Speed Race

Not to be confused with Speed Racer.
Speed Race
Developer(s)Taito
Publisher(s)
Designer(s)Tomohiro Nishikado
SeriesSpeed Race
Platform(s)Arcade
ReleaseSpeed Race
Racer
Wheels
Speed Race DX
Wheels II
Speed Race Twin
Genre(s)Racing
Mode(s)Single-player, two-player (Wheels II, Twin)

Speed Race[a] is a 1974 arcade racing video game developed and manufactured by Taito and released under the titles Racer and Wheels in North America by distributor Midway Manufacturing in 1975. Designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, the gameplay involves the player using the attached steering wheel to maneuver a car alongside a fast vertical scrolling road. The objective is to score points by driving past other cars without colliding with them; more points are awarded for driving faster. Players must do this under a 90-second time limit, which ends the game when it runs out. The gameplay concepts were adapted from two earlier driving electro-mechanical games: Kasco's Mini Drive (1958) and Taito's Super Road 7 (1970).

The original Speed Race and Wheels had an upright arcade cabinet, while Midway's Racer introduced a sit-down cabinet.[5] Taito released an updated version of Speed Race called Speed Race DX in 1975.[3] Two-player versions followed with Midway's Wheels II and Taito's Speed Race Twin.[6]

The game was a worldwide commercial success. Speed Race was a hit in Japan, establishing 100 yen per play as the standard for arcade games there, while Wheels and Wheels II sold 10,000 arcade cabinets in the United States to become the best-selling arcade game of 1975. The Speed Race DX and Wheels versions were also among the top three highest-grossing arcade games of 1976 in Japan and the United States, respectively, while Speed Race DX was Japan's highest-grossing arcade video game of 1977. The game spawned the Speed Race series of arcade racing games. The game's use of vertical scrolling was also influential on later games.

  1. ^ a b "Video Game Flyers: Speed Race, Taito (EU)". The Arcade Flyer Archive. International Arcade Museum. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  2. ^ a b "Video Game Flyers: Speed Race, Leisure & Allied Industries (AU)". The Arcade Flyer Archive. International Arcade Museum. Retrieved 22 March 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d e f g h Akagi, Masumi (13 October 2006). 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). Japan: Amusement News Agency. pp. 40–1, 124. ISBN 978-4990251215.
  4. ^ "Video Game Flyers: Speed Race Twin, Taito (EU)". The Arcade Flyer Archive. Retrieved 31 May 2021.
  5. ^ Wolf, Mark J. P. (2008). The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to Playstation and Beyond. ABC-CLIO. p. 37. ISBN 978-0-313-33868-7.
  6. ^ Smith, Alexander (19 November 2019). They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I: 1971-1982. CRC Press. p. 195. ISBN 978-0-429-75261-2.


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