A confession from me. When I played Street Racer on the SNES back in 1994, I thought it was better then Super Mario Kart (don’t judge). So when Street Racer Collection from QUByte Interactive came up for review, I had to get a copy. Another confession from me. I didn’t know that there was more than one Street Racer game for there to be a collection. A look at the trailer explained it.

“Street Racer is one of the most insane and fun kart racers of the 90s. Run, fight, and win! Speed and brawls on crazy tracks! A classic that mixes racing and fighting, bringing back chaotic battles and irreverent humor for up to 4 players!”

There was only ever one Street Racer game, so how can there be a Street Racer Collection? Well, the basics are that this collection contains various ports of Street Racer. What you get here is the SNES, Mega Drive, Game Boy, and DOS versions of the game. So four ports of the same game… with several of the other ports missing. There’s no Amiga, PlayStation or Saturn versions, this is strange especially considering that the Saturn port is often considered as being the best among fans. I’m going to assume this was due to emulation issues.

For those not in the know, Street Racer is a kart racer, very much like Mario Kart, but with some Road Rash-like violence and just a wee bit of Street Fighter II influence. It’s a mish-mash of ideas that gelled to make a racer that was not perfect, but still good fun to play. Anyway, there are four versions of Street Racer for me to play and review in this collection. I’ll take a look at them in the order that they are presented in the collection. First up…

SNES

This was the first version that was released and the one I played way back in 1994. As all of these games are presented via emulation, you get exactly what was in them originally, good and bad. So with this SNES version, you get several game modes to play. You have a championship where you can take part in various cups with the aim to earn the most points and be top of the championship board. Rumble mode is where you have to try to knock opponents off the arena. Then there’s soccer where you can take part in some Rocket League-like football/vehicle action 20 years before Rocket League was a thing.

This SNES version is fine, feels a bit rough around the edges by today’s standards, but it still plays just as I remember it from three decades ago. Those mode 7 tracks (much like Mario Kart) are still good fun and there’s several game modes to keep you happy. If you loved the original 1994 release, then this emulated port will bring back a lot of fond memories.

Mega Drive

Truth be told, I’d never played the Mega Drive version until this collection. It’s very different to the SNES original. Because “Nintendo does what Segcan’t”… mode 7. The Mega Drive was just not capable of doing those mode 7 tracks that made racing games on the SNES so damn fun. Instead, you get a “normal” racing mechanic where you race along a “normal” track… and Street Racer definitely loses some of it’s chaotic charm because of this. It seems to go from an exciting-fighting kart racer to a racer.

You still get the game modes of the SNES version. With less interesting racing and tracks, this Mega Drive port is lacking and nowhere near as fun to play as the SNES one.

Game Boy

There were a slew of ports on the Game Boy that made no sense to me. For instance, Mortal Kombat. Street Racer on the Game Boy very much reminds me of Mortal Kombat on the Game Boy, I don’t mean in terms of gameplay, I mean they both beg the question “why?”. It was very clear that some massive stripping back would have to be done, to the point where the game no longer was the game it originally was. Whereas the Mega Drive version was a simplified take on the SNES original, the Game Boy port is a simplified version of the already simplified Mega Drive game.

The graphics are messy and it really difficult to tell what is going on. The controls are sluggish and unresponsive. This just does not work. It’s slow, clunky and almost unplayable. Another example of a Game Boy port that had no reason to happen.

DOS

This port is, by far, the best one in this collection. It goes for the SNES style “mode 7” tracks (not actually mode 7), but with better graphics and smoother gameplay all round. This is as close as you’re going to get to the Saturn version as they are very similar. It’s just that the Saturn one was more refined. The racing is fast, the controls are responsive and you get a really good kart racer. Still very much like the SNES original, but with far superior looks and gameplay… and not as good as the Saturn port.

Overall

Priced at £17 and out now for PC and all the consoles… this really isn’t worth it. I do find it bizarre to do a “collection” of a game that only has one game in the franchise. I get the four different ports, but it is still the one game. Let’s be honest here, you might get a bit of fun out of the SNES port, you won’t bother with the Mega Drive or Game Boy versions, and the only version you’ll play with the possibility of coming back to it will be the DOS one. So £17 for one game that’s this old is just not worth it.

You do get all the usual additions with a collection like this. the ability to rewind, save/load, different screen settings, CRT scanlines and such, and even some cheats. But this is a very slim collection with not much to it. Unless you’re an absolute die hard Street Racer fan that has to own every release of the gamer ever, I’m really not sure who the target audience is. Street Racer Collection is severely lacking in content and just perhaps, doing a collection of one game was not the best idea?