QUByte Bringing Top Racer Collection to PC, Consoles in 2024 - Hardcore Gamer

hardcoregamer.com:

The Top Racer series was something of a hidden gem in the 16-bit and 64-bit days when it was known as Top Gear in North America and Top Racer internationally. It was a blend of traditional racing with an OutRun-esque visual style and killer soundtracks and served as the primary influence alongside OutRun and this franchise’s own predecessor in the Lotus Challenge series, for one of my favorite racing games ever, Horizon Chase Turbo by Aquiris. While Top Racer 1, Top Racer 2, and the future-set Top Racer 3000 are existing releases, there will also be a crossover with Aquiris titled Top Racer Crossroads. The latter doesn’t have footage shown for it, but does appear to be a blend of Top Racer content in the more modern-day Horizon Chase art style. Top Racer used things like comic book-style speech bubbles and those will be featured in Crossroads, which could wind up being the real hidden gem in this whole collection.

The first three titles all used the same core gameplay engine and feel very similar, but will be given some revamping when it comes to menus being more user-friendly and some new cars behind added to them – which is a nice touch. There will be some filters available to use and what’s been shown off in the trailer so far indicates a smoothing filter and another one being a CRT filter. Depending on how well those are executed, they could wind up being big improvements to the presentation. While pixel-smoothing filters can destroy intricate pixel art, for vehicular games that use more broad color schemes, they can wind up really making the presentations feel more modern. CRT filters are quite hit or miss and the one here looks fairly subdued, with it showing off the alternating colors of the tracks nicely – a