Daytona USA
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Published by

SEGA Enterprises Ltd.

Developed by

AM R&D Dept. #2

Released

Mar, 1994

Platforms

Arcade, SEGA Saturn, Windows

Genre

Racing / driving

Perspective

1st-person, Behind view

Interface

Direct control

Vehicular

Automobile, Track racing

Misc

Licensed

Buy at

Buy at

Not an American user?

Description

A port of the most successful arcade racer ever, the home versions of Daytona USA include the same elements that made the original version successful: three highly detailed tracks, arcade driving physics that challenge the player to find the best trajectory to make a flying lap without kissing the rails and beating the checkpoint timer. The 40 cars of the Easy race (later named 3-7 Speedway), one of the stalwarts of the original version, are also present in this version.

These home versions include a new mode (Saturn or PC Mode, depending on the platform) where the three tracks are played without the timer, and optionally in mirror mode, using one of the bonus cars (with additional abilities such as driving on grass or hitting the rails without losing speed) and in one of three lengths: Normal (identical to the arcade original), Grand Prix (2.5 times longer) and Endurance (10 times longer).

On the downside, detail and frame rate suffered a drop to fit the game into the limited hardware of the Saturn and Personal Computers, and lacking any kind of multiplayer, comparing to the two to eight player rumbles of the arcade version.

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Screenshots

Daytona USA Windows Though a messy desk may be a sigh of genius, a crumpled hood is *not* the sign of a good driver.

Daytona USA Windows Keep to the left at the beginning of the Expert track, or you may find yourself wasting time with an accidental pitstop!

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Promo Images

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Alternate Titles

"デイトナUSA" -- Japanese spelling

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Part of the Following Groups

User Reviews

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Critic Reviews

Mean Machines	SEGA Saturn	Jun, 1995	92 out of 100	92
Coming Soon Magazine	SEGA Saturn	Sep 27, 1995		90
GameFan Magazine	SEGA Saturn	Jul, 1995	88 out of 100	88
Mega Fun	SEGA Saturn	Jul, 1995	87 out of 100	87
Electric Playground	SEGA Saturn	2000	8.5 out of 10	85
Entertainment Weekly	SEGA Saturn	Jun 09, 1995	B+	83
Retro Archives	SEGA Saturn	Mar 03, 2021	14 out of 20	70
Game Freaks 365	SEGA Saturn	2007	6.1 out of 10	61
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Windows	Mar, 1997		50
Gamesmania.de	Windows	1996	35 out of 100	35

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

The Arcade version of Daytona USA appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

In other media

Daytona USA arcade machines appeared in the arcade scene of the episode "Simone" (season 1 episode 3) in the television series La Femme Nikita (1997).

Promotion

At one point to boost Saturn sales Sega of America ran a promotion where if you bought a Sega Saturn they would give you Daytona USA, Virtua Cop and Virtua Fighter 2 for no extra cost.

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Contributed to by mars_rulez (43834), Luckspeare (3191) and quizzley7 (21704)