Greetings AM2 Team,
Hello, my name is Eric. I'm 14 and I live in California in the United States. I feel priviledged to send you this e-mail, despite the language barrier.
I am here to tell you about Daytona USA. I'm a very big fan of the work you've put into it, especially Daytona USA 2. I will go as far as to say it's my most favorite game ever. However, I am also quite depressed about its current state. Around here, no one plays it anymore. Games such as Initial D, Mario Kart, F-Zero, and Project Gotham Racing (the list goes on) prevail over this excellent masterpiece you've created. Though there is also Daytona USA on Dreamcast which I enjoyed (and has several innovative ideas I liked), it's not the same as the arcade Daytona. How could you turn Daytona USA over the AV team like that? You people know how to make a racing game.
The thing is, I've been playing Daytona USA 2: Power Edition at my arcade for the last 3 years. It's been lots of fun, but now it's beginning to lose steam. After all, with only 4 cars & 3 tracks (Challenge course doesn't count), it doesn't take long for the replay value to run low, especially for less-enthusiastic racing fans which consists of most of the population. Also, I have never really enjoyed multiplayer races; not many people are playing Daytona USA anymore. But you already knew that. To this day I'm still surprised the Daytona USA 2 cabinet is still there in the arcade; waiting for me to come around and set a new record every once in a while.
So after much thought in the past, I've been thinking of a new Daytona USA game. It sounds crazy, but I'd like that. In a nutshell, it could be a compilation of all the Daytona games. All the cars and all the tracks plus more. It could revive the Daytona series once and for all. That would be great.
Here's my ideas. I'm no good at explaining things, but hopefully you can understand. First here's a list of every car:
Hornet, Uma, the Daytona USA Max car, Hornet (CCE version), Gallop, Max, Phoenix, Oriole, Magic, Wolf, Balance, Uma 2, Chums Gum/JC Eagle, Scorpio, Phantom, Hornet (DC version), Grasshopper, Falcon, Lightning, Unicorn, Red Cat, Pywackett Barchetta, Pywackett Barchetta Super, Rule of the 9th, Javelin
And here's the tracks:
Three-Seven Speedway, Dinosaur Canyon, Seaside Street Galaxy, Desert City, National Park Speedway, Silver Ocean Causeway*, Astro Waterfall Speedway/Sega International Speedway**, Amusement Park Speedway, Virtua City, Circuit Pixie, Mermaid Lake
* - see Daytona USA Deluxe on PC
** - according to Mark Kim's walkthrough on Gamefaqs (
http://www.gamefaqs.com/coinop/arcade/game/22939.html), this is what names he gives Daytona USA 2's courses
That's a lot of material to work with.
I'm trying to shorten this as much as possible by skipping the obvious facts. Such as AT/MT and racing in reverse. So I will state all my "new" ideas:
From: Eric43 | Posted: 3/21/2004 6:15:35 PM | Message Detail
*Color schemes: In Daytona USA 2001, there was the option of custom color schemes. In this sequel, there should be a whole list of preset color schemes for each car. Click on a certain menu and you can choose these color schemes:
AT, MT, red, blue, yellow, green, purple, orange, black, white, brown, pink, gray (etc.), and 3 custom color slots
*Custom numbers: I'm not sure how precious 41 is to you, but to change the number from 0 to 99 would be pretty nice.
*Different paint schemes: As the Chums Gum was changed to JC Eagle, you can unlock different paint schemes for every car if you ever get sick of...say the Phantom. Perhaps you can have the Phantom car advertise some dinosaurs or high-tech special effects or even fast food. The possibilities of features are endless.
*All cars are made equal: Do you remember the Lightning and Rule of the 9th cars from Daytona USA 2001? Well the Rule of the 9th inferiorized the Lightning. I don't want this. Each car should be statistically equal.
*Damage; physical & internal: Daytona USA 2 has the most intriguing damage models I've seen in a racing game. However, I'd like these kind of damage models to apply for every car, plus more. More bobbing hoods and waving back-ends. Smash a car until all that remains is the metal frame.
With internal damage, cars that get banged up eventually take wear and go slower. Also, if you take enough damage, your car may break down and the race ends.
*Endurances races/car wear: You can adjust laps from 2 to 500, of course. Also, if you wish, you can take mandatory pit stops every once in a while to refuel your car, change tires, and fix damage. This should also apply to the AI drones. I know this is an arcade game, but this would be interesting to have.
*Edit drone cars: In a new menu, you can edit several features of the AI cars, such as "Computer Skill" (how fast they drive), "Computer Agressiveness" (how much they knock you around), and "Computer Endurance" (how frequenty a drone will crash out of the race).
*Edit weather/time of day: It would be nice to drive around at night or in the rain. Or even in foggy weather.
*Daytona 1/2 sliding judgment: One of the biggest problems with a Daytona 1/2 merge would be the sliding judgment. Daytona USA 2 is the only game of the series with different slide physics from the other Daytona games. Here's how to solve the problem: let the player choose which one he wants. Alongside with AT/MT, players could choose how they want their car to behave while sliding, so you can have the Scorpio with Daytona 1 physics and the Hornet with Daytona 2.
*New cars & tracks: It wouldn't be that good of a Daytona game without new features. How about some new cars based on 2004 stock cars? Or maybe a drag racer. Ask AV for some crazy ideas for cars; I'm sure they got some. For new tracks, just think of something cool. Or how about courses from other Sega racers, such as Scud Race or Sega GT? Or maybe some Crazy Taxi or Sonic-based courses. I don't know; I'm just throwing ideas out here.
*A bonus Outrun-style course: Outrun is a really fun game; how about it? Race around in Daytona cars and choose your own paths in different places. It doesn't have to be as big & intricate as Outrun 2's course, but you get the picture.
*Editable music: Edit the music for each course, such as playing "Blue Skies" on Three Seven Speedway. Also, tunes from Outrun, Scud Race, & other Sega racers would be cool as well..
*Cheats: That's right, cheats. To unlock cheats, you could have to beat target times in Time Lap Mode on various courses. Aside from different paint schemes, you could unlock stuff such as "Small Cars" or "Super Fast Cars." This would be interesting.
*Online mode: Daytona USA has excellent single-player, but multiplayer over the net is too good. At most 8 cars per race would be perfect. Players could be identified for their different color schemes and numbers. And don't close the servers out like Sega did with the Dreamcast version...
*Steering wheel: If you deem it worthy, there's always room for a special Daytona USA steering wheel with the wheel, pedals, and a special 4-gear stick.
There's always the question, "Which system will this game be on?" Call me crazy, but I would like it on the PS2. However, since there is no pressure buttons, like on the back of Dreamcast and X-box controllers, this game will probably end up on X-box. But who knows what you can come up with.
Sorry for the sloppy mess this is, but I really hope you can understand and consider my ideas. I'm in the process of making a Daytona USA website and petition to rally the Daytona support once again. I break down and cry whenever I think about how much I wish a new Daytona would come out for the any system.
However, I give you all my greatest compliments for making Daytona USA in the first place. You people are great. God bless you all.
Eric
E-mail me back if you have any questions/comments.
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