Chocobo Racing and Crash Team Racing, 1999, PSX
I revisited Chocobo Racing because I had fond memories of playing it as a kid and because a kart racer with PS1 Final Fantasy aesthetics and music sounded like it could be fun 
I wasn’t prepared for how antiquated the game feels- it legitimately looks and feels like a 3DO game compared to Crash Team Racing. There’s minimal 3D used, the backgrounds and skyboxes are incredibly simplistic and all the tracks are basically flat with no ramps or jumps. Check out the draw distance in the screenshot 
It’s surprising the game looks this bad considering this was Squaresoft who were famous for incredible-looking PS1 games. There were a bunch of licensed kart racing games from much less prestigious publishers coming out at the same time that looked miles better than this, like that one Muppet game I remember playing.
I can only assume Squaresoft was just using the original Super Mario Kart on the SNES as a yardstick
Yeah this game was a stinker. I had it too because I was obsessed with FF and I was let down. Not even Squall on a kart could save it.
The game isn’t completely without merit- there’s fun remixes of classic FF tunes, the chibi aesthetic is cute and the pop-up storybook style used in the story mode is cute too. If you really like classic Final Fantasy it might be worth checking out as a novelty
Of course, us being PS1 kids we were all “Who’s White Mage? Where is Tifa? Where is Sephiroth? Where is Red XIII? Where is Vivi? Where is Zidane?” when it came to the roster. Me and my siblings completed the game and unlocked all characters back in the day because kids will play anything
Looking up the game I was amazed to discover Aya Brea from Parasite Eve was apparently an unlockable character when I had no memory of her being in the game. Turns out it’s just a sprite of a cop car
Looking up the game I was amazed to discover Aya Brea from Parasite Eve was apparently an unlockable character when I had no memory of her being in the game. Turns out it’s just a sprite of a cop car
Her and Jill Valentine are the only good cops.
I’m partial to good ol Max Payne too
Check out this video from the dev who made Crash Bandicoot. Maybe they used the same design to make it better looking
I didn’t really realise it as a kid, but the Crash Bandicoot games really are some of the best looking on the PS1
Yeah that dynamic memory allocation to always have the correct data cached is neat
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
I’m not sure if you’ve watched any Accursed Farms, but Ross Scott really nerds out on driving games. You might appreciate it.
My brother had a friend in school who was obsessed with Final Fantasy, and of course he had Chocobo Racing. I don’t remember if he actually thought it was worth playing, but then again the guy managed to convince himself that the Final Fantasy movie was good
that the Final Fantasy movie was good
It’s excellent as a sleeping aid
