Turbo Prop Racing
Encyclopedia
Rapid Racer is a racing
video game released for the Sony PlayStation in 1998. In the game, the player takes control of a motorboat
and races around six different courses: A Miami Beach-style track, a course running through Utah
's mountains, a track set in the Arctic
, a course set in Canada
's mountains, a stream running through an African village, and a lava field. Eventually, all six tracks can be raced backwards, mirrored, as well as set at night time.
By winning championships and completing bonus rounds (unlocked by collecting various icons during a race), players can unlock money which they can use to either upgrade their motorboat
or buy a higher-powered one.
Racing game
A racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first-person or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...
video game released for the Sony PlayStation in 1998. In the game, the player takes control of a motorboat
Motorboat
A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
and races around six different courses: A Miami Beach-style track, a course running through Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
's mountains, a track set in the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
, a course set in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
's mountains, a stream running through an African village, and a lava field. Eventually, all six tracks can be raced backwards, mirrored, as well as set at night time.
By winning championships and completing bonus rounds (unlocked by collecting various icons during a race), players can unlock money which they can use to either upgrade their motorboat
Motorboat
A motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
or buy a higher-powered one.
Trivia
- Rapid Racer was significant in that it was one of the first PlayStation games to take full advantage of the DualShockDualShockThe DualShock is a line of vibration-feedback gamepads by Sony for the PlayStation, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation 3 video game consoles. The DualShock was introduced in Japan in late 1997, and launched in the North American market in May 1998...
controller; not only did the game allow steering with the analog sticks, but the game also vibrated constantly. The intensity of the vibrations also depended on what type of water you were in; calm rapids meant low vibrations, while heavier rapids gave high vibrations. - One of the game's biggest selling points was that it ran at 60 Frames per second. However, in order for the game to run at that frame rate on the original PlayStation, track detail and textures had to be sacrificed. Additionally, the frame rate lowered to 30 frames per second during 2-player splitscreen.
- After you reached a certain point in the game, players could unlock a Random Number Generator. This feature allowed the player to select from a large number of tracks besides the normal six. Players could either allow the generator to randomly create a number (which corresponded to a certain track) or manually input their own. While this feature sounded like it gave a staggering amount of tracks, in reality all these randomly-generated tracks were basically empty aside from water and walls and as such, many of the tracks tended to run together.
- A code causes the game to replace the motorboatMotorboatA motorboat is a boat which is powered by an engine. Some motorboats are fitted with inboard engines, others have an outboard motor installed on the rear, containing the internal combustion engine, the gearbox and the propeller in one portable unit.An inboard/outboard contains a hybrid of a...
s with Ducks. - The game's sound track was composed by Apollo 440Apollo 440Apollo 440 are an English band formed in Liverpool in 1990. Apollo 440 have written, recorded and produced four albums, collaborated with and produced other artists, remixed as Apollo 440 and as ambient cinematic alter-ego Stealth Sonic Orchestra, and created music for film, television,...
in the UK and by Loudmouth elsewhere.