''Midnight Club'' is a series of arcade-style

racing video game Racing games are a video game genre in which the player participates in a racing competition. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to fantastical settings. They are distributed along a spectrum between more realistic rac ...

s developed by

Rockstar San Diego Rockstar San Diego, Inc. (formerly Angel Studios, Inc.) is an American video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Carlsbad, California. The studio is best known for developing the ''Midnight Club'' and ''Red Dead'' series. ...

(formerly known as Angel Studios) and published by

Rockstar Games Rockstar Games, Inc. is an American video game publisher based in New York City. The company was established in December 1998 as a subsidiary of Take-Two Interactive, using the assets Take-Two had previously acquired from BMG Interactive. Foun ...

. ''Midnight Club'' is similar to the ''

Midtown Madness ''Midtown Madness'' (also known as ''Midtown Madness: Chicago Edition'') is a 1999 racing game developed by Angel Studios and published by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows. The demo version was released in April 1999. Two sequels followed, with ...

'' series (previously developed by Angel Studios), with a focus on competitive street racing in open world urban environments. Throughout the series, players race through condensed depictions of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

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 ...

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, and

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

Premise

The ''Midnight Club'' series was inspired by the real life Japanese street racing group (''hashiriya''), known as the Mid Night Club, that hosted illegal street races on the

Bayshore Route The signed as Route B, is one of the routes of the tolled Shuto Expressway system in the Greater Tokyo Area. The Bayshore Route is a stretch of toll highway that runs from the Kanazawa ward of Yokohama in the west, northeast to the city of ...

(known natively as the ) of the

Shuto Expressway is a network of toll expressways in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan. It is operated and maintained by the . Most routes are grade-separated (elevated roads or tunnels) and central routes have many sharp curves and multi-lane merges that requi ...

in the

Greater Tokyo Area The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous metropolitan area in the world, consisting of the Kantō region of Japan (including Tokyo Metropolis and the prefectures of Chiba, Gunma, Ibaraki, Kanagawa, Saitama, and Tochigi) as well as the ...

. Two

kanji are the logographic Chinese characters taken from the Chinese family of scripts, Chinese script and used in the writing of Japanese language, Japanese. They were made a major part of the Japanese writing system during the time of Old Japanese ...

characters (, or "wangan") appear in each of the series' logos; the Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series ''

Wangan Midnight is a Japanese racing manga series written and illustrated by Michiharu Kusunoki. It was first serialized in Shogakukan's ''Big Comic Spirits'' in 1990, but was later serialized in Kodansha's ''Weekly Young Magazine'' from 1992 to 2008. The ...

'' — also inspired by the club — includes the same two characters in its logos. The kanji is removed from the titles in the Japanese versions of ''Midnight Club: Street Racing'' and ''Midnight Club: Los Angeles'' as to avoid legal conflict with ''Wangan Midnight'' rights owners

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

. In each game, the player begins with a relatively unmodified and slow vehicle. Higher-performance vehicles can be won or purchased by the player after competing in races against other club members. The goal is to defeat each of the other opponents (which include "city champion" and "world champion" racers) en route to becoming the new champion of the Midnight Club. Later installments of the series include real vehicle brands with sophisticated customization options for each, and "club" races, which consist of racers using vehicles of the same class.

Titles

''Midnight Club: Street Racing''

''Midnight Club II''

''Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition''

'' Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition'', developed by

and published by

, is the third game in the ''Midnight Club'' series. It is also the first game in the series to feature licensed vehicles and allow players to customize their cars and bikes with performance and visual upgrades. It was released for the

PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October 2000, in Europe on 24 November 2000, and in Australia on 3 ...

and

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. The brand consists of five video game consoles, as well as applications (games), streaming services, an online service by the name of Xbox network, and the development arm by the na ...

on April 11, 2005, and later ported to the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 2005, ...

in June of that same year. The three cities featured are

, and

. The name derived from a partnership between Rockstar and ''

DUB Magazine ''DUB'', founded in January 2000, is a North American magazine covering urban custom car culture and also features celebrities and their vehicles. The magazine also launched the DUB Magazine Custom Auto Show & Concert, a nationwide car show and ...

'', which features heavily in the game in the form of DUB-sponsored races and DUB-customized vehicles. The

port was developed by

Rockstar Leeds Rockstar Leeds Limited (formerly Möbius Entertainment Limited) is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in Leeds. Ian J. Bowden, Dave Box, Gordon Hall, and Jason McGann founded the company as Möbius Entertainmen ...

''DUB Edition Remix''

'' Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix'' is an updated version of ''Midnight Club 3''. This edition has an extra map of Tokyo updated from ''

Midnight Club 2 ''Midnight Club II'' is a racing video game developed by Rockstar San Diego and published by Rockstar Games. It is the sequel to '' Midnight Club: Street Racing'', published for the PlayStation 2, Xbox and Microsoft Windows and first in series to ...

'' which adds new missions to the game. Along with that come several new cars, new races, new battle maps, rims, vinyls, hydraulics, body kits, and music.

''Midnight Club: Los Angeles''

'' Midnight Club: Los Angeles'' is the fourth addition to the Midnight Club lineup. It was released for

PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. The successor to the PlayStation 2, it is part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. It was first released on Novemb ...

and

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 ...

in 2008 on October 20 for North America and October 24 for Europe. As the name suggests, the game is based in

, featuring

Santa Monica Santa Monica (; Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 U.S. Census population was 93,076. Santa Monica is a popular resort town, owing to ...

Beverly Hills Beverly Hills is a city located in Los Angeles County, California. A notable and historic suburb of Greater Los Angeles, it is in a wealthy area immediately southwest of the Hollywood Hills, approximately northwest of downtown Los Angeles. Bev ...

Hollywood Hollywood usually refers to: * Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California * Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States Hollywood may also refer to: Places United States * Hollywood District (disambiguation) * Hollywood, ...

Hollywood Hills The Hollywood Hills are a residential neighborhood in the central region of Los Angeles, California. Geography The Hollywood Hills straddle the Cahuenga Pass within the Santa Monica Mountains. The neighborhood touches Studio City, Univer ...

San Fernando Valley The San Fernando Valley, known locally as the Valley, is an urbanized valley in Los Angeles County, California. Located to the north of the Los Angeles Basin, it contains a large portion of the City of Los Angeles, as well as unincorporated ar ...

Downtown L.A. Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) contains the central business district of Los Angeles. In addition, it contains a diverse residential area of some 85,000 people, and covers . A 2013 study found that the district is home to over 500,000 jobs. It is ...

, and most recently South Central. The designers used real street maps in developing the game. The game features online play and downloadable content. Licensed cars and bikes return, including new models and brands such as

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

and

Mazda , commonly referred to as simply Mazda, is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Fuchū, Hiroshima, Japan. In 2015, Mazda produced 1.5 million vehicles for global sales, the majority of which (nearly one m ...

, which were absent in ''Midnight Club 3''.

''L.A. Remix''

'' Midnight Club: L.A. Remix'' is the portable adaption of ''Midnight Club: Los Angeles'' for the

. The port is developed by

Rockstar London Rockstar London Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Rockstar Games based in London. Mark Washbrook established the company in November 2005 within Rockstar Games' European publishing offices. The studio's first game was '' ...

with

. The game features the map of Los Angeles used in ''Midnight Club II'' rather than the map used in the console versions of ''Los Angeles''. The game also features the city of Tokyo, using the map from ''Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix''.

''Complete Edition''

Reception

The series has received generally positive views from critics.

Cancellation

In January 2010, Rockstar had stalled plans for a future ''Midnight Club'' installment, and the development team was slowly dismantled.

Take-Two Interactive Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in New York City and founded by Ryan Brant in September 1993. The company owns two major publishing labels, Rockstar Games and 2K, which operate internal g ...

re-registered the ''Midnight Club'' trademark in 2012. Although Take-Two has acknowledged the series in its quarterly financial reports while CEO

Strauss Zelnick Harry Strauss Zelnick (born June 26, 1957) is an American businessman. Born in Boston and raised in South Orange, New Jersey, he attended Columbia High School, Wesleyan University, Harvard Business School, and Harvard Law School. He is the f ...

mentioned it while discussing newly acquired developer

Zynga Zynga Inc. () is an American developer running social video game services. It was founded in April 2007, with headquarters in San Mateo, California. The company primarily focuses on mobile and social networking platforms. Zynga states its missio ...

in a January 2022 conference call, no plans have been made to reboot the franchise .

References

External links

* * {{Take-Two Interactive Open-world video games Rockstar Games games Rockstar Games franchises Street racing video games Take-Two Interactive franchises Video game franchises introduced in 2000