Destruction Derby 64

by Nintendo

Product Features

• destruction derby 64
• racing game
• nintendo 64

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B00001XDJZ
• Media: Game Cartridge
• Release Date: September 30, 1999
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #18,608 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

Editorial Review

Destruction Derby 64 brings the chaotic world of deliberate car crashes to the racetrack. You get points for completing laps, yes, but the real high scores--and the real fun--come from making high-speed impacts.

This is a decent racing game, fun and fast-paced. But where 3DO has really raised the bar is with the crash effects. Cars collide with a satisfying crunching sound. Smoke belches from under what's left of your hood. Car parts go flying. Huge dents appear right at the point of impact--even the taillights go out, one by one. After a few minutes your car looks like something out of a junkyard.

All this carnage makes Destruction Derby 64 one of the most fun car racing games to appear in quite a while. Aside from the pure and simple smash-'em-up derbies, you can choose a traditional looped racetrack race. Well, not exactly traditional: half of the cars race in one direction, the other cars go in the opposite direction. What happens when the two racing groups meet isn't pretty, but it is fun. Bonus: one track is laid out in a crash-inducing figure eight, just like your favorite Hot Wheels sets.

The game's only weakness is the save functionality: you need a memory card to save, and even then you need to complete an entire series to save and move to the next level. Too bad you can't save after every race: it would have reduced the annoyance factor considerably. But, nitpicking aside, the combination of high-speed racing and good old-fashioned smash-'em-up thrills makes Destruction Derby 64 a first-place winner. --Jeanne Uy

Pros:

• Car-smash effects are realistic
• Contains both circuit track racing and dirt-field demolition derby events
• Rear-view, drive-backwards mode is a nice improvement over other games
• Great multiplayer game for up to 4 players

Cons:

• Can't save after every race
• Not enough variety in standard cars

GameSpot Review

The Destruction Derby series is one of the lines of games that helped define the PlayStation in its youth. In its day, DD looked great and did the little things that we all hoped the newest and greatest platform would do. DD2 was highly anticipated, but it ultimately failed to truly expand on the original. Now, THQ has picked up the pieces that Psygnosis left behind by delivering the first N64 version of the game in Destruction Derby 64. While the game bears the same name and concept as the old PlayStation versions of the game, there's been a lot of changes, for better and worse.

The game's damage system used to revolve around the distance you could make the other car spin. Head-on impacts with enemy cars did little to boost your score. Now, the scoring is centered on causing big wrecks, killing opposing cars, and reaching checkpoints in the racing mode. The world championship puts you through demolition races and arena battles in a multirace quest for the best. Much like in the previous games, the race modes will force you to get into a lot of wrecks to earn points, but it will also require you to keep your car in good enough shape to actually finish the race with a decent ranking. Arcade mode is the game's exhibition mode, letting you race any track with no strings attached. The game also has multiplayer-specific modes. Deathmatch is a simple arena battle. Bomb tag is a version of hot potato. The bomb is passed from car to car as you tag back and forth. Capture the flag splits four players into two teams. You must somehow manage to get your opponents' flag back to your base to earn points. Points are also earned for blocking attacks and getting your team's flag back. Destruction race takes place on the racetrack, and it's a simple fight to the finish line.

Graphically, Destruction Derby 64 surpasses the old PlayStation games by quite a bit - not that that is a particularly hard thing to do, considering the age of the PlayStation series. My favorite graphical effect is when sparks shoot off your car during a collision. Beyond that, the game moves well, and the split screen doesn't detract too much from the game's presentation. The audio effects are pretty much what you'd expect from a Destruction Derby game, complete with some pretty good sounds of metal grinding against metal.

The control is still extremely simple - you use one button for forward motion and one for reverse. But rather than using a slow, swinging camera angle for direction changes, the game has a Z trigger, which is used for quick view changes, letting you see what's going on behind you at a moment's notice. It takes a bit of getting used to, and you have to hold the trigger down anytime you want to look behind you, but it works pretty well.

Destruction Derby 64 is a better game than its PlayStation counterparts, but overall, it's still roughly the same in its one-player mode. The meat of the game is in its multiplayer modes, and DD64 should make a fine party game for you and your friends. Give it a rent next time you're rounding up the posse for a day of gaming. --Jeff Gerstmann
--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.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Ton of Fun!, January 3, 2000

By A Customer

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

This review is from: Destruction Derby 64 (Game Cartridge)

Ever play a racing game that got so boring, you just started crashing your car into walls or other cars to liven things up? In this game, that's the objective! In races, half the cars go in one direction and the other half go in the other direction. When the groups meet all heck breaks loose! The bigger the crash, the more points you get. There's also classic demolition derbys thrown in where a dozen cars are thrown into a circular arena and everyone battles it out to the bitter, bitter finish. There's also some cool multi-player games like bomb-tag and capture the flag which are hilarious when playing with your friends!

The best feature in this game is the selection of cars. When you start out, you can only choose from a group of basic race cars, but there are hidden cars such as a taxi, pickup truck, dune buggy, old fashioned hot rod, police car, and an ambulance, which is virtually indestructable! You get these cars by winning first place in championship races and using certain cars in different tracks in the time trial mode.

All around, this game's an A+!

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Fun!, November 29, 1999

By A Customer

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

This review is from: Destruction Derby 64 (Game Cartridge)

I'm a 40 year old mother of two teenage boys that bought a Nintendo 64 and Destruction Derby for them to play with...guess what? I'm playing it as much or more than they are! My husband and I play for hours and get the kids to join us. This is a supremely fun game that will keep us laughing and enjoying our time together for the winter months ahead.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many different games in one, December 23, 1999

By A Customer

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

This review is from: Destruction Derby 64 (Game Cartridge)

There are many ways to play the game, especially with the multiplayer option. My favorite is "bomb-tag" where you are trying to avoid the person that got stuck with the bomb. If you keep the bomb..boom!. This one got the most noise out of everyone playing. Also, it's always fun to get to the next level and see what kind of new car you're going to get. There is a Volkswagen beetle that is fun to play just for the amazing stunts it can pull. This is so much more than just a race or demolition derby game.