There are remasters, there are remakes, there are reboots and non secular sequels. Tokyo Xtreme Racer is one thing else; it’s a full-on resurrection. It’s the return of a novel sport collection — and a developer — that had been all however useless for nearly 20 years. But it surely’s not a reinvention or an overtly nostalgic tribute, both. It’s a continuation of the video games of their authentic kind, as if the previous 20 years had merely by no means occurred. It’s one of the best racing sport of 2005, launched in 2025. It’s superb.
You would possibly know the collection by one in every of its many different names: Shutokou Battle, or Tokyo Freeway Battle, or Import Tuner Problem, or Road Supremacy, or Freeway 2000, or Wangan Lifeless Warmth. Genki — the developer, not the equipment producer — made actually dozens of video games impressed by Japan’s street-racing scene between 1994 and 2006. Then it abruptly stopped. The studio retired its Genki Racing Venture growth arm and, save a few abortive makes an attempt to make Shutokou Battle work on cellular, went very, very quiet.
However, simply as abruptly, Genki Racing Venture and Tokyo Xtreme Racer are again. The sport surfaced in early entry on Steam in January 2025, and simply up to date to its 1.0 model on Thursday, Sept. 25. I’ve been enjoying it for the reason that early spring, and whereas there have been some notable tweaks and additions, Genki’s builders had the idea nailed to the wall from the beginning. In fact they did — on this planet of Tokyo street-racing video video games, they’re the OGs. That is their world.
And what a seductive world it’s. In Tokyo Xtreme Racer, the motion solely takes place at evening, on the expressways and flyovers of Tokyo, and the one races are head-to-head challenges towards rivals you occur upon by cruising the streets or hanging out in parking areas. Flash your beams at a rival and also you each sprout well being bars, fighting-game model. Contact chips away at these, however this isn’t actually a vehicular fight sport; the additional forward you’re, the quicker your rival’s well being bar is eroded.
It’s very simple, and the problem can fluctuate rather a lot relying the place you come across a rival and the route they choose. On the outer highways that span the darkish void of the bay, races could be nothing greater than straight-line drags which can be over in seconds. On the C1 loop that twists and tunnels across the metropolis heart, a race towards a tricky opponent requires threading a needle by visitors and round blind high-speed bends, utilizing as little brake as you may get away with whereas avoiding wall contact that may wipe away half your well being.
The important thing factor to know about Tokyo Xtreme Racer, although, is that it’s as a lot a form of blissed-out, nocturnal, automotive Pokémon as it’s a technical racing sport. Way more so, in truth. It’s about grinding out races to extend your stage, unlock perks, and earn credit for brand spanking new rides and automotive upgrades. It’s about choosing your manner by the perk tree to unlock legendary tuner vehicles just like the 1998 Nissan Fairlady Z or the 1987 Toyota Sprinter Trueno, and customizing them with neon underlighting, decals, and fats rims.
It’s about looking down the colourful members of the handfuls of racing groups that prowl the streets, hoping to ultimately draw out their leaders. It’s about perusing the amusing bios of racers with aliases (B.A.D. Names, within the sport’s lexicon) like Woodpecker Syndrome, Melancholic Jupiter, Overseas Bookkeeper, and Silent Mongoose. It’s about hanging out on the parking areas to take a look at rivals’ silhouetted 2000s fashions, have interaction in surprisingly courtly, sparring dialogue with them, and choose up clues in regards to the mysterious Wanderers and how one can unlock the necessities to race them.
It’s a vibe, in different phrases. Tokyo Xtreme Racer is likely to be the vibiest racing sport round proper now. And the vibes are solely enhanced by the sport’s look, which hasn’t developed a lot since 2006, both technically or aesthetically, and is all the higher for it. It’s a grainy, moonlit, PS2-ass world of flickering sodium streetlamps and vaguely looming skyscrapers, soundtracked with crunchy metallic guitars, hammering techno beats, and wailing Hammond organ.
Accelerating into the limitless evening of Tokyo Xtreme Racer has been my gaming glad place in 2025 — which is all of the extra shocking since I someway by no means performed the collection earlier than, and don’t have any particular nostalgia for it. I do have nostalgia for visions as particular and superbly realized as this, although, crafted by individuals who’ve been doing it for many years and really feel it of their bones. Tokyo Excessive Racer, I by no means knew you, nevertheless it’s nice to have you ever again.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer is obtainable now on Home windows PC and might be launched on PlayStation 5 at a later date. The sport was reviewed on PC utilizing a replica bought by gamexplore. You’ll find extra details about gamexplore’s ethics coverage right here.
