Daytona USA Championship Circuit Edition

Review by: Afif Hamid

I cannot understand some people being disappointed by this outstanding game. I think people have just forgotten how bad the first Daytona was. This version is light years ahead of the 1995 Daytona which debuted with the Saturn. The latter was cut up in every magazine as being inferior to Sony Playstation's Ridge Racer. But things have changed. Sega Rally proved late last year that the Saturn could do an arcade racer quite well, thank you very much.

Daytona CCE is analagous to Virtua Fighter Remix. The hasty decision to bring Saturn out in May 1995 and not September 1995 left both originals feeling unfinished. Daytona CCE does to racers what VF Remix did to fighters.

Graphically, it is far superior to the original, with cleaner and smoother texture maps, and cars that no longer look jagged. I would even say it is smoother than Sega Rally. But then people go and complain about the pop-up. It is no where near as bad as the first one! My advice is to go to the arcade. In Dinosaur Canyon, there is almost as much redraw in the arcade, and the same is true for the Three Sevens Speedway. You might say that Sega Rally has less pop-up, but one must remember that Daytona has as many as 40 cars to worry about at a time, while Sega Rally only had 8. I think it is a minor point, and that overall, the graphics are amazing for the Sega Saturn.

Graphics 8.5/10

The Sound is great. If you think the music is too low, go to the Options screen and put the background music up to 7. It makes a difference. Gone is that annoying guy singing (badly) "Blue Blue Sky!" and "Let's Go Away!". But, some of my predecessors are mistaken. He is still clearly there at "Rolling Start", just with a slightly modified tone in his voice. Most people complained about that guy anyway! I think it is less annoying having an instrumental version. "Let's Go Away" really rocks now! The new guy who says "Try to go easy on the car" is much easier to understand and he even says "Congratulations! Welcome to victory lane, you made it!", whereas his predecessor left out the congratulations.

Sound and Music 9/10

The NiGHTS controller really helps things along. It is smooth and precise. It feels more like driving a car than the control pad ever did. For me, the "Wolf" car handles the best, but it lacks speed. That's okay, since I usually don't go faster than 190 mph anyway. The fact of the matter is that it is up to the individual to choose which ever car suits him or her.

Control 9/10

This game is much funner than Sega Rally. It is less frustrating, easier to handle and has a two player mode that was sadly lacking in the original Daytona. With so many different cars, and an new time trial option, I hardly miss the omitted Saturn mode.

Gameplay 9/10

Overall, this game is the best racer on any 32 bit platform. It blows the doors off of Ridge Racer Revolution on Playstation. Daytona is number 1 racer in the arcades and Daytona CCE is poised to be number 1 on the Sega Saturn aswell.

Overall 9/10