Rad Racer was a racing game made for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). It was licensed by Squaresoft in 1987. Since the release of the NES in 1985 to 1987 few racing games existed for the NES. Rad Racer had a simulated 3D landscape and excellent graphics. The game has a special 3D mode, where 3D glasses (packed in with game) could be worn to give the illusion of 3D. In 1990, Rad Racer II was released. It differed little from the first version, and players considered the game play inferior so it was not as successful as the first version.

The first stage theme of this game has been quite surprisingly enough brought back to life through the web-cartoon Homestar Runner. Stinko Man's (anime version of the popular Strong Bad character) theme song is in fact the first stage theme from this game with "neo-Japanese" lyrics.

Game play

The idea of the game is to race around a course, and make it to check points before the fuel (gas) runs out. If you hit another vehicle, road sign or tree at a high speed, the car crashes. Crashes take time and make it more difficult for the player to reach the check point. There are eight different levels of requiring increasing skill.

• Stage 1 - Sunset Coastline
• Stage 2 - San Francisco Highway
• Stage 3 - Grand Canyon
• Stage 4 - Ruins of Athens
• Stage 5 - Los Angeles Night Way
• Stage 6 - Snow White Line (a course through the Rocky Mountains)
• Stage 7 - Seaway in Typhoon (presumably in Japan)
• Stage 8 - Last Seaside Running (perhaps New Jersey/New York)

The cars

At the car selection screen, you can pick one of two cars: a Ferrari 328 or an F1 racing machine. The computer-controlled cars are as follows:

• Stage 1 - Volkswagen Beetle
• Stage 2 - Chevrolet Corvette
• Stage 3 - Citroën
• Stage 4 - Mercedes-Benz
• Stage 5 - Lamborghini
• Stage 6 - Lotus Esprit
• Stage 7 - Porsche 911
• Stage 8 - Ferrari Testarossa

Up - Turbo Acceleration
Down - Change Music
Left/Right - Steer
A - Accelerate
B - Brake
Start - Pause
Select - 3D glasses mode

Screenshots and cartridge