Thursday, October 13, 2011

Day-eee-tooooo-naaaaaaaaaa! Let's go away!!

Stay away from my house around Oct. 26 unless you want to hear some absolutely horrible renditions (courtesy of moi) of Takenobu Mitsuyoshi's "Let's Go Away," "Rolling Start" and "Sky High."

All of those songs are sure to be blaring from our basement windows that week thanks to the XBLA release of Sega's Daytona USA. (This "enhanced port" of the company's arcade classic from 1993 will hit the PlayStation Network the day before, on Oct. 25.)



I  played the hell out of the rather hideous-looking Saturn version of Daytona USA back in the day, so I can only imagine how much I'll enjoy this gorgeously high-def update of the game.

The question is: How much time will I spend playing the title's arcade, time trial and (online) multiplayer modes, and how much time will I spend playing with its karaoke mode?

20 comments:

Darwin said...

Me too!

I almost wished they threw in the non-HD arcade version.

I really disliked the Dreamcast release. It just didn't feel the same. And I noticed they turned down the vocals in the music, and that was the best part.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Oh, I think including the non-HD arcade version would be great, too. I doubt they'll do that, though :(

I've never played the Dreamcast version, mainly because all I've ever heard about it were bad things.

Darwin said...

I give Sega credit for trying to offer more as far as tracks goes for the Dreamcast. But you could change the tires for different grip, and none of them felt like the arcade.

After seeing this, I was trying to remember this game I saw at the arcades shortly after Daytona was released. It was MotoRaid. Just looked it up on YouTube: http://youtu.be/cioaPnm1K0U

I wish Sega would port more of their arcade games.

Bryan Ochalla said...

I'm with you there, Darwin -- RE: Sega porting more of their arcade games. Hell, I'd love them to port some of their oooooold arcade games, like OutRun and Power Drift. I know some of these have been released in the past (on Saturn and I think Dreamcast), but I'd love for them to hit the download services, too.

Darwin said...

Oh yeah, Power Drift!

I remember seeing that in mags and wanting it so badly.

I played the emulated version but can't get the controls right.

Do you have it for PCEngine?

And yes to everything from Sega's past. Planet Harriers!

Bryan Ochalla said...

I don't have it for the PC Engine, but I've played that version via emulation. It's a bit hard to understand what's happening, unfortunately :P

I played the arcade version in the past, though, and loved it. Would love to play it at home.

As for Planet Harriers: I've never played it but definitely wanted to.

Sega: Listen to us! LOL :)

Kimimi said...

YAY! I had no idea this was coming out and because of the Daytona license I thought it never would. Thank you for a great morning surprise Bryan! :D

Bryan Ochalla said...

I was completely ignorant of the PSN/XBLA release until yesterday, Kimimi -- and even then, like you, I thought it would be stripped of all that was Daytona USA (kind of like the current arcade version, which is called Sega Classic Racing, or something like that).

Anyway, you're very welcome. I'm just glad we'll all get to play this great game again -- and soon! -- and that we'll get to listen to all of those great tunes again, too :)

Marcus said...

This is great news! I am hoping that I can pick it up day one because Daytona USA was a great game. I loved the soundtrack and revisiting the tracks now it's still wonderful. Karaoke mode is going to be a lot of fun :P.

RetroKingSimon said...

Sweet! I love Daytona even though I'm crap at it! :P Did you prefer the original or CCE on the Saturn?

Viewtiful_Justin said...

I'm sorry...racing AND karaoke? That's...very strange.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hey there, Marcus! Yes, revisiting this game is going to be a blast. I'm likely going to drive my husband nuts w/ the karaoke mode, though :P

Bryan Ochalla said...

I never played CCE on the Saturn, Simon, just the original. What's different about CCE anyway? Also, which one do/did you prefer?

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ha ha! Yes, Justin, I can see where it would seem strange. It actually makes sense in the case of Daytona USA, though, since the game's music is so iconic (esp. to Sega and Saturn fans). Have you ever played the game?

B. Barrett said...

DAYYTOOOOOOOOOONNNNAAAAAAAAA!


HA HA HA! BLAST FROM THE PAST!!!

(You just made my life by posting this...)

-Ben.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Hey there, B! Well, that's what I try to do with this blog -- make people's lives :) OK, so maybe that's overstating things a bit.

Anyway, I'm glad others are as excited by this news as I am.

"Roooooolllllllling staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaart!" Ha ha!

RetroKingSimon said...

I can't decide which I prefer, that's the problem! The original has poor graphics and is a strict conversion. The CCE version has much improved graphics, a two-player mode, extra tracks and cars, extra play modes (including a splendid `endurance` mode), but they messed up the handling of the cars. Hmmm.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Ah, yes, I feel like I've heard about the CCE's handling issues. Sounds like the Dreamcast version has similar problems. Hopefully this one handles perfectly!

Viewtiful_Justin said...

Nope. Can't say that I have. Aside from Mario Kart, I'm not really a racing fan.

Bryan Ochalla said...

Oh, me neither, really. This one was an exception, though. No idea why, although I'm guessing it had to do with my Sega/Saturn obsession at the time.

Anyway, you should give it a try sometime. It's extremely possible you won't like it, as it's a fairly realistic racer compared to Mario Kart, but it's still loads of fun in its own way.