Arcade Archives: Final Lap

[tepidsnake]

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Final Lap (Namco, 1987)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

PSN

EU

US

Switch

EU

US

 

Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

PSN

EU

US

 

Switch 2

EU

US

 

Xbox

EU

US

Only a Japanese ROM is included. The only Preference Setting worth mentioning outside of the obvious analogue controls is the Car Type setting, allowing you to pick one of four cars (this is normally done across two dipswitches but it's been made a single setting here). Sadly, even on the ACA2 version, there's no support for split screen or any sort of emulation of the link play feature, which was a major selling point for the original arcade game, being the first to allow up to eight players at once via linked-up cabinets. I'm not sure why they weren't able to include it here, but it might be an emulation hurdle (don't assume older tech is necessarily easier to emulate!) so while I'm a bit disappointed, I won't hold it against Hamster too much.

... Oh, yeah, something else notable about this rerelease is it had to be heavily edited for legal reasons. A 2019 BMJ Journals research paper (you can read it over here) has a lot of info on the use of tobacco company imagery in racing games from the '80s to the 2010s, but to keep it relevant to what we're talking about, in late 1989 Philip Morris' PM Barry Krivisky noticed Sega's Super Monaco GP in a New York arcade using Marlboro's racing livery without permission (coincidentally after PM CEC was brought to discuss the use of tobacco imagery in video games with Ohio Representative Tom Luken) and sent a cease and desist, which they eventually settled and Sega edited the arcade game to remove all infringing banners and liveries (inclding HOSTER'S which is very, very funny). Philip Morris would ask the same of Atari Games and Namco for Final Lap's inclusion of Marlboro livery and other cigarette company ads, and they came to an agreement too, with Namco editing Final Lap too to remove tobacco ads and liveries and Atari offering a $100 discount on dedicated Final Lap 2 cabinets to arcade operators who complied and changed the ROM chips on their boards. You can see shots of the edited version on this blog (it's currently undumped). The point is, all of this stuff is gone from the Arcade Archives version as well as other company signs like Dunlop and Pirelli, which weren't originally edited out, disappearing too (most signs are either blanked or replaced with Namco logos) as well as the car liveries changed but the obvious F1 driver names in the high score table kept (they were taken out of Namco Collection Vol. 1 on PC). Phew!

Actually talking about the game now... It's easy to be wowed by the 3D Namco racing games we've been seeing on Arcade Archives lately, but before Ridge Racer and Rave Racer (and even contemporary with them), Namco were making strides on the 2D, sprite scaling racing track too, and Final Lap was their next big step after Pole Position. We're on the Suzuka Circuit once again with beefed-up hardware meaning much smoother sprite rotation and more detail across the board as well as extra touches like a bridge you pass under, side mirrors that show what's happening behind you (especially impressive in 2D!) and race queens that start and end the race (complete with a little mischief of the wind) and your car tilting slightly as you hit the side of the road. Praised for its realism at the time, much like Pole Position it takes a bit of time to get used to the steering controls and how to handle corners, as you really have to use the brakes and shifting gears to tackle them at speed but it's got that 'just one more try' feel to it. I started playing this one at a real disadvantage and felt I wasn't getting anywhere with it, but then about 10 tries later I was hooked, it's just the one track but you learn exactly where to lean into the corners and how to maintain speed to reach the finish line under the pretty strict time limit. The analogue controls are also pretty solid by default in this rerelease, and while it won't quite be the same as playing on a real cabinet (which I must admit, I don't think I've ever seen- Suzuka 8 Hours seemed to be more popular in the UK from what I remember), I think anyone with a passing interest in arcade racers definitely needs to give this a try, especially since this is its first rerelease since a PC version several decades ago! I imagine we'll see the other Final Lap games on ACA in the future which is an exciting prospect!