Cruis'n World

About Cruis'n World

Cruis'n World (1996) is Midway's arcade sequel to Cruis'n USA, racing around the globe from Hawaii to Florida, adding stunts and ending with a trip to the Moon.

Cruis'n World in Depth

The core play is the same as Cruis'n USA: race against a time limit to the goal, passing checkpoints that extend the clock. This time the route circles the globe, opening in Hawaii and continuing through Japan, Australia, China, Kenya, Egypt, Moscow, Germany, Italy, France, England, Mexico and New York City before finishing in Florida. There are more cars than in the first game, and Cruis'n World introduced stunts to the series: wheelies give short bursts of speed, while aerial flips knock seconds off the final race time, helping the player climb the records table, and stunts also help dodge obstacles and take tight curves.

Players who finish every stage including Florida see their car carried by a Space Shuttle to the Moon, where they are congratulated by then-President Bill Clinton. To build the tracks, the developers sent artists on a round-the-world trip to capture sights and major tourist attractions digitally. A Next Generation critic said that, like its predecessor, it had an unsurpassed sense of arcade driving, with fast driving, cars knocked off the road and chaotic multi-car collisions, and praised its more elaborate, skill-demanding tracks, but felt it was mastered very quickly and that pop-in remained as bad as before.

Making Cruis'n World

Midway Games developed it and Nintendo published it in 1996 as the sequel to the 1994 arcade racer Cruis'n USA. Development of the Nintendo 64 version began in 1996; Eugene Jarvis admitted that Williams Entertainment's port of Cruis'n USA had not been good, and an arcade-perfect conversion was promised. Eurocom took the licence and spent more time on it than on the earlier port. Nintendo announced it for autumn 1997, but it was quietly delayed until 1998. The port received mixed reviews, averaging 63 per cent on GameRankings, with Next Generation giving it two stars out of five for its minimal technique and difficulty.