Cruisn' Blast for Switch...

[profholt82]

On 10/30/2021 at 9:44 AM, Tanooki said:

Maybe since it has been made hard for me to buy the thing locally, which I can NOT figure out as this isn't some 1 traffic light town by any means, maybe I should just middle finger the developer for making it unreasonably difficult and buy it used.  I do want to play it, still like the old N64 Cruis'n USA, and this looks rewarding since you get the cash and unlocks just from driving largely so it adds some odd measure of depth, which these games don't have.

I bought it at my local Best Buy, and it is available at Target as well. Both retailers offer online shopping as well.

[Tanooki]

Look I know it's online, I wanted to/want to buy local.  It just confused and annoyed me that in an area this big it wasn't at multiple retailers which made no sense at all.  Sure I could ship, but depending on who is shipping they'll charge more for that if you're not over a price point which is a bit of a put off waiting and paying extra.  It's not life or death I'll probably get it still, eventually.

 

But either way yeah n64 was unique in that it did get largely a great staple of Midway racers, the RUSH trio, the Crusin' games, then even Hydro Thunders excellent conversion.  Outside that into more arcade great work with the R2R and Gauntlet titles, and hit/miss as much on taste as quality but the 3D fighting games too.  Not sure why PS1 got so much less, even Dreamcast got some nice ones out of the deal in the 99-00 range.

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

FORZA HORIZON 5 midnight tonight im so excited! I realize it's no Cruisn Blast..  Had I known I could have switched the time on my xbox to new zealand to have started playing at 7am this morning I would have called out sick today! grrrrrrr!

[Hydro Thunder]

17 hours ago, Tanooki said:

Look I know it's online, I wanted to/want to buy local.  It just confused and annoyed me that in an area this big it wasn't at multiple retailers which made no sense at all.  Sure I could ship, but depending on who is shipping they'll charge more for that if you're not over a price point which is a bit of a put off waiting and paying extra.  It's not life or death I'll probably get it still, eventually.

 

But either way yeah n64 was unique in that it did get largely a great staple of Midway racers, the RUSH trio, the Crusin' games, then even Hydro Thunders excellent conversion.  Outside that into more arcade great work with the R2R and Gauntlet titles, and hit/miss as much on taste as quality but the 3D fighting games too.  Not sure why PS1 got so much less, even Dreamcast got some nice ones out of the deal in the 99-00 range.

Target ships free over $35, that's how I got it (birthday gift card), ships quick too.

[Daj]

On 10/14/2021 at 2:58 AM, Mr_Horizon said:

I mostly enjoy Cruisn Blast, but it's probably the "most arcade" racing game I ever played. Races are short, and a noticeable amount of each race (let's say 10 to 20%) are just fancy displays of "wild stuff happening" with very little control. I haven't played a racer before where you could only properly steer and drift in short bursts.

 

I will still get all the keys, but I hope this game doesn't start a trend.

They kinda overshot "arcade" and almost landed in "mobile game" territory. You can even buy extra boosts in Arcade and Time Trial modes, you pretty much much have to put yourself on the honor system if you want a strictly skill-based challenge. It's strictly an "unlock all the stuff" type of game, thankfully there is quite a bit of stuff and it's fun to play.

 

On 9/9/2021 at 2:10 PM, NeonSpaceBeagle said:

I tried that one.. It was okay.  I found the color matching aspect irritating actually.  I think that's the game you are talking about..  Theres orange or blue things on the ground you have to ride over?  I found that stupid and added nothing of value to the game.  Sorry i'm hating on the Fast series so much, but I notice it's always touted as a great futuristic racer and it's really just not.  neither of them.

 

 

Yeah, I couldn't get into Fast RMX either. I didn't like the color matching, but honestly, if you took that away the remaining game would probably feel pretty thin.  

 

What I'd like is a Switch arcade racer that can blow the likes of Wave Race 64 and F-Zero GX out of the water, the tech should be there but the games aren't imo, or maybe I'm just playing the wrong things. Cruis'n Blast is cool and worthwhile but it's not that. Once I get all the keys and trophies I guess I'm going back to Outrun and Virtua Racing.

[Tanooki]

Maybe something more like the Gamecube Tube Slider, which for years was considered the F-Zero Nintendo refused to make (until Sega and them did at home and the arcade.)

[Austin]

On 11/5/2021 at 7:36 PM, Tanooki said:

Maybe something more like the Gamecube Tube Slider, which for years was considered the F-Zero Nintendo refused to make (until Sega and them did at home and the arcade.)

LOL.

 

F-Zero GX came out, like.. two or three months after Tube Slider. And I'm going to assume was in development for much longer.

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

I loved Tube Slider. It's an NEC game and that always amused me for some reason. Just set it up for a few rounds on a Sunday morning. It's so damn hard tho I can't unlock any of the courses that it didn't come with unlocked.  So I guess I kinda hate it cuz I can only play like three courses and there's no cheat codes.  All those old racers should come with all courses unlocked, at least for time trial.  But its a pretty looking game indeed and decent music.

[Tanooki]

So I'm curious, is anyone still playing this one?  I got it along with Tony Hawk 1+2 for Switch now.

[Reaperman]

@Tanooki Not really.

 

I played it a few weeks ago on the can, but generally I've gone about as far as I'd care to in the game for right now, and I think that's ~7hrs in. The game pretty much shows its entire hand within the first couple hours, and extends that with extra difficulty levels, upgrade grinding, time trials, and keys.

 

Honestly that's not a bad job boosting replay value considering the source, and it's probably the deepest Cruis'n experience ever, for what that's worth.

 

In early december I went on a bit of an arcade vacation and got to spend an extended period with a lot of the Raw Thrills drivers. Lots of fun was had, but it made me really appreciate the differences in the switch version.  The arcade had oncoming traffic, for example, and it would have been nice to see that in 'hard' and above difficulties.  All of the raw thrills arcade games had a bit of an odd 'pay to win' feel to them, which was okay by me--I was on vacation and had the money  

 

I think Fast & Furious Supercars was actually my favorite--to me it feels even more like a cruis'n game. with dancing ladies and the whole bit

 

 

I actually enjoyed the arcades so much, that I ordered a 2049SE cab which will arrive...someday-ish. In terms of depth and replayability, I haven't seen a cab that can match it.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Reaperman

[digdugnate]

13 hours ago, Tanooki said:

So I'm curious, is anyone still playing this one?  I got it along with Tony Hawk 1+2 for Switch now.

I am, but not near like I was on release. I sure wish they would put some more tracks and stuff on.

 

The staying power for it with me is playing it with Mrs. DD; she loves the simple gameplay for multiplayer moreso than with Mario Kart (that she's damn good at.  side note, our first date fifteen years ago was her playing Mario Kart Double Dash at my house).  If we have 15-20 minutes here and there to do a few races, she likes only having to hold down the accelerate button for the most part, lol.

[Tanooki]

Well I keep getting interrupted by one level of bs after another so it's in my system yet still not tried out, and I've got a few other things I wish I could dig into too. ?

 

I'm curious to see how the cash rewards and unlocks work to give it more staying power.  I never cared for the franchise largely after the first, that one I put quite a few hours on until I could clear the entire run pretty easily country wide.

[Reaperman]

59 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I'm curious to see how the cash rewards and unlocks work to give it more staying power.  

Oh that's easy. You'll have little chance at coming in first on medium with a base car, and zero chance doing it on hard. Not coming in first means you can't unlock the last championship. (I think one unlocks with all bronze, one with all silver, and one with all gold.) So at some point, you'll just have to grind for xp and cash for upgrades and then re-race almost everything. Luckily that happens right at the beginning, when you least mind doing so. Though at the point I'm at, the thought of going back to fully upgrade my remaining vehicles sounds like the opposite of fun.

 

Also, a lot of the late-game on switch is time attack, but there's no point in doing that without a fully upgraded car, and max boost which is purchased per-race on the switch. (time trialing isn't cheap)

 

The arcade does the upgrade grind too, but with real money. At least it has a keypad for maintaining your account midway-style. Once you've fully upgraded in the arcade (with maybe just half a dozen or so credits), you can kind of count on those first-place free games (assuming the cab is set to award them). 

 

I mean, sure this switch game is by-far the deepest Cruis'n experience ever--but Cruis'n was always the most shallow/simplified of those old Atari/Midway racers, so the bar's not that high. They did what they could.

Edited December 26, 2021 by Reaperman

[Punisher5.0]

21 hours ago, Tanooki said:

So I'm curious, is anyone still playing this one?  I got it along with Tony Hawk 1+2 for Switch now.

Just got it digitally tonight. Couldn't pass it up for only $20.

[Tanooki]

36 minutes ago, Punisher5.0 said:

Just got it digitally tonight. Couldn't pass it up for only $20.

@Reaperman Nice I see how that could suck, but with the short hours involved to get there, blending it with other games, I think it should be a pretty alright time.  It's not like Cruis'n USA on N64 was the high water mark for diverse things to do.  You just either wasted time on a random course, or you tried to clear the US coast to coast which I happily did dodging cars.

 

And punisher, good luck, hell of a deal on that one you got there so I can't blame you.  I ended up getting a few other games today free with some money back too in a trade out of some junk old board games and stuff, and then Switch side I grabbed SMT5 because gamestop had it at $37 instead of $60 new, too good to pass up for a month and a half old game.

[digdugnate]

On 12/26/2021 at 7:38 PM, Punisher5.0 said:

Just got it digitally tonight. Couldn't pass it up for only $20.

I think it's well worth the twenty bucks for the sheer entertainment value while playing.    I've paid full price stuff I played a lot less!  (Yoshi's Crafted World, I'm looking at YOU, lol)

[Punisher5.0]

9 hours ago, digdugnate said:

I think it's well worth the twenty bucks for the sheer entertainment value while playing.    I've paid full price stuff I played a lot less!  (Yoshi's Crafted World, I'm looking at YOU, lol)

Yeah definitely worth $20. I've had a lot of fun with it so far. It's the most over the top arcade game I've ever played

[Pink]

Man I am waaaaay out of the loop, I need to check this out! Don't know how I haven't heard of it until now. I loved Cruisin USA on N64 back in the day for what it was.

[Austin]

I need to binge again on Cruis'n Blast. I played it basically for a week straight upon release but haven't messed with it much since (to be fair, I put RPG-levels of time into it ). Despite that I still feel like it's worth the money, and it warms the heart that I still see it available for sale at places like Wal-Mart and Best Buy, and wasn't just a short-term sort of release. It's not every day we get a reboot of an old series and it ends up being the best in that franchise. I highly recommend it.

[digdugnate]

Hehe, we still play time-to-time.  Mrs Digdug would rather play multiplayer on this than Mario Kart

[Tanooki]

I got it played it like a couple hours and oddly have not returned, same with Tony Hawk and I feel bad about it.  They're great, but I get distracted easy and with limited time I jump to things unfortunately.  I start to wonder if some genres I'm just played out on even if I like them, I don't play like them enough to put the effort in. ?

[NeonSpaceBeagle]

I still haven't gotten to play this.    A racer came recently that I can't recommend any higher.. it's sooooooooo good if u like arcade racers, especially like outrun. Slipstream. I got on it on Xbox but it's probably on ps as well.