California Speed

by Nintendo

Product Features

• racing
• california speed
• nintendo 64

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B000021Y0E
• Item Weight: 8 ounces
• Media: Game Cartridge
• Release Date: March 1, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #22,425 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

GameSpot Review

California Speed might sound like the new trendy drug of choice for Hollywood's swanky celebs, but it's merely Midway's translation of the arcade racing game from Atari Games. Still, "drug" might not be a too-far-off description for this game: Although it gets you juiced up with psychedelic, tripped-out track designs, its shallow gameplay and dated graphics quickly bring you back down to a catatonic stupor. Those of you addicted to simple arcade racers may still feel a "rush," but for the rest, this game's a bad trip.

Clearly, the game's lone bright spot is its wild, colorful, over-the-top track designs. Whether driving up the Golden Gate Bridge, through shopping malls, or into UFOs, the tracks break from the plain-Jane race tracks very effectively. The tracks are also littered with pop-culture references (such as the Intel commercial drive-through in Silicon Valley), and scenic landmarks, such as the Hollywood sign and Pebble Beach. The game's connections to California will be most amusing to those of you who live in or have visited the areas featured in the tracks; if you are one of those people, this game's almost worth renting just to take the California Speed tour. The track layouts themselves contain a handful of secret shortcuts, which are easy to find by racing in practice mode.

Since this game is, at its roots, a fast arcade racer, it's ridiculously easy to learn. There's a brake button (rarely used), accelerator button (always used), and gear shift buttons (can be used, but doing so doesn't offer any advantage). Although the various cars available handle differently, the basic arcade driving maxim is in full effect: Don't hit stuff, and stay fast. It makes for mindless, shallow gameplay that's fun at first, but boredom-inducing in large doses. To combat that malady, the game offers an incentive to play on. The game offers a series of cups to compete in, and beating each cup unlocks a new track or secret car.

The problem with California Speed is that those same eleven tracks have to be raced over and over again to unlock these extras. The tracks' novelty value quickly wears thin, leaving you with an uninspiring series of races. Since the computer AI doesn't offer any semblance of intelligent racing opponents (all they do is go fast, like you), there isn't much driving strategy to employ other than using the too-few shortcuts - additional branching paths may have given the tracks more replay value. And while the car designs (such as the golf cart) are extremely wacky, the default cars handle similarly enough so that the overalldriving experience gets monotonous, regardless of selection.

The Nintendo 64's limitations prevent an exact duplication of the game's arcade-level graphics, so the resulting visuals look just barely above average. While eye-catching in the days of the original San Francisco Rush, this game's graphics are on the verge of becoming dated. The animation, when driving fast, does get a little choppy, but it's not enough to hamper gameplay speed, which remains brisk at all times. As for the cheesy, bland audio tracks, there's thankfully an option to shut them off.

If you worship the looks and gameplay style of Midway's Rush series, this game just makes the grade. But if you think arcade racers are as burned-out as a Hollywood has-been, or as shallow as a bubbly bimbo from Los Angeles, California Speed offers very little to change your mind. --Nelson Taruc
--Copyright ©1999 GameSpot Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without express written permission of GameSpot is prohibited. GameSpot and the GameSpot logo are trademarks of GameSpot Inc.

Product Description

This is the game California Speed for the Nintendo 64. This is cartridge only and is used or preplayed. All of our N64 nintendo games are cleaned tested and guaranteed to work. We stand by our products and offer a 60 day guarantee. If a game does not work within 60 days from the time you receive it we will gladly exchange it for you

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars California Speed: The Back Wheel Driver, June 27, 2000

By A Customer

= Durability:5.0 out of 5 stars  = Fun:4.0 out of 5 stars  = Educational:5.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: California Speed (Game Cartridge)

This game is surprisingly fun to play because the variety of cars and the strage places the tracks take place in. The tracks range anywhere from a desert, to a roller-coaster, and even to a mall! BUT (and I mean a BIG but) there is one annoying thing that will take a while to get used too! The driving control! It feels like you are driving with your back wheels! At first I didn't think I would like this game because of that but after a while you really get used to it and start to enjoy the game. It even has some awesome cars like a muscle cars, sports cars, trucks, and even the occasional golf-cart! If you are a fan of simulation/sim games stay a long ways away from this game but if you are a fan of fast paced arcade games this is definitly for you!

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Minimal fun., April 9, 2006

By 

Alex "47" (Michigan, USA) - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: California Speed (Game Cartridge)

I bought this about a year ago at EB Games for about $3.00. I was hoping for a good old classic N64 game. Damn was I wrong.

Graphics: 6/10. Bad framerate and the graphics are TRYING to be good but fail which makes for a crash fest into walls because the colors are blurred and it's really hard to tell where you're going.

Sound: 5/10. Vroom...Vroom..SHIFT..Vroom..Vroom..SHIFT. You got the idea. You hear cars shifting gears and annoying wannabe techno like music in the background. So aggrivating it should be put on mute.

Control: 5.5/10. The controls for the most part don't even respond. It is about a half second delay on any button press, and there is not any realism at all in this game.

Fun: 5/10. What the hell were the creators thinking? Bland graphics, horrible gameplay, extremely unrealistic... so on. Even if you like racing games on the not-so-realistic side, this game still shouldn't be bought. This was a horrible game! In every way! You will not have fun! DO NOT BUY THIS GAME!!

3.7/10

2.0 out of 5 stars Terrible port of a fun, arcade game, June 30, 2011

By 

BX Lounger (The Bronx, NY) - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

This review is from: California Speed (Game Cartridge)

Many years ago, I went to Blockbuster Video to rent out San Francisco Rush. They didn't have any left so I rented this game instead. Not only was I disappointed but I was also shocked at how bad it is compared to the arcade game it's based on. California Speed came out in the late 90's and was fun to play in the arcades. Then it was ported to the Nintendo 64 and quite frankly, this was and still it a shoddy port. In California Speed, you pick a car and then a track to race in or choose to race every stage back to back. Of course, like any decent arcade racer, you could unlock bonus stages and cars. Up to two players can race against each other along with the other A.I. racers.

The PROS: It's an easy game to get into. The controls are spot on, even though driving in this game feels very floaty. When you're done playing by yourself and feeling a little evil, you can invite a friend over to share your disdain for this game.

The CONS: Midway made absolutely little effort in porting this game and it shows. The graphics, animation and frame rate all take a hit so it doesn't look as good as the arcade game. The music is average sounding but the sound effects sound so muffled, you'd swear they recorded it in a underwater studio. You won't break a sweat placing 1st in each race because the A.I. racers are ridiculously easy to beat. Midway decided to censor this game and it was probably because of Nintendo. You were able to run into pedestrians on certain tracks in the arcade version. No big deal since they looked like plastic figurines and bounced around after you hit them. For the N64 port, you can't do that at all since they are just out of reach in case you tried to do it. It's a short game and it doesn't help that they only allow 2 players to race at the same time while some other racing games allowed up to 4 players.

Stay away from this terrible port of an arcade game. Even if you find this for a cheap price, don't be tempted. It's not worth your time and effort as there are better racing games available.