''Cyber Speedway'' (''Gran Chaser'' in Japan) is a 1995 racing video game developed by NexTech and published by

Sega is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. Its international branches, Sega of America and Sega Europe, are headquartered in Irvine, California and London, r ...

for the

Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it was the successor to the succ ...

. The game was originally called ''Grand Racer'', but was renamed to avoid confusion with another early Saturn game, ''

Gale Racer is a racing arcade game developed by Sega AM3 and published by Sega. It was first published in Japan in October 1990, followed by an international release for arcades in February 1991. ''Rad Mobile'' was Sega's first 32-bit game, using Sega ...

''. It is a

spiritual sequel A spiritual successor (sometimes called a spiritual sequel) is a product or fictional work that is similar to, or directly inspired by, another previous work, but (unlike a traditional prequel or sequel) does not explicitly continue the product lin ...

to the 1993 computer game ''

CyberRace ''CyberRace'' is a futuristic single player racing game developed and published by Cyberdreams in 1993 for MS-DOS. It features flying car vehicles, called sleds, designed by industrial designer Syd Mead. The 1995 game ''Cyber Speedway'' is a sp ...

''; the two games share a similar theme, and vehicles designed by

Syd Mead Sydney Jay Mead (July 18, 1933 – December 30, 2019) was an American industrial designer and neo-futurist concept artist, widely known for his designs for science-fiction films such as ''Blade Runner'', '' Aliens'' and ''Tron''. Mead has bee ...

Regional differences

The game has different soundtracks depending on the region: one by Nextech's Kohji Hayama in Japan and Europe, and another by rock band Bygone Dogs in the United States.

Reception

''Cyber Speedway'' received generally mediocre reviews. While critics remarked that the graphics are good and that the two-player split screen mode is a welcome treat, especially given that the Saturn's flagship racer ''

Daytona USA is an arcade racing video game developed by Sega AM2 in 1993 and released by Sega in 1994. Players race stock cars on one of three courses. The first game released on the Sega Model 2 three-dimensional arcade system board, a prototype debuted ...

'' is single-player only, they found fault with the gameplay, particularly the hovercraft handling. Rad Automatic of ''

Sega Saturn Magazine ''Sega Saturn Magazine'' was a monthly UK magazine covering the Sega Saturn, a home video game console. It held the official Saturn magazine license for the UK, and some issues included a demo CD created by Sega, ''Sega Flash'', which included ...

'' argued that the vehicle's lack of traction is an inaccurate depiction of hovercraft physics, while a reviewer for ''Maximum'' felt that the hovercraft concept was a poor one to begin with, since hovercraft handle identically on all surfaces, making for "a predictable, tedious ride." A ''

GamePro Gamepro.com is an international multiplatform video game magazine media company that covers the video game industry, video game hardware and video game software in countries such as Germany and France. The publication, GamePro, was originally la ...

'' critic commented that the game was fun to play but lacked longevity, since all the tracks are easy to master and elements such as the crude cinematics in story mode limit the game's replay appeal. American magazine ''

Next Generation Next Generation or Next-Generation may refer to: Publications and literature * ''Next Generation'' (magazine), video game magazine that was made by the now defunct Imagine Media publishing company * Next Generation poets (2004), list of young ...

'' reviewed the Japanese version as an import, rating it three stars out of five, and stated that "''Gran Chaser'' is good fun, if not all together great."

References

{{Reflist

External links

''Cyber Speedway''
at

GameFAQs GameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by Fandom, Inc. since October 2022. The site has a databa ...

1995 video games Science fiction racing games Multiplayer and single-player video games Nex Entertainment games Sega video games Sega Saturn games Sega Saturn-only games Split-screen multiplayer games Video games developed in Japan