Topic: Cruis’n Blast for Nintendo Switch

Yeah I am in the same boat. The more clips I see of people playing this, the more I get tempted but with so many games coming out from basically this month and through the start of the next, I am not sure I can justify this purchase even at it's more budget price point. Maybe when it's like a tenner, or if they add online multi or releases slow down I might pick it up.

Here’s a great discussion with an arcade owner about Cruis’n Blast.

Apparently it sold over 10,000 arcade units. Which… compared to console sales aren’t a lot, but at $9,000 a pop is close to $100 million in gross revenue. If even half of that was profit, Raw Thrills is rolling in doe. Guess the best selling arcade unit of all time was Ms PacMan at 100k.

Seems Cruis’n Blast is a staple in arcades and a big money maker.

And here is that arcade owner’s review of the Switch version. He has a unique perspective since he actually owns two of the arcade units.

I think what gets me is if I understand this correctly the original game was just 5 tracks. Super fun tracks but still. So we got two games in one really. This is pretty much the Blast 1 and 2 double pack. That is pretty awesome when the devs could have just phoned in a straight port and been done.

I think this game has more in common with Midway's Thunder games than the Cruisin' series, but I bloody loved Hydro Thunder so I'm not complaining lol. Crazy jumps, ludicrous boosts and position jostling, Love it I really hope it does well as I would love H2Overdrive and a Cruisin' collection to come to Switch.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Ya, that’s pretty much the jist of it.

When Cruis’n Blast released in arcades around the same time Switch released, I was desperately hoping they’d bring it to Switch, especially since Nintendo owns the IP. It looked like the arcade racing game of my dreams. Which, of course, meant it wasn’t going to come to Switch. I wouldn’t have cared if it was a literal Port of the arcade game and nothing else- I still would have happily bought it. Just to have the arcade experience at home and on the go. Obviously 5 tracks isn’t much, but it’s all the game had to offer in arcade, so I was like well, I’ll take what I can get. I do think they would’ve had a hard time selling the game to a lot of people without any added content, but still..

As mentioned in the review above, a problem with many arcade titles being ported to console is, there’s not enough content. People expect much more with console games. And yet, they went above and beyond for this. 5 original tracks, but with an additional World Tour mode with 24 new tracks (6 Cups of 4 Tracks each) which has 4 separate difficulty modes (the later 2 are unlockable by getting gold on all Cups of previous difficulty), Time trials for those 24 tracks, Quick play single race for all 29 tracks, Local MP up to 4 players, Local wireless, and hidden collectibles (3 Keys per track) and cash you can find to unlock new vehicles and upgrade the vehicles you have. Compared to other games, I still wouldn’t say it’s bursting with content, but compared to what the arcade version had, it’s a very fleshed out version.

And because it’s so fun and addictive to unlock and upgrade cars, there’s a ton of replayability- much more than any game of this size has any right to boast. Because of that, it feels just as robust as most other games.

As a true arcade racer, it’s designed to give you a heck of an experience at the arcade in the few minutes you spend playing it, which is why every track is bursting at the seams with spectacle, and why nothing really grinds the gameplay to a halt. It’s pure adrenaline from start to finish. They genuinely do not make games like this anymore. And this particular game, at least for me, feels like the perfect arcade racer. It’s designed specifically to my tastes. When I say I like arcade racing games more than realistic ones, it’s gameplay like this I have in mind. But no game of the last 20 years has ever truly nailed it. They make arcade racing games but they’re always just dipping their toes into the water, half committed to the more realistic approach and the other half mixing some arcadey physics. This one is 100% arcade racer. That’s why this is so special.

@GrailUK
I’m 99% confident the Cruis’n N64 arcade Trilogy will come to Switch.

Reason being, Eugene Jarvis said they never planned to bring Cruis’n Blast to Switch. Console ports have a tendency of killing arcade business, which kills their arcade unit sales. Which are a LOT more profitable at $9000 a pop than selling a $40 game by the hundreds. But the pandemic shut down businesses, so their arcade sales plummeted. They needed income, especially being a smaller studio, and so the team decided to bring Cruis’n Blast to the Nintendo Switch. It is only because of the pandemic we have this wonderful game today.

When Eugene Jarvis mentioned he wanted to bring the original trilogy over, I think it’s obvious they want to cash in on console sales as much as possible due to the pandemic hurting their arcade business. Cruis’n Blast was the first step. But the next logical step would be to port the original trilogy. So even though he didn’t make a firm commitment, I believe they’ve already begun development.

@JaxonH That's a well reasoned supposition mate Fingers crossed!

That video almost sold me.

I always had a slight interest in this series, but back on the N64 when you were bombarded with top racers like Wave Race 64, Mario Kart 64, Extreme-G, San Francisco Rush, Snowboard Kids, Diddy Kong Racing, and more, in the first year alone, then critically panned games like Cruis'n USA had some trouble to be added to a racing fans game selection. I think's that's why it was delayed in Europe to a January 1998 release which didn't help it either.
And when Cruis'n World came out, new rivals such as F-Zero X, 1080° Snowboarding, F1 World Grand Prix, Beetle Adventure Racing, Destruction Derby 64, Wipeout 64, Ridge Racer 64, extreme-G 2, and Star Wars Episode I Racer were on top of the game. Again, I just couldn't afford it because so many other fantastic N64 racers (and N64 games in general) caught my attention.
I believe Cruis'n Exotica never made it to Europe as it was a late release in the lifespan of the system, but once again, I imagine it would have struggled a bit against the new cream of the crop that was Excitebike 64, World Driver Championship, Snowboard Kids 2, Mickey's Speedway USA, Micro Machines 64, Rush 2049, F1 World Grand Prix II, and a couple more.
The first game in the series I actually bought was Cruis'n (Wii), the fourth game, which in reality is a port from The Fast and Furious arcade machine with a name change. I never liked it, it looks shabby and gameplay is boring. I bought it because I collected all Nintendo-made games for Wii and Cruis'n is a Nintendo IP.

A "Cruis'n Trilogy" would be neat, now that technology is good enough to bring the real arcade quality home. I'll keep it on my radar, still I'd always prefer a new F-ZERO, Excite Truck, Wave Race, etc. If only one of those came out I'd probably say bye bye to Cruis'n. But right now I wanna play it. I have to contemplate for a little while though. It sounds like a great multiplayer game and the Switch port seems to be a really polished home conversion.

The only reason I probably won't buy this soon is that I doubt I'll be in a situation to play local multiplayer for a while. Beyond my normal excuse of other games being a priority anyway.

Ran my first cup docked, surprised that there is no noticeable visual or performance degradation between handheld and docked as far as I can tell. Still disappointed by just how short each race is, but the second cup certainly turns things up with much bigger set pieces and having the police chase you down.

Does this game have tracks in other world locations besides Brazil, Madagascar, Singapore, UK, Hong Kong and Death Valley?

@Don
It has 24 additional tracks. They're not specific locations but they do seem different enough. Some are in icy areas, some on a dinosaur safari, etc.

My favorite vehicles leveled up

So I've now played through all the cups - I hear there are some secret cups to unlock or something maybe? - but I have played through all the cups available. Now granted, I haven't unlocked the two bonus difficulties yet as the rubberbanding can make the normal difficulty surprisingly tough, especially on a game where every track is so short. One mistake and one rubber band reaction is basically game over because there is just no track or time left to recover. None of that satisfaction you might get in other arcade racers in making a mistake early, but then slowly climbing your way back to victory over repeated laps.

While I think the game is fun, looks nice and runs well, and there is a certain amount of charm to some of the silly vehicles you can unlock, I really don't think people have made enough noise about how little content this title has. It is a budget title technically, but even then, there is remarkably little content here. Despite every race running under two minutes, they still repeat set pieces and reuse locations for different cups. So that is six cups, each with four races, with each cup running about five minutes across all the races and they still find time to reuse content between the races. I personally do not think that is okay in the slightest, especially as they are charging you 35 quid for like half an hours worth of content, which still manages to reuse content in that time.

People can argue there is "more content" because of the difficulty settings and collectables that unlock additional vehicles, but I just do not think it is enough. Especially as there is no online mode and it isn't like the vehicles do anything unique (even if you unlock say a dinosaur, it still uses the same car sound effects, they didn't even bother to change that). So yeah, you get the novelty of racing as a shark, but then about 60 seconds later the race is over.

It is a shame, as I think the moment to moment racing is fun and the first time you see some of the set pieces used they are really cool but even at it's current "budget" price tag, I think the price tag on this is just ludicrous. I don't remember the last time a game tried to get away with offering so little content and such artificial ways to expand what little they have.

@Pizzamorg
It's light for sure, but I think ppl are just happy to have it. The arcade version only had 5 tracks, so they've done an admirable job extending it for this release.

I can't blame anyone who feels it's light on content, because it technically is. I just don't think it's an issue since it hinges so strongly upon replayability. And it's got that in spades. Like chess, it's a game meant to be played over and over.

I played the 5 original tracks, got all 3 keys in each one, then beat the Easy and Normal difficulties with Gold on each Cup, and just last night beat the Hard difficulty with Gold on each Cup. Probably spent 5 hrs in the game so far. Still need to beat Hardest difficulty, find the remaining 25 keys or so, and fully upgrade all the vehicles. I figure I'll have at least 10 hrs in by the time that's all done. After that it's just playing for fun.

But ya. It is what it is. Personally, I love this game to death and have been waiting for the arcade version to come over for years. It's fine to me. Even if it was overpriced, I'm OK with that too. It's just too fun, a game that scratches an itch no other can. But some are waiting on a sale, and I get that too.

I think it just annoys me, because it speaks of a wider issue when it comes to gaming discourse. Nintendo, and Japanese publishers in general, seem to get away with a lot more and I really think if the industry is going to get better, it isn't going to be the result of people picking and choosing when to be mad about the same issues.

You could argue this is some indie title, but this is licensed by Nintendo, so it makes it first party. If EA or Ubisoft or any of the usual villains tried to offer you 30 minutes of content for 35 quid, and in those 30 minutes, actually reused content there'd be a new blog post every second expressing their outrage.

Here, basically everyone seems to be happy to turn a blind eye, about the only person who hadn't ironically is Jon, who actually put a disclaimer about this on their Nintendo Life video review. I've read/watched a bunch of other reviews who basically do not bring this up at all, and whether intentional or not, I really feel it misleads players to not mention that there is basically nothing to this game at all other than replaying the measly offering of things over and over again, mostly just for the sake of doing it.

@Pizzamorg
It's not "turning a blind eye". That implies a willful decision to overlook wrongdoing. People knew full well what it is going in. And most just aren't upset. On the contrary, are more than happy with it.

People knew right away there's 29 tracks, no online. It is what it is. If that's not enough, nobody's forcing anyone to buy it. But you can't force people to be upset at a game they're not naturally upset at and are enjoying.

I find this game more than worth the money. If others don't, well, then they don't. But it's not like ppl are ignorant to what it offers and what it doesn't.

This is an arcade title. Arcade titles have a history of light content but with high replayability. So expectations are adjusted accordingly. If it didn't have high replayability, then I think it would be a different story. But again, ppl know the score. Anyone who feels it's not worth it to them can wait for a sale or skip it.

I know I can say with confidence this was a better buy to me than a lot of $60 games I've purchased that either have performance issues, bore me after 2 hrs and I never touch again, or last 50 hrs but the quality of fun is far less. Light on content or not, if it's a high quality experience I'll actually play and enjoy for 10-20 hrs, that's worth a lot more to me than just "content". But that's a decision each person can make for themselves.

I had no idea it had half an hour of content and I can't imagine I am the only person on the planet who didn't know about this. It is not the duty of the consumer to find out this information, it is the craft of the reviewer to make us aware of these things so we can make informed decisions. Y'know, basically the entire point of a review. Something which almost every review has failed to do, here.

And I just hate hypocrites, people who go on and on about the "consumer injustices" until a publisher they like do the same thing and they look away. This was never aimed at you personally and I am sorry if it came across as otherwise, but I am just speaking generally. I see this all the time and it is exhausting.

However, in regards to you specifically, you deem it as high replayability but that is not an objective statement. So you may personally feel that way, but I personally do not and while it is not your duty to justify your opinions, reviewers are meant to in the context of a review and again many failed to do so.

So while you want to champion this game and that is excellent you are enjoying it, I hope to be a balanced voice here so someone doesn't end up disappointed by their purchase and wanted to make a point to appreciate Jon bring some balance to the mostly lopsided, hand waved, discussion surrounding this game online.

@Pizzamorg
Fair enough.

I don't think characterizing it as "half an hour content" disregarding all time spent outside of the actual race is fair though any more than characterizing a fighting game as "half an hour content" is fair. You can play 2 minutes matches against all the fighters and see everything the game has in half an hour. But you'll play it for dozens of hours.

Same thing here. That being the nature of arcade titles with high replayability. You could classify Mario Kart 8 the same way. Maybe 1 hr content? After all, 3 laps just reuse the same first lap so you're repeating the same content. But that's part of the game.

It doesn't bother me if you don't think it's worth it. Though I would ask how much content you expected. 29 tracks, even in a best case scenario if they were 3 minutes each, would still be less than 1.5 hours of "new" content. And I can't imagine you'd have been happy with that either (though maybe I'm wrong on that?).

I agree reviewers should be consistent. I just don't think it's fair to take an arcade title on sale for discount with 29 tracks (basically same as Mario Kart 8 when it released on Wii U) and portray it as half an hour. Through the course of playing you will fail, you will have to try again, you will have to play a track many times to find the keys and you'll have to play a ton to upgrade all the vehicles. So the actual playtime content is much, much higher. And if it's fun enough to keep you playing, that's what matters.

I think if there's a specific reviewer that raged against another game of similar content but said nothing here, and you can point out that specific reviewer, I'd stand shoulder to shoulder with you on that. But I haven't seen any. And if I had, I'd also have to evaluate through the context of replayability. A game light on content that's story driven is completely different than an arcade racing game meant to be played over and over.

With a fighting game though, the time comes from mastering characters and then taking that mastery online to test your abilities. There is no such equivalent here. I guess you could argue the closest equivalent is doing the same stages at higher difficulty, but I don't think it is the same as learning a character.

I would say something like Mario is also a fairly wobbly comparison. Due to the power ups and because races have multiple laps, the narrative of the race is going to vary. Plus while light, different karts can vary slightly. And you can take game online.

Here, while you may get slightly better at getting around a track, there isn't going to be much variance between the first time you experience a track here and the 10th time, outside of changing the difficulty (which in itself is very artificial here, as it mostly revolves around some aggressive rubber banding, rather than the AI playing smarter) as all the cars handle the same. Or if there is variance, there is no perceptible variance to me.

In terms of content I want, I dunno. I mean as far back as 2005, the Burnout games were giving us 15ish hour long campaigns as you battled to unlock cups. Unlocking different car classifications, different race types, objectives, tracks etc So the fact that this is offering this little like two decades later is kinda absurd to me.

Especially as things like vehicles in this game - as outlined in my original post - are just skins. They don't do anything. Everything has the same sounds and handles identically. So a completionist may agree with your assessment, but I don't. And even that pales, looking online, a completionist run of Burnout Revenge in 2005 is apparently around 45 hours.

Now your counterpoint to this may be that that was a full priced game and this is a budget title. But I'd argue that it has been two decades, we shouldn't be getting this much less content, even at a slightly higher price all these decades later.