Rally X

The most important racing game of all times.

Before I set my mind into real life issues I urgently need to attend today,another interesting review will come handy to help me through this gray wednesday I'm living. Giving a rest to an extensive list of films I will be reviewing soon, we'll jump into another favorite category of your humble servant: Video games! And what car racing game could be any more legendary than Namco's Rally X?

Rally-X is a maze driving arcade game that was released by Namco in 1980. It runs on Namco Pac-Man hardware (yes, the maze system is the same Namco used for developing Pac-Man, hence the name), and was the first Namco game to feature "Special Flags", which would become a recurring object in later games. Also, It was the first game to ever feature a "bonus round." The gameplay is pretty simple compared to today's standards. Your goal is to "capture" all of the flags scattered in the field before the other racers hit you. It was also the first game to feature background music, as well as the first game to allow scrolling in multiple directions, both vertical and horizontal, and it was possible to pull the screen quickly in either direction.It also featured an early example of a GPS mapping system, to show the car's location on the map.

Graphics didn't need to be great to deliver entertainment.

The Red cars could get really messy sometimes.

Rally-X was ported to the MSX home computer system. It was also included in Namco Museum Volume 1 series of 1995, which was released for the PlayStation, Namco Museum: 50th Anniversary Arcade Collection in 2005, and the Pac-Man's Arcade Party 30th Anniversary arcade machine in 2010.

Jakks Pacific ported Rally-X to its Namco Collection TV game, which also includes Dig Dug, Bosconian, Galaxian, and Pac-Man

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Two unlicensed ports exist for the Nintendo Entertainment System: one by Hwang Shinwei ("迷魂車/BB Car"), and another by Sachen ("Jovial Race").

The sequel comes with the famous soundtrack we all remember.

Though the sequel had minor updates, it became the most popular Rally X version.

Red cars returned in New Rally X.

The game's first sequel, New Rally-X, offers a slightly different color scheme and easier gameplay (the special flag now flashes on the radar). Also, a feature called the "Lucky Flag" was added, which awards the player bonus points for the amount of fuel remaining when touched, after which the game continues if there are more flags. New Rally-X was manufactured in greater numbers and became more popular (at least in Japan) than the original. Namco Classics Collection Volume 2, released in 1996, includes a version of Rally-X with enhanced graphics and gameplay, Rally-X Arrangement. Namco Museum Remix, released on October 23, 2007 for the Wii, also features a revamped version of Rally-X called Rally-X Remix. Radar Rat Race is a Rally-X clone for the Commodore VIC-20 and Commodore 64 with a different theme: cars are replaced with mice, flags with cheese, boulders with cats, smokescreens with "star screens", and the soundtrack with "Three Blind Mice".

Overall, a game that delivers high amounts of entertainment, even according to today's standards new generation videogamers would still have fun playing it, and that is why there have been sequels and updated editions of the game for most of the home videogame systems. The later release related to the original game was Rally-X Rumble was released on Apple iOS on both iPhone and iPad gadgets on August 17th, 2011, featuring updated graphics, new gameplays, the original soundtrack and new songs for the new gameplays.

Nintendo Wii's Namco Museum Rally X.

The latest addition to the Rally X collection.

New graphics, same classic entertainment.

Will Rally X make it today if compared with the latest car racing games? Definitely, in fact I'd say this game creative elements have only been updated in most recent games like the Need for Speed saga and even Grand Theft Auto, and no, I'm not crazy saying this, because the car chase idea, the GPS mapping system, the smokescreen gadget have all been used in most of the ultimate car racing videogames. Do your homework and check that for yourselves.

Here the original Rally-X gameplay:

Here New Rally-X gameplay:

And here some cool dude playing the original New Rally X song: