''Stakes Winner'' is a

horse racing Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

arcade

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

developed by Saurus, with additional support from AM Factory, and originally published by

SNK is a Japanese video game hardware and software company. It is the successor to the company Shin Nihon Kikaku and presently owns the SNK video game brand and the Neo Geo video game platform. SNK's predecessor Shin Nihon Kikaku was founded in 1978 ...

on September 27,

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. In the game, players compete with either AI-controlled opponents or against other human players across multiple races. Though it was initially launched for the Neo Geo MVS (arcade), the title was later released for both

Neo Geo AES The , stylised as NEO•GEO and also written as NEOGEO, is a cartridge-based arcade system board and the fourth generation home video game console released on April 26, 1990 by Japanese game company SNK Corporation. It was the first system in ...

(home) and Neo Geo CD respectively, in addition of being ported and re-released through download services for various consoles. It was received with mixed reception from critics and reviewers since its initial release. In

1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...

, a sequel titled ''

Stakes Winner 2 ''Stakes Winner 2'' is a horse racing arcade video game developed by Saurus, with additional support from System Vision, and originally published by SNK on September 24, 1996. It is the sequel to the original '' Stakes Winner'', which was released ...

'' was released for the arcades.

Gameplay

''Stakes Winner'' is a thoroughbred horse racing game similar to ''

Winning Post ''Winning Post'' is a thoroughbred horse racing simulation game series from Koei Tecmo (originally Koei) debuting in 1993. The series is distinct from Koei's other horse-racing franchise, '' G1 Jockey'', and Tecmo's ''Gallop Racer'' series. To da ...

'', where players take control of any of the available horses, each with their own strengths and weaknesses, to compete against either AI opponents or other human players across multiple races. Players control their horse with the joystick while two action buttons are used; one controlling the reins for small accelerations that drains little portions of the horse's stamina and another for the whip for fast speed, which drastically consumes stamina from the horse and if the stamina is depleted completely, racing is given up for a short period.''Stakes Winner'' user's manual (Neo Geo AES, US) Two quick taps on the joystick at any direction allows the horse to push back an opponent in front of them, however two quick taps on the opposite side reduces speed.

Power-up In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chosen ...

s also spawn on the race track for players to pick up. Failing to qualify for the next race results in a game over screen unless players insert more credits into the arcade machine to continue playing.

Development and release

''Stakes Winner'' was developed by Saurus, with additional support from AM Factory, and the project was first announced in mid-1995 across Japanese publications such as ''Neo Geo Freak'', with previews showcasing various differences compared to the final release. The game was first released by SNK for the Neo Geo MVS on September 27, 1995 and was then published for Neo Geo AES on October 27 of the same year. The North American AES release has since become one of the more expensive titles on the platform, with copies fetching over

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

4000 on the secondary video game collecting market. The game was later re-released by Saurus for the Neo Geo CD and released only in Japan on March 22,

. The title was later ported by Saurus to the

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

and

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 ...

, both of which were released on December 6, 1996. It has since received multiple re-releases in recent years on various digital distribution platforms such as the

Virtual Console A virtual console (VC) – also known as a virtual terminal (VT) – is a conceptual combination of the keyboard and display for a computer user interface. It is a feature of some Unix-like operating systems such as Linux, BSD, illumos, Unix ...

Nintendo eShop The Nintendo eShop is a digital distribution service powered by the Nintendo Network for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, and by a dedicated online infrastructure for the Nintendo Switch. Launched in June 2011 on the Nintendo 3DS, the eShop was en ...

PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...

and

Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly and still sometimes branded as Xbox Live, is an Internet, online multiplayer video game, multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox ...

Reception

''Stakes Winner'' was met with mixed reception from critics and reviewers since its release. In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed it on their November 1, 1995 issue as being the fourth most-successful arcade game of the month, outperforming titles such as ''

Puzzle Bobble 2 ''Puzzle Bobble 2'' is a tile-matching video game by Taito. The first sequel to ''Puzzle Bobble'', it is also known in Europe and North America as ''Bust-A-Move Again'' for arcades and ''Bust-A-Move 2: Arcade Edition'' for home consoles. Releas ...

'', '' Virtua Striker'' and ''

Street Fighter Alpha ''Street Fighter Alpha: Warriors' Dreams'', known as in Japan, Asia, South America, and Oceania, is a 2D arcade fighting game by Capcom originally released in 1995 for the CP System II hardware. It was the first all new ''Street Fighter'' game p ...

''.

Sequel

A sequel, ''Stakes Winner 2'' was released in 1996 for the arcades, Neo Geo AES, PlayStation and Sega Saturn. It was later re-released in recent years for the Virtual Console, PlayStation Network, Nintendo eShop and Xbox Live.

Notes

References

External links

''Stakes Winner''
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 ...

''Stakes Winner''
at

Killer List of Videogames Killer List of Videogames (KLOV) is a website featuring an online encyclopedia devoted to cataloging arcade games past and present. It is the video game department of the International Arcade Museum, and has been referred to as "the IMDb for pla ...

''Stakes Winner''
at

MobyGames MobyGames is a commercial website that catalogs information on video games and the people and companies behind them via crowdsourcing. This includes nearly 300,000 games for hundreds of platforms. The site is supported by banner ads and a small ...

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