Arcade Archives: Konami GT

[tepidsnake]

This week's Arcade Archives release is... Konami GT (Konami, 1985)

Arcade Archives (previous-gen consoles)

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Arcade Archives 2 (current-gen consoles)

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Despite the title, only the Japanese version, Konami RF2 - Red Fighter, is included. As explained in two posts by ohfivepro, this game was originally released as a Bubble System game (using Bubble Memory that requires literal heating-up before it starts) before later receiving a faster-loading EPROM release that introduces a few errors due to loading data too fast. While the Bubble System version is currently undumped, It seems that Hamster fixed up the errors in the EPROM version to create a better experience than the one currently available in MAME. The ROM release still has a 'warming up' screen though, and the Preference Settings here allow you to skip this if you like.
 

Yet another Konami game saved from having its only home port on the Microsoft Game Room! This is a pretty interesting one too, a first-person perspective driving game with impressive scaling and presentation (I'm a big fan of the car hood overlay, a bit Road Blaster-esque) and a good sense of speed to it. You're not worried about your position in the race though, it's more about your fuel gauge which constantly draining and empties even faster if you crash into another car or something on the side of the road and explode. You can top up your fuel gauge by driving into the giant orbs littered across the the course, and you also get a full refill once you reach a checkpoint, so a bit like Full Throttle, you're always given a good chance of clearing the next stage rather than having to rely on being good at the previous one. The steering takes a little getting used to (you might want to try adjusting the analogue settings a little) but it reminds me in a way of the turning controls in Pole Position, and funnily enough, Konami and Namco made a deal to sell the game as a conversion kit for old Pole Position cabs! Quite a fun racer, this one, but don't let the Japanese title fool you, it's definitely not a sequel to Road Fighter (although it totally is).

 

Now that I think about it, we've had this, Final Lap, Rave Racer, Full Throttle... Arcade racing game fans have been eating pretty well lately. Good, good.