Hello everyone and welcome to the latest installment of the Weekly Contests!  Your old racing pal Bimmy Unser Jr. is here to take you all into the fast lane this week.  The action is going to be fast and furious, so strap on your helmets, throw on your racing underwear (you know, the ones with the skid marks), and buckle your safety belt as you zoom across the country in one of the raddest games to ever grace the NES, Rad Racer.  But which car will you choose as you go cruisin’ across the good old U-S-of-A?  Will you choose the sleek 328 Twin Turbo and rocket down the freeway with fire bursting from your tailpipe like you just ate five volcano burritos from Taco Bell?  Or will you choose the snazzy F1 Machine that’s oddly shaped like the giant rocket in your pock…uh, never mind, disregard that.  And if you think the road across America will be free of dangers, you better think again my friends.  The other drivers on the road definitely don’t want you around and will do anything and everything they can to turn you into street pizza.  Just be careful, as one minor fender bender can send your car so far into orbit that the Hubble Telescope will mistake it for a UFO!  So, what are you just sitting there for?  Get your rad selves out there and zoom across America because this game is totally rad!  It’s boo-koo, it’s boo-koo!  It’s cool!  (If you get this reference, then you’re one bad dude)!  Enough talk, here are the rules:
 
 

• Choose whichever car you want
• Play until Game Over (Be quick with your picture on the Game Over screen, the screen that shows the map of the course)
• When the progress meter at the bottom of the screen is full on the final race (Last Seaside Running), you may want to pause the game and take your picture then and/or get your camera ready because you only have about a second to capture your final score after crossing the finish line before the ending starts.
• Highest score wins
• Participation: Complete the first race
• GENRE: Sports

 
 
The contest ends Sunday, 3/27/16 at 11 PM NA time.  Your user name MUST be written or typed on a piece of paper and be in the picture for your score to be valid.  The entire TV screen, or computer monitor if you are playing on an emulator, MUST be in the picture for the score to be valid.  No partial screenshots will be considered or accepted.  No screenshots by hitting "print screen" on a computer will be allowed.  You must take a picture of your computer monitor.  There may be instances where this will be acceptable, but it will be at the discretion of myself and the contest organizers.  Also, the use of turbo controllers is forbidden, as well as any cheat codes, Game Genies, slow motion functions, or save states if playing on an emulator.  Also, we will only be using NTSC systems for the contests.  The use of PAL systems will NOT be allowed.  Good luck everyone and have fun

Great intro Bimmy!

This is a game I played growing up but never got good at. Let's see if my adult motor skills trump those of my childhood. I'm totally busting out the 3D glasses and readying myself for a hearty beating by Doug.

Anyone got any tips? I've never been particularly good at racers.

Don't crash.

You can pretty much gun it through the first four tracks, but the last four require more defensive driving. The last track is almost impossible to finish if you crash even once, so you're better off riding the brakes than risking a crash.

67,217 (Game Completed - Moderator Score Does Not Count Towards Leaderboard)

 

The irony of this is hilarious. Before this week I had never played 1943 before and ended up doing pretty well at it. Growing up I played off and on rad racer and was consistently terrible at it. Great job on your first try though and A no crash run through the entire game that's insane!
 

Well, I went ahead and posted a score. I could probably do a little over 1,000 points better, but that will have to do for now.
 

OK I'll bite... Thank you Captain Obvious!

For those that don't read manuals, hold up for turbo. And for some rockin' chip tunes, press down to select the radio station.

32686
37571
47709
49840
57282

Should've saved the Captain Obvious mic drop until after I beat the game on my first try.

I meant it in good fun, so I hope no one was offended!

I have only played this game a few times, so this will be interesting. 
 

I think it's great! I'll save the mic drop in the event I beat the Twin Galaxies record again.

49,041

Yes! Feeling pretty good about this score. Down to the wire on this one. 




 

My score: 33,288!

OFFICIAL SCOREBOARD
Rad Racer (Sports)
Mod	67,217	bearcat-doug
Place	Score	Username
1	66,219	skinnygrinny
2	65,832	bertsampson
3	61,180	Richardhead
4	58,079	Commander Santa
5	57,556	smick
6	57,282	Stryphos
7	57,108	ToxieRules
8	54,549	JamesRobot
Participation
9	53,388	Brock Landers
10	49,041	laddersandcakes
11	48,834	mbd39
12	47,033	Ferries Bueller
13	46,882	TWarwick07
14	39,429	Krunch
15	35,066	gutsman004
16	33,288	Mega Tank
17	33,283	Red
18	33,271	xtremegamer
19	33,112	Philosoraptor
20	32,833	zobber
21	32,173	barrelsAndRivets
22	28,082	EgasKrad
23	26,629	MegaMartyr
24	22,169	dirk12121212
25	18,120	arnpoly
26	15,819	SuperJimtendo

Hey! What's going on here ladders? That is clearly a 1943 cart in your NES!

Ha, the jig is up! Not really . I'm playing Rad Racer with my Everdrive (don't have the cart, unfortunately!) in the AV Famicom to the left of the NES. I can understand the confusion. Visual dissonance there. 
 

Hey Bimmy ,

Can we add a poll to the thread to vote for our favorite rad racer radio station



Does anyone know if the songs have names?

I figured as much. I'm in the same boat playing it on the PowerPak. I was digging through my games only to find I have Rad Racer II but not the original. I've passed it up at my local game store a dozen times because I thought it was in the collection already.

4th game in a row I've never played. The difference now is that I'm HORRIBLE at old racing games. Participation here I come!

I would also love to know if they have names.  Good music for sure!

 

Ah racing games ... this almost certainly means participation points for me. But I'll give it a fair shake.

Or a fair throw once one of the cars veers 2 lanes to just nudge you and send you flying into horizon.  Let the rage enduced racing madness commence!

 

To this day I get a kick out of the fact that Square developed this game.

20,331, 26,279
32,173