Stunt Racer 64

Stunt Racer 64
Cover art
Developer(s)	Boss Game Studios
Publisher(s)	Midway
Composer(s)	Devin Hurd
Platform(s)	Nintendo 64
Release	NA: October 1, 2000
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer

Stunt Racer 64 is a racing video game for the Nintendo 64, developed by Boss Studios, and published by Midway for a North American release in 2000.

Gameplay

Set in some unspecified time in the future, vehicles are retrofitted with futuristic engine and turbo technology, in addition to jets mounted to allow the car to perform midair stunts. These stunts, including flips, barrel rolls, etc., allow the player to accumulate cash rewards during races on levitating tracks. Money accumulated is used to purchase new cars, as well as upgraded parts for cars.

Modes

• Contest Mode - One player selects one of four characters, each with their own unique cars. From there, players compete in races against a full tournament consisting of dozens of AI-controlled opponents. Although the character biographies hint that the computer characters have distinct racing personalities, there is no direct interaction with them and they serve no purpose whatsoever in gameplay. For each heat, a certain number of points is awarded for each place. The player must place high enough overall in each round to advance. Placing first in a race allows the player to keep all money earned, second place allows half of the money earned to be kept, and no money is kept for places 3–6. There are five leagues to race through, each bringing an increasing level of difficulty, more opponents with better vehicles, more rounds, and more tracks. When a first-place overall finish is attained, the player races one-on-one against the league owner, with the prize of the league owner's car. The leagues are, in order of increasing difficulty:
  • Kid Cola's League
  • Bunny's League
  • Hill Bully's League
  • Big John's League
  • Dr. Death's League

(Note: The player has to play the game on the Hard difficulty in order to access Dr. Death's league.) Replay is available to view after every race in contest mode.

• Quick Race - One to four players can compete in an arcade-style race where the cash prizes do not accumulate above $1,000 (When a player reaches $1,000+, each $1,000 is automatically traded for a Turbo that they can use to at any time to go faster.) The cars available (and their upgrade status) depends upon the game save last loaded in Contest Mode. The two main modes of the Quick Race are Single Race (with optional computer opponents) and Practice (with no computer opponents). The two stunt tracks, Half Pipe, and Stunt Bowl, are open only in Quick Race. Replay is not available to view after every race in quick race mode, with the exception of Stunt Bowl and Half Pipe.

A race on the Soda Mountain track.

Cars

When a career is first started in Contest Mode, the player selects one of four starter characters, each with their own car: Warbird Light, Z-Bucket, Stottlemeyer, and Del Raye. Cash prizes can later be used to purchase the rest of these starter cars if desired, along with other cars that are available by purchase only. Among these aforementioned cars, once they reach full upgrade, a fancier version of the car comes up for sale. These "upgraded" cars cannot have their parts upgraded. Neither can the cars earned from league owners.

Music

The game features a soundtrack composed by Devin Hurd. The game's soundtrack is unique in that each song in the game uses three different types of instrument sets depending on the level selected; a 50's/Jazz instrument set, a modern rock/country set, and an analog/synthesizer set.

Rarity

Stunt Racer 64 was released exclusively through Blockbuster Video rental stores in North America both for rent and for purchase. Depending on the location, a Blockbuster patron renting this game was either rented the complete game (box, manual, and cartridge) or just the cartridge and manual. Oftentimes the outer box was used as the store display box which explains the lack of a price on many of the price stickers that are found on a majority of surviving boxes. Due to the nature of game rentals, the cartridges were sometimes cracked or damaged physically over their rental lifespan, while the manuals often went home with the first person to rent the game and were returned damaged, destroyed, or not returned at all. Also, some Blockbuster store employees would discard the boxes and manuals when the games were put out for rental per the store manager or other policy. As with many other Nintendo 64 Blockbuster rental exclusive games, these conditions resulted in a very rare game to find in mint, complete condition. These rarity ratings place a complete copy of Stunt Racer 64, including cartridge, box, and manual, near the top of the list of Rarest Nintendo 64 games.