When you think of racing games in the 16-Bit days, you probably think of titles like Outrun, Super Monaco GP, etc. Top Gear, for me, was a series that I missed for the most part. When it came out in North America, I was neck deep into scrolling shooters and brawlers like Final Fight and Streets of Rage. I knew about Top Gear, but I was not interested at the time as I got burned out on this style racing game with arcade Sega titles and moved onto other genres. Now, fans can play the complete series of Top Gear games, with a new name and other enhancements, on their modern consoles.
Opening the Hood on Top Racer Collection
Released early in March 2024 (less than a week ago at the time of this writing), Top Racer Collection features four titles, well, three and a ROM hack of the first with new content. I don’t mind ROM hacks; I enjoy them, and it is awesome to see publishers embracing the idea of updating classic titles in some manner with these collections.
Originally there were three entries into the Top Gear series; Top Gear (Super NES), Top Gear 2 (Super NES, Sega Genesis, Amiga, Amiga CD32), and Top Gear 3000 (Super NES). Top Racer Crossroads, according to TopGearGame.Fandom.com is primarily a hack of the original Top Gear game with new content based on another games content – Horizon Chase.
Coming into the Finish Line
Racing games have improved greatly as hardware has also improved. Take Star Racer for example, it is a newer title in the style of retro greats. The difference is, Top Racer Collection are the original games, I assume running via emulator of some sort, with minimal, if any, graphical and audio improvements. This is to be expected as they are limited by the original game code and must still operate within the confines of the original hardware, just running on newer platforms.
With that said, your mileage may vary with a retro release like this as racing games don’t age that well. For many the graphics may be too much to overcome, that is fine, this is a very specific collection for a specific set of fans.
Top Racer Collection by Piko Interactive
Developer – QUByte Games
Genre – Arcade Racing
Rated –
In App Purchases – None known at the time of this writing
Available Now on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation Store, Steam, and Xbox.