2000-11-02), page 62
  20. Electronic Gaming Monthly, "January 2001" (US; 2000-12-05), page 193
  21. Entsiklopediya igr dlya Dreamcast, "Izdaniye chetvertoye, dopolnennoye" (RU; 2002-xx-xx), page 131
  22. Fun Generation, "11/2000" (DE; 2000-10-18), page 58
  23. GamePro, "January 2001" (US; 200x-xx-xx), page 105
  24. Game Station (UK) (+0:00)
  25. Gamers' Republic, "December 2000" (US; 2000-xx-xx), page 69
  26. MAN!AC, "12/2000" (DE; 2000-11-02), page 52
  27. Mega Fun, "12/2000" (DE; 2000-11-02), page 38
  28. Neo Plus, "Grudzień 2000" (PL; 2000-xx-xx), page 54
  29. Next Generation, "January 2001" (US; 2000-12-21), page 96
  30. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "October 2000" (UK; 2000-09-07), page 8
  31. Official Dreamcast Magazine, "Holiday 2000" (US; 2000-11-28), page 86
  32. Playbox, "Décembre 2000" (FR; 2000-1x-xx), page 41
  33. Play, "Luty 2001" (PL; 2001-xx-xx), page 30
  34. PSX Extreme, "03/2001" (PL; 2001-0x-xx), page 38
  35. Power Unlimited, "Jaargang 9, Nummer 1, Januari 2001" (NL; 200x-xx-xx), page 42
  36. Sega Magazin, "Dezember 2000" (DE; 2000-1x-xx), page 12
  37. Strana Igr, "Dekabr 2000 1/2" (RU; 2000-xx-xx), page 48
  38. Video Games, "12/2000" (DE; 2000-11-02), page 102