''Import Tuner Challenge'' is the international title for ''Shutokō Battle X'' (or Shutokou Battle X) (首都高バトル X), a racing game published by

Ubisoft Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...

and developed by

Genki Genki may refer to: *Genki (company), a Japanese video game company *Genki (era), a Japanese era name *Genki (given name) Genki (written: 元気, 元喜, 元基, 元規, 源気 or 源基) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with th ...

for the

Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox series. It competed with Sony's PlayStation 3 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation ...

. It is the final main installment in the decade running

Shutokō Battle series ''Tokyo Xtreme Racer'' is an arcade racing video game series created by Genki and inspired by street racing on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Its first installment, ''Shutokō Battle '94: Drift King'', released in 1994 for the Super Famicom. In ...

of games known as

Tokyo Xtreme Racer ''Tokyo Xtreme Racer'' is an arcade racing video game series created by Genki and inspired by street racing on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Its first installment, ''Shutokō Battle '94: Drift King'', released in 1994 for the Super Famicom. In 20 ...

in North America and Tokyo Highway Challenge in Europe, and was the last Genki-developed video game. Despite being the last Shutokou Battle game, this is the only Shutokou Battle game to be on the

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

console.

Story

After the 13 Devils have been defeated once more in the Kaido Circuit, Motoya Iwasaki, aka Speed King, disappeared suddenly, leaving without a trace. Since then, many drivers from all across Japan come to Tokyo in order to have his title of "Speed King". The hero here is the best friend of Iwasaki and beats Bloodhound, Midnight Cinderella, Platinium Prince, Skull Bullet's gang & eventually, the Phantom 9. In the meantime, Bloodhound reveals to the racer why Iwasaki has been depressed for a long time : his girlfriend died because she was ill and Iwasaki wasn't there to support her.

Gameplay

The player's objective in the game is to make a name of the player out on the highways of

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. The player begins as an unknown driver and as the player progresses through the game by earning increasingly impressive nicknames or Handles as they're called in the game. The player begins the game with a small amount of currency before picking out the first car. When the player picks the first car, the player will begin a race against Iwasaki. The game features player versus player and a score meter called a spirit points bar.

Reception

While ''

Famitsu formerly ''Famicom Tsūshin'', is a line of Japanese video game magazines published by Kadokawa Game Linkage (previously known as Gzbrain), a subsidiary of Kadokawa. ''Famitsu'' is published in both weekly and monthly formats as well as in the fo ...

'' received the Japanese version very well, it did not receive well overseas.

GameRankings GameRankings was a video gaming review aggregator that was founded in 1999 and owned by CBS Interactive. It indexed over 315,000 articles relating to more than 14,500 video games. GameRankings was discontinued in December 2019, with its staff bei ...

gave it a score of 52.77%, while

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

gave it 54 out of 100.

TeamXbox ''TeamXbox'' was a gaming media web site dedicated to Microsoft's Xbox, Xbox 360 and Xbox One platforms. While the majority of content was Xbox and Xbox 360 related, the site occasionally covered general technology and other video game news. ...

's Nate Ahearn rated the game 4.9 out of 10, saying, "Tuning the numerous parts of your car provides for some decent variation, but you’ll soon figure out that the actual gameplay just isn't very good."

IGN ''IGN'' (formerly ''Imagine Games Network'') is an American video game and entertainment media website operated by IGN Entertainment Inc., a subsidiary of Ziff Davis, Inc. The company's headquarters is located in San Francisco's SoMa distri ...

's Erik Brudvig criticized the AI for being too easy, saying, "They can be blown away on every turn with only minimal drifting and turning skills."

References

External links

UbiSoft's Official ITC WebsiteJapanese version's Official Website
* {{Tokyo Xtreme Racer series 2006 video games Genki (company) games Racing video games Video games developed in Japan Video games set in Tokyo Xbox 360-only games Xbox 360 games Multiplayer and single-player video games