Sega Rally 2
Release Date - February, 1998 (JP)
Developer - Sega AM Annex
Publisher - Sega
Platform - Arcade (Model 3)
On the surface, many arcade games can seem quite minimal in terms of content. With Sega Rally 2, you may only see six cars and four tracks on the surface, but it belies hours and hours of addictive gameplay.
Sega Rally 2 is the sequel to the legendary Sega Rally Championship (1995). Just as Sega Rally Championship was a showcase of Sega’s cutting edge Model 2 arcade hardware, Sega Rally 2 would be equally as impressive on the awesome Model 3 board. Carrying on the tradition of arcade rally gameplay, you’ll find a game that throws you into the action immediately. Within seconds you’ll be hurtling across the desert at 200km/h or more, powersliding around corners in the mud while the turbo-charged engine sounds like it’s seconds away from exploding. Wildlife and spectators will flee as you tear up the track, and it soon becomes apparent that the action will only get more intense.
Going sideways around a narrow mountain road at 180km/h has never been so much fun!
As expected from a racing game, the controls are relatively simple; accelerate, brake, steering, a four speed gear box for manual transmission and a handbrake. Even if you choose to play with manual transmission, it’s unlikely you’ll need to shift down the gears apart from a few key moments once you’ve hit top gear. It’s more about learning the track and knowing when to go into a powerslide via tapping the brakes or slamming the handbrake to throw out the rear of the car. As you go around the tracks, you’ll have some increasingly strict checkpoint times to beat, and if you fall short it’s an instant game over. Yes the controls are easy to learn, but they’re not so easy to master.
On the topic of controls, this game really does warrant a special mention for the arcade cabinet itself; Sega had a reputation for innovative and deluxe arcade cabinets, and Sega Rally 2 definitely lived up to the Sega standard. Sega Rally 2 had a premium arcade cabinet that featured some strong force-feedback on the steering wheel, and also had a handbrake located next to the driver’s seat! Little touches like this helped set the game apart from other arcade racers at the time, giving a much more tactile and immersive sensation to the game.
The Sega Rally 2 arcade flyer calls out the handbrake feature (image credit to Highway Games).
https://www.highwaygames.com/arcade-machines/sega-rally-2-dx-arcade-machine-9365/
Adding to the immersion is the game’s co-driver. A returning feature from the first game, your co-driver will direct you as you drive, giving you advanced notice of turns and hazards coming up. He’ll let you know if it’s an easy left hand turn where you can just keep the hammer down on the accelerator, or if it’s going to be a tricky hairpin where you’ll need to shift down a gear or two and maybe pull that handbrake to avoid hitting the barricade and being reduced to mangled steel. In a great touch, if you take a tough turn particularly well, he’ll even tell you “You’re doing great!”. The first time hearing that after nailing a hairpin that you’ve struggled with in the past is pure bliss!
Don’t get distracted by the beautiful graphics.
Early tracks are somewhat forgiving, with ‘Desert’ being pretty easy, even for racing game novices, ‘Mountain’ being a little more tricky with much windier roads to traverse, and then the unforgiving ‘Snowy’ course will filter all but the most dedicated of drivers. The final track, ‘Riviera’ almost feels like a celebration after getting through the snow, but will test drivers to the very end with a narrow track that requires use of all your learned skills. Yes, there’s only four courses and they are only about a minute long each, but you’ll be replaying them countless times, learning all the nuances and shaving second after second off your best time.
It will take a lot of practice and skill to best the difficult ‘Snowy’ track!
Each track isn’t just visually different either, as Sega Rally 2 imitates the challenge of real rally car driving by simulating different handling for different terrains. Driving on tarmac means you’ll have quite a bit of grip on the road, leading to faster cornering and good control over your car to correct the course after a slide. Dirt and gravel roads are a different story with much less traction and more sliding, and snowy or icy surfaces provide the biggest challenge, with very little traction. The ‘Snowy’ track becomes particularly punishing due to this, as it requires a lot of concentration and nuance to keep the car facing the right way, as well as more forethought required in braking and cornering. In a nice little touch, the terrain also will visually affect the car, with mud covering the vehicle as you go through puddles, or snow sticking to it as you slide around in the slush. Being behind another car as it goes through water can impair your vision too, so watch out!
Cars will get dirty in real time, it’s a messy business this rally driving!
The original Sega RallyChampionship only featured two cars, but now we have six to choose from. These consist of some legendary rally cars, including the Subaru WRX, Mitsubishi Lancer and the Lancia Stratos. Each car feels different to drive, so it pays to try each of them out and learn the one that feels best to you. The dash-board displaying your RPM and speed is unique to each car as well, which is a cool touch. Notably missing at first glance are the Toyota Celica and Lancia Delta from the first game, but fear not! Sega Rally 2 actually featured those cars as secrets to unlock! Yes, in a cool bonus, when the arcade cabinet has been fed 100 credits, the game will unlock a secret menu where you can choose the Celica and Delta. This brings the total number of cars to 8, enough to satisfy all but the most picky of arcade racers.
Eight legendary cars can be selected to race.
With the combination of cars and tracks, it definitely takes some time to settle on what works best for each player. Once you get some experience under their belts, the game really comes into its own; learning the tracks through trial and error and repeated exposure means that you’ll get a little bit further each time. There is also a ‘Practice’ mode included, where you can race a track of your choice in 3 laps to learn the layout before doing another ‘Championship’ run. This is a nice feature that lets you choose a particularly hard course and get some real practice in before going back for a high score run.
A mark of a great arcade game, every time you fail, you’ll feel like if only you had ‘one more try’, you could beat that tough section. The difficulty curve is very well implemented and rarely does the game feel frustrating or unfair when you run out of time. The game may be minimal in terms of sheer content, but the feeling of whittling down your lap times and getting to that next stage of the rally is as rewarding as any other racing game.
The beautiful night-time Riviera track in all its glory! Don’t be discouraged if it takes quite a few attempts to get here.
Completing the game rewards you with a beautiful cinematic styled highlight reel of your run, complete with some of that legendary Sega Rally soundtrack. But of course, the real challenge of an arcade racer is beating that high score, so there’s a lot more replayability for the hardcore racers out there. For those of us who are less inclined to grind out the best lap times, there’s still plenty of incentive to try and finish, and even finish multiple times to try out different cars.
Sega Rally 2 was a hit at the arcades, and would be ported to the Sega Dreamcast the following year in 1999. Featuring additional content, the game was a beloved early release for the console and also received rave reviews from magazines at the time. A Windows ‘98 port would also see a release, again with the additional home content. To this day, there is a dedicated fanbase for the game, with user patches available for players to continue playing and perfecting those lap times. Sega Rally 2 is one of the great arcade racers, and a game that is truly timeless. You’ll enjoy every minute, up to and including “Game Over, Yeah!”!
“Game Over, Yeah!”