Cruis'n USA

Cruis'n USA
North American Nintendo 64 cover art
Developer(s)
Publisher(s)Nintendo
Midway Games (arcade)
Director(s)Eugene Jarvis
Programmer(s)
  • Eric Pribyl
  • Carl Mey
Artist(s)
  • Xion Cooper
  • Ted Barber
Composer(s)Vince Pontarelli[4]
SeriesCruis'n
Platform(s)
Release
  • Arcade
    • WW: October 1994[1]
  • Nintendo 64
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, multiplayer
Arcade systemMidway V Unit

Cruis'n USA is a racing video game developed by TV Games Inc. and published by Nintendo. It was first released in arcades in 1994 by Midway Games, with a port to the Nintendo 64 developed by Williams Electronics released in 1996. It is the first game in the Cruis'n series and features races set in locations across the continental United States.

Cruis'n USA is branded as the first release of the "Ultra 64" platform collaboration between Midway and Nintendo, although it was based on the Midway V-unit arcade hardware, predating the Killer Instinct arcade hardware which would become the Nintendo 64. The home port was published by Nintendo as part of the deal.

The arcade version was critically and commercially successful, drawing favorable comparisons to Sega's Daytona USA. The Nintendo 64 version received poor reviews, but was also commercially successful. It was released on Wii's Virtual Console in Europe on March 28, 2008, making it the first third party developed Nintendo 64 game to be released on the service. It became available on the Virtual Console in North America on March 31, 2008.

  1. ^ Akagi, Masumi (2005). アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971–2005) [Arcade TV Game List Domestic/Overseas Edition (1971–2005)] (in Japanese) – via Internet Archive.
  2. ^ "Cruisin USA". Chipsworld. Archived from the original on May 20, 2002. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  3. ^ "Famous Arcade Racer Speeds Onto Nintendo 64 Track". Nintendo. December 2, 1996. Archived from the original on June 6, 1997. Retrieved July 17, 2024.
  4. ^ Vince Pontarelli. "Vince Pontarelli Sound Designer & Composer". Vince Pontarelli. Archived from the original on April 26, 2014. Retrieved February 16, 2012.