What's crazy about this game is that I was born in 1999, I had no nostalgia for this game. Yet during the XBLA era I picked up the port after picking up the Crazy Taxi port and loving it, and it turns out... yeah, it's not just nostalgia. Even on a controller, this game is simply FUN. One of the greatest racing games ever made. I spent many hours climbing leaderboards and playing the intense Survival mode.
I was a gamer since 1975 and this game blew me away. Great to hear younger people enjoying these great classics. I still play it on my Xbox Series X. Too bad OutRun lost the Ferrari license. 😢
I played the full size 8 player cabinet in Epicot in summer of 97. I came 2nd and gave a guy who'd been winning all day the hardest race of his life as "winner stayed on". He shook my hand and some guy with a cowboy hat was doing commentary at the time. I've since learned it was Earnheart doing promotion for the Disney Speedway as he was in the Parade in Disney the next day 😅
I'd like to thank everyone for their interaction with this video. I never expected so many people to enjoy it and share their memories of this amazing game. It means a lot to me, thank you everyone.
Reading so many nostalgic comments, I feel lucky to still play Daytona regularly! My dad lived in condo complex that randomly had a 2-player original cab, and now he lives near Funspot in NH, so the 8-player Daytona USA Championship there is a highlight of every visit. Gotta play at least 3-4 races in a row! 😅
I remember the first time i played Dayton usa was an my local amusement park arcade. They had four units linked together. My uncles and i all plsyed at the same time and we had a blast. This was probably around 95. I was 14 years old at the time. Im 43 years old now and any time i see Dayton USA cabinet i always play it and still enjoy it. The music and sounds are so iconic!!!
In a few arcades here in Australia you can still find a few Daytona USA cabinets scattered around here and there, and the Saturn version was the pack-in for our version of the Saturn; the game's just that popular here.
I still see Daytona USA (or the newer Daytona Championship USA) here in Brisbane but it seems that the most popular driving game in the arcades I see is the Namco Wangan Midnight series.
@@microfighterz Where is that one? I have been to most of the arcades in Brisbane (certainly the ones attached to all the shopping centers) and I don't know of any that are like that.
@@jfwfreo I remember reading about one but it was a while ago. It could be shut now and the name won’t come to me. I’ll have a look and see if I can find what it was.
When I was a teen, a new shopping mall was inaugurated with 2 main attractions: an inside ice ring and an arcade room with EIGHT Daytona USA arcades. I spent HOURS watching people playing against each other, mostly on the oval track. Good times...
even though the saturn port was a lot to be desired, still gave me the goose bump when i firing up the saturn and hearing the theme song: DAYTONAAAAAA!!! when i first got it 30 years ago!!! now i constantly play the PS3 port these days either on my gaming rig or steam deck, so much fun after all these years!
@@Ritzrfx When I was a kid I wanted a SEGA Saturn just for Daytona, but I never actually saw the port in action til the last couple years and was like "Whoa that's rough," lol.
Here in Argentina when I was a child there was a yearly Daytona contest for kids with cash prices, it played in those big 8 Player cabins and it was televised on Magic Kids channel on cable, on the Nivel X show that was about videogames
@@LynnHermione It's really interesting to me how the game is loved globally. It seems like it was distinctly targeting an American audience but the game is definitely globally celebrated.
"Try to go easy on the car!" "You're running first!" "You're in the final stretch... *BLUE, BLUE SKIES I SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!* " How come we never had any emotions from more recent track focus racing games from crew chief/Co-Drivers that sound like they really care enough to win the entire event? A game from 30 years ago (And it's sequel) shouldn't be the only racing games that cares enough to scream at the player to win. (Edited: Formatting)
My local arcade had a pair of the regular cabinets and one deluxe cabinet. My first experience with this game was with the deluxe cabinet. Only seen the 8 player setup once, at a SEGA operated arcade in the 1990s. Memories! lol
Incredible video, my man. Very well researched, a real joy to watch. I know next to nothing about NASCAR being from the UK (just #3, and that crazy video game move the guy did a while ago, that's it), so I appreciate filling me in on some NASCAR lore, too. Sega blue skies forever!
@@BrianM_3rd Glad you liked it. One of my main goals was to make the connection between NASCAR and the game, that's what I was most curious about. Why is the game named after Daytona, uses it's logo, has what are obviously NASCAR style stock cars but has nothing to do with NASCAR lol. Also, the crazy video game move was Ross Chastain in the fall 2022 race at Martinsville Speedway. Definitely NASCAR's most viral moment of the last decade or so.
Every now and then i have the urge to play somd daytona usa, played in the mall arcade and on my aunts pc. I just love the soundtrack, soo good, so iconic
30 year arcade tech and collector here. I'm also the tech for MAGfest(4 day gaming event). I've worked on many Daytona 1 and 2 machines. Was just at the warehouse where we have a Daytona sit down twin, and four Daytona 2 DLX with moving seats. The Daytona 2s were actually bought from me at a Gameworks locations I was head tech for. One place I worked at when the game was brand new was called Funscape, and we had an 8 player set. After hours, with the security cops and employees, would put Daytona on endurance mode, and it makes you do 80? laps, instead of the standard 10. It takes like 30 mins to complete, and your arm gets really soar LOL!! Virtua Racing also has the same feature.
@@RedCometXIII Most definitely check into it. 4 day 24hr nonstop. Literally NONSTOP. It's in DC, technically Maryland, but its a couple of miles from the Pentagon. Yuzo Koshiro was a guest and did a concert. There's a video of it magfest put out. We're directly left of camera.
There was a 4 player unit at UCLA in the arcade in Ackerman around ‘95-‘96. I was still in high school but on Friday nights my friends and I would drive to the campus for free play where we could pay a cover charge for unlimited gameplay. Daytona USA and Street Fighter were the two most popular games by far. We mastered the gear shifting sliding technique and the advanced track was the most fun!
When I was 11 I had a chance to play Ridge Racer from a stationary wired up Mazda Miata and big ass curved panoramic screen. Was some mega arcade in NH.
i worked at the Galleria mall in Houston in the early 2000s and remember seeing the 8 player Daytona USA cabinets with motion feedback. It was truly a sight to behold, but I remember thinking at the time that the game was heavily dated by then, although the motion was a nice touch. I still saw them played regularly, so people still enjoyed them 6-7 years later, even if by then I'd personally moved on to games like Racing Jam Super Deluxe, F355 Challenge and Sega Super GT
@@TehDarkOn3 Yeah that's the thing with Daytona USA, it somehow just kept chugging along despite newer games coming out. I feel like Daytona USA outlived F355, Super GT and even Daytona USA 2: Battle on the Edge. SEGA Rally Championship is the other best enduring arcade racer from that time.
Here in Argentina the game is still one of the most played games of all time, almost all arcade places are gone, but if you found one, there's a 99% chance that you will find a Daytona cabinet. Even there was a show for kids called "Nivel X" in the end of the XX century that held a tournament playing Daytona, the first prize was a PS1 and sometimes a Gamecube. Amazing video!
I was lucky. I lived in a place where both our boardwalk and our malls had 8 player units occasionally. My brother ran the mall arcade and he generally kept 4 to 6 players most times. 8 when it was hot. Then they’d send the extra units to another Aladdin’s Castle on the boardwalks
One of my favorite racing game. I still play it to this day even over daytona 2 and the newer remake. This can be called the perfect combination of gameplay, graphics and especially music.
I was a huge fan of Daytona USA in the 90's and still love playing it today thanks to emulation. I especially loved the 8 player setup at my local arcade next to the cinema and regularly played it with other people before seeing a movie. So much fun!
6:17 man I'd love a game where I can go from Daytona USA to Virtua Fighter 2, which also ran on the Model 2 arcade hardware I'd think that the crashed cars in the infield of a speedway would make a great backdrop for a fighting stage
We still have Daytona USA the old and the sequel in our local Mall's Arcade here in the Philippines, I love playing with friends and randoms since I was kid. I keep coming back when I have the time and if the machines are not in repair. These really stood the tests of time gameplay-wise.
Excellent video. Saw the thumbnail and the Daytona USA theme instantly blasted in my head. Great information and nostalgia. I hope the algorithm treats you well and your channel grows. God bless.
I'm sorry. You have under 250 subs? I'd expect this level of quality from someone with 100k. Well goddamn done dude! Keep it up! Daytooooonaaaaaaaaaaa!
Great video! This legendary game has a crazy story. It’s like the perfect storm of technology and creativity. It’s still a machine I seek out whenever I go to a retro arcade.
The music did indeed make this game. You could hear the theme as soon as you entered any arcade a mile away and you knew what machine you were aiming for. It really did pull you in. Oh and that 8 player version? Yeah, that was insane. I'd never seen anything like it and that blew my mind the first time I saw that.
Loved this game Played it every chance I had, often at our local Nathan's restaurant/arcade. The arcade was as big as the restaurant and had an 8 player setup. Lots of great memories with friends. Thanks for creating this.
I played the hell out of this back in high school in the mid 90s. when I finally learned the drift mechanics, i started practicing on weekends until i could nail the intermediate course almost flawlessly everytime, and guaranteed to be at the top of the leaderboard. I felt like a total badass when I'd finally get my turn to play when the arcade was busy, and most were just playing on the beginner course. Once they see me pick advanced + Manual, a small crowd would start to form. Then when i make that first drift turn after the tunnel they quiet down and watch intensely. I also learned to shift with just the tip of my fingers while steering one handed with as little steering input as possible, a big difference on how others would slam through the gears and saw wildly on the wheel like they were in an action movie. As soon as i cross the finish line, i would get up and walk away, leaving the initials screen blank and waiting intentionally. Sometimes someone would tell me i haven't entered my initials, and i'd casually say 'nah. you can enter yours if you want', and just walk away. In my mind i was the coolest person on the planet 🤣
Hearing the music in the arcade will be forever burned into my brain. I’m lucky enough to have gotten into emulation so I still get to enjoy this classic
Excellent job man, you continue to improve on this style of video. Adding in your own personal experiences with these games Is what really makes these videos stand out. Keep it up dude, I'll be here to watch whatever your next "retrospective" type of project you work on next
One of the funniest things about this whole saga is that Sega lost the source code to Daytona USA. Confirmed to me by the developer of Sega Racing Classic, which is mostly emulated with some reverse engineered and hand-transcompiled code. What a bunch of knuckleheads.
Or did they perhaps require to destroy the source code because it contained "military secrets"??? Those flight simulator companies can be very strict with their license terms about a zillion of things not allowed with their soft- and hardware. I doubt that the graphics engine was still so much ahead that had to be kept strictly confidential, but who knows if for shortening the code development time certain "dual use" software libraries from Lockheed's military training simulators got included, those could be used only when obeying an absurdly strict soupnazi NDA.
@@cyberyogicowindler2448 No military secrets. Model 2 was a consumer product and most of it was built from off-the-shelf components (Intel i960 CPU, Fujitsu and then later Analog Devices DSPs). They indicated they still had Model 3 source code back in 2011.
@@trzy I thought it might have been about a software package (graphics engine library code or scenery editor etc.) subcontracted in strange ways (e.g. once developed with national gov/military money) and so came with obligations that technical details and knowledge of inner working of any products those contain parts or were built with it must be kept secret (away from enemy espionage) in a much stricter sense than ordinary trade secrets, else government may automatically rate Lockheed as untrustworthy or compromised. Such contracts can be terribly formal and ambiguous, and made Sega decide to rather destroy the source code than keeping it locked away under top secret conditions in a guarded vault or such stupid things despite it had become outdated. (Look how much fear governments had about misuse of generative AI (as propaganda tool etc.), resulting in sometimes paranoid terms of use and user limitations.) Successors of this hardware may have been contracted differently after advanced 3D graphics became more commonly used.
I first came across Daytona in 1994 in a big single player cabinet in Brisbane. It must have just come out, but I knew all about it. Today, I play it on Xbox and my kids love it too.
This was a excellent video. Daytona USA is by far my favorite game of all time. My local "Tilt" arcade at the mall had two of the two player cabinets connected. It was mind blowing. But you know what else was cool? When I visited San Francisco in 1998 and saw the Ridge Racer game with a FULL SIZE mazada miata you get to sit in. I never got to try it as there was a long wait. But man did that look like the best thing ever. I always wonder if it would have been more fun than Daytona USA.
@@Aaron.Newman I only recently learned about that full size Miata cabinet. I dunno if you can even call it a cabinet at that point lol. I wonder if any are still in operating condition.
Excellent video, It's only recently that Daytona cabinets have started disappearing from Arcades here in Australia, much to my disappointment. Galactic Circus at the Crown Casino in Melbourne used to have the full 8 player deluxe cabinet, had to have been around 2010 they had it still, but alas no longer.
@@darkstallion666 Thank you. That's definitely a testament to this game's staying power. Seemed like no establishment with arcade games was complete without some form of Daytona.
The cockpit version of the game was available at Gamezone in las Vegas back in 2001. I had never seen that version of the game prior. Still love this game.
I was 10 years old and a crazy big NASCAR fan when this cabinet released to market. The owner of our local rollerskating rink that also held a weekly dance night for kids 10-16 yrs old got one. I held the fastest time on the Beginner oval from the day I first sat down in that game until the last day I was allowed to come on dance night. And I'd just absolutely make fistfuls of quarters off kids betting them in head to head races... I have the Model2 emulator working on my pc with full wheel and pedal functionality with my sim racing rig I run modern racing sims like iRacing with. It's stupid fun to have in my own house.
@@FloridaManRacer I need to try something like that. I have a Logitech G29 wheel with the stick shift add on. I'm not well versed in emulation or anything though.
@@RedCometXIII Yoo emulation is the coolest $# it man. If you are fan enough of retro games to have made this solid little mini-doc (or whatever you wanna call it) on Daytona USA, you HAVE to get into emulation. And get yourself a little arcade stick. You'll have so much fun! Software: Retroarch - Games: Vimm s Vault - Hardware/Controller: 8BitDo arcade stick 😁😁 PS- thanks for the video, enjoyed it 👍
Great video! The “Gentlemen, start your engines” screen pic is not from Daytona. It looks like Charlotte to me- the banking is too flat to be Daytona. It also appears to have been taken in 1988.
Remember playing Daytona "stand up machine" in a cafe in UK when I was young after i had my breakfast and my dad use to talk to my uncle and my uncle use to feed my addict to play it and theys use to have streetfighter too another of my addicts they had a pinball machine I never got the hang of it. Good memories
My local Dave & Busters had the 8 player cabnet setup with the full marque! They actually replaced it at one point in the mid-2000's, but think there must have been such a big drop in revenue/increase in complaints that they brought it back a few months later! Sadly that arcade closed down about a decade ago, in fact the entire mall it was in is gone now.
Remember when the top publishers/console manufacturers competed with each other for dominance? Remember when developers were only interested in making the very best gaming experiences they possibly could? From 1985-2012, the video game industry brought us so many incredible games like Daytona USA. Unfortunately, those days are long gone. The industry is now driven by pure greed. It isn't going to last, and in very short order, will collapse upon itself. Hopefully, when the dust settles, better actors will pick up the torch and bring gaming back to prominence.
loved that so much. thank you. daytona was amazing, it still looks amazing. what talent they had. i am a game designer now who used to wet his pants over daytona, i owe it all to them. i agree that music is the most memorable thing, I thought it was an american singing. one thing i will say is i wish ramming the cars had more impact, like i dont think u could flip their car or cause a proper crash, i did try a lot, i still do when i see this machine. still seems *almost* state of the art today. had no idea ge aerospace invented the tech!
@@RedCometXIII Thanks man, I saw it in metro centre in gateshead uk. i ended up deving fps games for amiga and then went to Rockstar North to work on GTA Vice City. I think everyone there would know it. Im indie now!...
I find that repetitive singing rather annoying, but may be this was the age before MP3 where it had a strong novelty factor, and that is to say, I was never into house music (except "acid house", which is a technically very different category).
Fun fact: You ever listen to the pit chief from the game? He sounds a lot like Robert Duvall from Days of Thunder. He even says some of the quips like “you’re lookin good” and “watch that rear bumper.” I’m convinced without Days of Thunder, Daytona USA would never exist.
Hmmmm. Never really thought about that. I remember as a kid one of my friends thought the crew chief was voiced by Richard Petty but it isn't. They do sound pretty similar though.
I hate to say this, but if the first time you experienced Daytona USA was in a bowling alley in 1996, you missed a lot. Not trying to be a gate-keeper, but holy shit, the experience in 1994 was VERY different than in 1996. Yes, it's a great game that anyone can appreciate. But there's something about experiencing these early 3D games, especially the Model 1 and Model 2 Sega games and the early Namco games, that just can't be replicated later on. There was nothing like walking into an arcade when that stuff was brand new and playing it for the first time. It's no surprise to me that this was the most successful arcade game ever (I can't even imagine what Sega was thinking when they saw what happened with this game). IMO, Sega Rally was a much better game, but I definitely put more quarters into Daytona over several years. This is a game that you just can't help but love, and watching 8 cabinets all linked together running a single race was absolutely amazing. Edit: My experience was obviously much different than yours and perhaps many others. I most often saw this game in 8-player configurations at arcades I went to when on vacation, starting in 1994 and lasting for at least 2 years after that. It had such lasting power that the long line of machines was almost always present in my teen years (and always positioned at the front of the arcade, where they would be sure to pull people in). I have never seen a stand-up unit in my entire life. I've always disliked those units and the only one I ever remember playing was an Outrun cabinet at our local bowling alley. Later on I think I saw 4- and 2-player configurations, but I don't believe I ever saw a single-player cabinet by itself. Edit 2: I'll go one step further and say that it's not just one of the greatest arcade games of all time, it is THE greatest arcade game of all time. And I'm pretty sure the sales numbers back that up.
@@rars0n I think our experiences are very similar, because you have to take the scope into effect. My hometown is technically not even a town, by census standards it's a village, in 1990 the town has less than 5,000 people according to census data. So seeing something like a 2 player Daytona was just as mind blowing as seeing an 8 player unit in a big location in 1994. I can't believe the bowling alley could even afford one to be honest.
Daytona cheat: If you crash into a wall, hold down the accelerator and the turbo button at the same time while the car is being auto repositioned back on to the track. The car will shoot off like 300mph. Just keep yourself scraping against the wall so you don't need to steer. The burst lasts about 10 seconds and uses all your turbo up but it's more than enough time to give you a huge lead. I would beat anyone I played every time using this cheat.
Had the Sega Saturn version. It was very advanced for the time, but it lacked the personality of other racing or NASCAR games. Couldn't play as your favorite driver, no car brands used, only three tracks. Those songs are fun at first but get grating very quickly especially "Day-a-tooo-nnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!" I was a Sega fan back in the day, but even I had to admit that I liked the cruisin' series better. Had more personality and was more fun.
@@poindextertunes While doing research for this video I found a picture of Michael Schumacher playing F355 Challenge and I REALLY wanted to include it somewhere but it just didn't fit in anywhere, unfortunately.
@@Pinman1973 Yeah, Battle on the Edge/Power Edition is definitely better, I think the first game left such a lasting impression that still to this day it overshadows it. I think it also came out when arcades here (United States) were really in decline so not as many people played it. In my lifetime I've seen way more Daytona 1 machines than 2. I agree it's better but didn't seem as wide spread or popular.
What's crazy about this game is that I was born in 1999, I had no nostalgia for this game. Yet during the XBLA era I picked up the port after picking up the Crazy Taxi port and loving it, and it turns out... yeah, it's not just nostalgia. Even on a controller, this game is simply FUN. One of the greatest racing games ever made. I spent many hours climbing leaderboards and playing the intense Survival mode.
That XBLA port went so hard
I was a gamer since 1975 and this game blew me away. Great to hear younger people enjoying these great classics. I still play it on my Xbox Series X. Too bad OutRun lost the Ferrari license. 😢
@Gorilla_Jones I still play on the arcade machine at my local shopping centre, it's as addictive as it was during the 90s !
so what
I played the full size 8 player cabinet in Epicot in summer of 97. I came 2nd and gave a guy who'd been winning all day the hardest race of his life as "winner stayed on". He shook my hand and some guy with a cowboy hat was doing commentary at the time. I've since learned it was Earnheart doing promotion for the Disney Speedway as he was in the Parade in Disney the next day 😅
what a great guy...
Now that's a cool story 🤠
Damn man, you're making me miss the arcades
I'd like to thank everyone for their interaction with this video. I never expected so many people to enjoy it and share their memories of this amazing game. It means a lot to me, thank you everyone.
Liked and Subscribed!
Keep the Sega content coming.
Still holds up today
Reading so many nostalgic comments, I feel lucky to still play Daytona regularly! My dad lived in condo complex that randomly had a 2-player original cab, and now he lives near Funspot in NH, so the 8-player Daytona USA Championship there is a highlight of every visit. Gotta play at least 3-4 races in a row! 😅
I remember the first time i played Dayton usa was an my local amusement park arcade. They had four units linked together. My uncles and i all plsyed at the same time and we had a blast. This was probably around 95. I was 14 years old at the time. Im 43 years old now and any time i see Dayton USA cabinet i always play it and still enjoy it. The music and sounds are so iconic!!!
always wanted my crew to sit and play but was usually just me and my bro!!
@@TYNEPUNK We owned the machine for atleast a good 20 minutes just playing it over and over again lol
@@tacg99 great arcade memories.
In a few arcades here in Australia you can still find a few Daytona USA cabinets scattered around here and there, and the Saturn version was the pack-in for our version of the Saturn; the game's just that popular here.
I still see Daytona USA (or the newer Daytona Championship USA) here in Brisbane but it seems that the most popular driving game in the arcades I see is the Namco Wangan Midnight series.
There are some arcades that are genuinely still making a profit purely from Daytona too. There’s one in Brisbane that has long lines for it daily.
@@microfighterz Where is that one? I have been to most of the arcades in Brisbane (certainly the ones attached to all the shopping centers) and I don't know of any that are like that.
@@jfwfreo I remember reading about one but it was a while ago. It could be shut now and the name won’t come to me. I’ll have a look and see if I can find what it was.
Funland Ulladulla. Play it all the time. Manual on Advanced never gets old.
When I was a teen, a new shopping mall was inaugurated with 2 main attractions: an inside ice ring and an arcade room with EIGHT Daytona USA arcades. I spent HOURS watching people playing against each other, mostly on the oval track. Good times...
@@wettuga2762 That sounds amazing
Walking into an arcade "Daytona!!!!" It's a sound I will never forget. Takes me back to one arcade in particular like I'm there every time.
As soon as you heard that, it was almost like a magnet! I would always head over to it when I heard it in a new arcade.
Even the Arcades in department stores had Daytona USA. I remember seeing a 2 player setup at the Family Fun Center inside my local Walmart
even though the saturn port was a lot to be desired, still gave me the goose bump when i firing up the saturn and hearing the theme song: DAYTONAAAAAA!!! when i first got it 30 years ago!!! now i constantly play the PS3 port these days either on my gaming rig or steam deck, so much fun after all these years!
@@Ritzrfx When I was a kid I wanted a SEGA Saturn just for Daytona, but I never actually saw the port in action til the last couple years and was like "Whoa that's rough," lol.
I remember seeing the 8-player version with the big marquee at the Luxor in Las Vegas during the 90's.
Awesome !!! One of the best arcade racing games of all time !!!!
The Daytona USA theme song Let's Go Away is a banger.
@@devingiles6597 Whole soundtrack slaps. I wanted to give Takenobu a little more attention here.
Here in Argentina when I was a child there was a yearly Daytona contest for kids with cash prices, it played in those big 8 Player cabins and it was televised on Magic Kids channel on cable, on the Nivel X show that was about videogames
@@LynnHermione It's really interesting to me how the game is loved globally. It seems like it was distinctly targeting an American audience but the game is definitely globally celebrated.
"YOU'RE BURNING UP THE TIRES!"
My local bar has a Daytona USA 2 cabinet that i play occasionally, Thnx for sharing this piece of SEGA model2 history!
"Try to go easy on the car!"
"You're running first!"
"You're in the final stretch... *BLUE, BLUE SKIES I SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!* "
How come we never had any emotions from more recent track focus racing games from crew chief/Co-Drivers that sound like they really care enough to win the entire event? A game from 30 years ago (And it's sequel) shouldn't be the only racing games that cares enough to scream at the player to win.
(Edited: Formatting)
"There's a crash down in turn 3...!" (On the Beginner course where there's only really 1 real turn)
This video needs more views this channel is underrated.
@@2DThom Hey, we're just getting started.
I remember playing this and the die hard arcade games at Jupiter lanes in 1995-96. Great games and awesome times.
My local arcade had a pair of the regular cabinets and one deluxe cabinet. My first experience with this game was with the deluxe cabinet. Only seen the 8 player setup once, at a SEGA operated arcade in the 1990s. Memories! lol
So many great memories playing Daytona USA with old friends who are long gone. Love it so much.
Incredible video, my man. Very well researched, a real joy to watch. I know next to nothing about NASCAR being from the UK (just #3, and that crazy video game move the guy did a while ago, that's it), so I appreciate filling me in on some NASCAR lore, too. Sega blue skies forever!
@@BrianM_3rd Glad you liked it. One of my main goals was to make the connection between NASCAR and the game, that's what I was most curious about. Why is the game named after Daytona, uses it's logo, has what are obviously NASCAR style stock cars but has nothing to do with NASCAR lol.
Also, the crazy video game move was Ross Chastain in the fall 2022 race at Martinsville Speedway. Definitely NASCAR's most viral moment of the last decade or so.
Every now and then i have the urge to play somd daytona usa, played in the mall arcade and on my aunts pc. I just love the soundtrack, soo good, so iconic
30 year arcade tech and collector here. I'm also the tech for MAGfest(4 day gaming event). I've worked on many Daytona 1 and 2 machines. Was just at the warehouse where we have a Daytona sit down twin, and four Daytona 2 DLX with moving seats. The Daytona 2s were actually bought from me at a Gameworks locations I was head tech for. One place I worked at when the game was brand new was called Funscape, and we had an 8 player set. After hours, with the security cops and employees, would put Daytona on endurance mode, and it makes you do 80? laps, instead of the standard 10. It takes like 30 mins to complete, and your arm gets really soar LOL!! Virtua Racing also has the same feature.
@@namco003 Whoa, man that's really cool. I've heard of MAGFest before but don't know much about it.
@@RedCometXIII Most definitely check into it. 4 day 24hr nonstop. Literally NONSTOP. It's in DC, technically Maryland, but its a couple of miles from the Pentagon. Yuzo Koshiro was a guest and did a concert. There's a video of it magfest put out. We're directly left of camera.
The Saturn version also has the 80 lap option. The beginner level is the easiest to do this.
@@destronger5313 I think this was added to the PS360 port as well.
There was a 4 player unit at UCLA in the arcade in Ackerman around ‘95-‘96. I was still in high school but on Friday nights my friends and I would drive to the campus for free play where we could pay a cover charge for unlimited gameplay. Daytona USA and Street Fighter were the two most popular games by far. We mastered the gear shifting sliding technique and the advanced track was the most fun!
@@jasonjackson4555 That sounds like a blast.
When I was 11 I had a chance to play Ridge Racer from a stationary wired up Mazda Miata and big ass curved panoramic screen. Was some mega arcade in NH.
Yeah that unit is CRAZY. I just learned about it in the past couple years.
The "mega arcade in NH" sounds like Funspot! Been going there for 30yrs.
i worked at the Galleria mall in Houston in the early 2000s and remember seeing the 8 player Daytona USA cabinets with motion feedback. It was truly a sight to behold, but I remember thinking at the time that the game was heavily dated by then, although the motion was a nice touch. I still saw them played regularly, so people still enjoyed them 6-7 years later, even if by then I'd personally moved on to games like Racing Jam Super Deluxe, F355 Challenge and Sega Super GT
@@TehDarkOn3 Yeah that's the thing with Daytona USA, it somehow just kept chugging along despite newer games coming out. I feel like Daytona USA outlived F355, Super GT and even Daytona USA 2: Battle on the Edge. SEGA Rally Championship is the other best enduring arcade racer from that time.
Here in Argentina the game is still one of the most played games of all time, almost all arcade places are gone, but if you found one, there's a 99% chance that you will find a Daytona cabinet. Even there was a show for kids called "Nivel X" in the end of the XX century that held a tournament playing Daytona, the first prize was a PS1 and sometimes a Gamecube. Amazing video!
@@losalfajoresok Thank you.
I was lucky. I lived in a place where both our boardwalk and our malls had 8 player units occasionally. My brother ran the mall arcade and he generally kept 4 to 6 players most times. 8 when it was hot. Then they’d send the extra units to another Aladdin’s Castle on the boardwalks
Still know where to find a few two-seaters. It's the best arcade racer. Fast, colourful, real tactile controls, great music.
One of my favorite racing game. I still play it to this day even over daytona 2 and the newer remake. This can be called the perfect combination of gameplay, graphics and especially music.
This is easily one of my favorite documentaries on Daytona USA. I still remember exactly where I was when I first saw it.
Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it.
I was a huge fan of Daytona USA in the 90's and still love playing it today thanks to emulation. I especially loved the 8 player setup at my local arcade next to the cinema and regularly played it with other people before seeing a movie. So much fun!
6:17 man I'd love a game where I can go from Daytona USA to Virtua Fighter 2, which also ran on the Model 2 arcade hardware
I'd think that the crashed cars in the infield of a speedway would make a great backdrop for a fighting stage
DEITOOOONAAAAAAAA!!!! still hear this in some dreams every now and then, really nice fun game!
We still have Daytona USA the old and the sequel in our local Mall's Arcade here in the Philippines, I love playing with friends and randoms since I was kid. I keep coming back when I have the time and if the machines are not in repair. These really stood the tests of time gameplay-wise.
Excellent video. Saw the thumbnail and the Daytona USA theme instantly blasted in my head. Great information and nostalgia. I hope the algorithm treats you well and your channel grows. God bless.
@@STSW909 Thank you, I appreciate it.
I'm sorry. You have under 250 subs? I'd expect this level of quality from someone with 100k. Well goddamn done dude! Keep it up!
Daytooooonaaaaaaaaaaa!
@@WhoLover lol thanks. I just started doing these documentary style videos this year.
@@RedCometXIII love it. Subbed and notifications on
@@WhoLover Thank you, I appreciate it.
Great video! This legendary game has a crazy story. It’s like the perfect storm of technology and creativity. It’s still a machine I seek out whenever I go to a retro arcade.
I clicked on this video just for that song.. truly the pinnacle of the arcade era.
The music did indeed make this game. You could hear the theme as soon as you entered any arcade a mile away and you knew what machine you were aiming for.
It really did pull you in.
Oh and that 8 player version? Yeah, that was insane. I'd never seen anything like it and that blew my mind the first time I saw that.
Loved this game Played it every chance I had, often at our local Nathan's restaurant/arcade. The arcade was as big as the restaurant and had an 8 player setup. Lots of great memories with friends. Thanks for creating this.
@@DanKlar You're welcome and thank you for watching.
I played the hell out of this back in high school in the mid 90s. when I finally learned the drift mechanics, i started practicing on weekends until i could nail the intermediate course almost flawlessly everytime, and guaranteed to be at the top of the leaderboard. I felt like a total badass when I'd finally get my turn to play when the arcade was busy, and most were just playing on the beginner course. Once they see me pick advanced + Manual, a small crowd would start to form. Then when i make that first drift turn after the tunnel they quiet down and watch intensely. I also learned to shift with just the tip of my fingers while steering one handed with as little steering input as possible, a big difference on how others would slam through the gears and saw wildly on the wheel like they were in an action movie. As soon as i cross the finish line, i would get up and walk away, leaving the initials screen blank and waiting intentionally. Sometimes someone would tell me i haven't entered my initials, and i'd casually say 'nah. you can enter yours if you want', and just walk away. In my mind i was the coolest person on the planet 🤣
Simply a Masterpiece. Still playing it on my Xbox Series X. SEGA 4 EVER ❤️
Hearing the music in the arcade will be forever burned into my brain. I’m lucky enough to have gotten into emulation so I still get to enjoy this classic
I play this frequently on model2 emulator. Love am2. Great video.
@@rayaspo4893 Thank you.
Excellent job man, you continue to improve on this style of video. Adding in your own personal experiences with these games Is what really makes these videos stand out. Keep it up dude, I'll be here to watch whatever your next "retrospective" type of project you work on next
One of the funniest things about this whole saga is that Sega lost the source code to Daytona USA. Confirmed to me by the developer of Sega Racing Classic, which is mostly emulated with some reverse engineered and hand-transcompiled code. What a bunch of knuckleheads.
Ah, so they are just as bad as Square-enix with losing the original source code to their own games like Kingdom Hearts 1 for the PS2.
Or did they perhaps require to destroy the source code because it contained "military secrets"??? Those flight simulator companies can be very strict with their license terms about a zillion of things not allowed with their soft- and hardware. I doubt that the graphics engine was still so much ahead that had to be kept strictly confidential, but who knows if for shortening the code development time certain "dual use" software libraries from Lockheed's military training simulators got included, those could be used only when obeying an absurdly strict soupnazi NDA.
@@cyberyogicowindler2448 No military secrets. Model 2 was a consumer product and most of it was built from off-the-shelf components (Intel i960 CPU, Fujitsu and then later Analog Devices DSPs). They indicated they still had Model 3 source code back in 2011.
@@trzy I thought it might have been about a software package (graphics engine library code or scenery editor etc.) subcontracted in strange ways (e.g. once developed with national gov/military money) and so came with obligations that technical details and knowledge of inner working of any products those contain parts or were built with it must be kept secret (away from enemy espionage) in a much stricter sense than ordinary trade secrets, else government may automatically rate Lockheed as untrustworthy or compromised. Such contracts can be terribly formal and ambiguous, and made Sega decide to rather destroy the source code than keeping it locked away under top secret conditions in a guarded vault or such stupid things despite it had become outdated. (Look how much fear governments had about misuse of generative AI (as propaganda tool etc.), resulting in sometimes paranoid terms of use and user limitations.) Successors of this hardware may have been contracted differently after advanced 3D graphics became more commonly used.
Great vid! It's always fun learning the behind-the-scenes stuff. I love that the composer was just a regular dude and sang the songs himself!
I will always love Daytona USA for one simple phrase:
Military Grade Entertainment ❤
I first came across Daytona in 1994 in a big single player cabinet in Brisbane. It must have just come out, but I knew all about it. Today, I play it on Xbox and my kids love it too.
I can watch "Days of Thunder" over and over and it never gets old. So dang quotable, too.
@@brantisonfire Same.
There was actually a 16 player Daytona in Sega World Sydney which I was fortunate to play...
This was a excellent video. Daytona USA is by far my favorite game of all time. My local "Tilt" arcade at the mall had two of the two player cabinets connected. It was mind blowing. But you know what else was cool? When I visited San Francisco in 1998 and saw the Ridge Racer game with a FULL SIZE mazada miata you get to sit in. I never got to try it as there was a long wait. But man did that look like the best thing ever. I always wonder if it would have been more fun than Daytona USA.
@@Aaron.Newman I only recently learned about that full size Miata cabinet. I dunno if you can even call it a cabinet at that point lol. I wonder if any are still in operating condition.
Daytona USA really has a unique history
Excellent video, It's only recently that Daytona cabinets have started disappearing from Arcades here in Australia, much to my disappointment.
Galactic Circus at the Crown Casino in Melbourne used to have the full 8 player deluxe cabinet, had to have been around 2010 they had it still, but alas no longer.
@@darkstallion666 Thank you. That's definitely a testament to this game's staying power. Seemed like no establishment with arcade games was complete without some form of Daytona.
The cockpit version of the game was available at Gamezone in las Vegas back in 2001. I had never seen that version of the game prior. Still love this game.
I had this on Saturn and loved it so much
one of the best things about this game was slamming your friend into the turn 3 wall to watch them flip. epic epic game
I was 10 years old and a crazy big NASCAR fan when this cabinet released to market. The owner of our local rollerskating rink that also held a weekly dance night for kids 10-16 yrs old got one. I held the fastest time on the Beginner oval from the day I first sat down in that game until the last day I was allowed to come on dance night. And I'd just absolutely make fistfuls of quarters off kids betting them in head to head races... I have the Model2 emulator working on my pc with full wheel and pedal functionality with my sim racing rig I run modern racing sims like iRacing with. It's stupid fun to have in my own house.
@@FloridaManRacer I need to try something like that. I have a Logitech G29 wheel with the stick shift add on. I'm not well versed in emulation or anything though.
@@RedCometXIII Yoo emulation is the coolest $# it man. If you are fan enough of retro games to have made this solid little mini-doc (or whatever you wanna call it) on Daytona USA, you HAVE to get into emulation. And get yourself a little arcade stick. You'll have so much fun! Software: Retroarch - Games: Vimm s Vault - Hardware/Controller: 8BitDo arcade stick 😁😁 PS- thanks for the video, enjoyed it 👍
Great video! The “Gentlemen, start your engines” screen pic is not from Daytona. It looks like Charlotte to me- the banking is too flat to be Daytona. It also appears to have been taken in 1988.
Yeah I want really sure. I actually thought it might have been Richmond too.
The local movie theatre had 4 units linked together.
Remember playing Daytona "stand up machine" in a cafe in UK when I was young after i had my breakfast and my dad use to talk to my uncle and my uncle use to feed my addict to play it and theys use to have streetfighter too another of my addicts they had a pinball machine I never got the hang of it. Good memories
my walmart in the small town i grew up at had a single seat daytona and i played that so many times
Great video, had no idea about the whole GE Aerospace stuff. Loved it.
@@ShawnsTechRescue Glad you found it informative.
This took our money and i never felt jobbed. Love it
Watch that red line on the tach!
My local Dave & Busters had the 8 player cabnet setup with the full marque! They actually replaced it at one point in the mid-2000's, but think there must have been such a big drop in revenue/increase in complaints that they brought it back a few months later! Sadly that arcade closed down about a decade ago, in fact the entire mall it was in is gone now.
Daytona, SF2 turbo and Samsho2 would be in my dream arcade.
It’s the power sliding I need to master. I always try to just brake and never thought to drift. Love this game. Great video!
Yeah you gotta slam that brake pedal.
Shift to Manual as soon as possible - shift drifting is very much key in this game.
Remember when the top publishers/console manufacturers competed with each other for dominance? Remember when developers were only interested in making the very best gaming experiences they possibly could? From 1985-2012, the video game industry brought us so many incredible games like Daytona USA.
Unfortunately, those days are long gone. The industry is now driven by pure greed. It isn't going to last, and in very short order, will collapse upon itself. Hopefully, when the dust settles, better actors will pick up the torch and bring gaming back to prominence.
loved that so much. thank you. daytona was amazing, it still looks amazing. what talent they had. i am a game designer now who used to wet his pants over daytona, i owe it all to them. i agree that music is the most memorable thing, I thought it was an american singing. one thing i will say is i wish ramming the cars had more impact, like i dont think u could flip their car or cause a proper crash, i did try a lot, i still do when i see this machine. still seems *almost* state of the art today. had no idea ge aerospace invented the tech!
250 subs!? i subbed, thanks dude.
@@TYNEPUNK Glad you enjoyed it and found it informative. Glad the game inspired you to follow your dream, man.
@@RedCometXIII Thanks man, I saw it in metro centre in gateshead uk. i ended up deving fps games for amiga and then went to Rockstar North to work on GTA Vice City. I think everyone there would know it. Im indie now!...
I find that repetitive singing rather annoying, but may be this was the age before MP3 where it had a strong novelty factor, and that is to say, I was never into house music (except "acid house", which is a technically very different category).
Don't remember ever seeing a cabinet, but I found out about the game when my friend got a Saturn.
Fun fact: You ever listen to the pit chief from the game? He sounds a lot like Robert Duvall from Days of Thunder. He even says some of the quips like “you’re lookin good” and “watch that rear bumper.” I’m convinced without Days of Thunder, Daytona USA would never exist.
Hmmmm. Never really thought about that. I remember as a kid one of my friends thought the crew chief was voiced by Richard Petty but it isn't. They do sound pretty similar though.
Expert uses 1, 3 & 4 gear
Legends uses 2 & 4 gear
Daytona USA was great. I loved the hardest level.
Banger of a Video I love arcade racers!
I always thought the vocals for the theme song said "your mama is easy" instead of Daytona. 😂😂
Every time I pretend to stop for a stop sign I yell “ROOOLLLLING STOOOOPPPP”
@@user-kk3jr8gi2x Excellent lol.
Kings Island in Ohio had the 8 player cabinet for years.
@@Medevah I'd been to Kings Island many times but was never in the arcade so I never saw it there.
Great video! 😀😀
You've accidently wrote SATRUN not SATURN on the first part of the video FYI. Great video btw.
@@LeeAxonisDigifin Yeah it happens lol
I hate to say this, but if the first time you experienced Daytona USA was in a bowling alley in 1996, you missed a lot. Not trying to be a gate-keeper, but holy shit, the experience in 1994 was VERY different than in 1996.
Yes, it's a great game that anyone can appreciate. But there's something about experiencing these early 3D games, especially the Model 1 and Model 2 Sega games and the early Namco games, that just can't be replicated later on. There was nothing like walking into an arcade when that stuff was brand new and playing it for the first time.
It's no surprise to me that this was the most successful arcade game ever (I can't even imagine what Sega was thinking when they saw what happened with this game). IMO, Sega Rally was a much better game, but I definitely put more quarters into Daytona over several years. This is a game that you just can't help but love, and watching 8 cabinets all linked together running a single race was absolutely amazing.
Edit: My experience was obviously much different than yours and perhaps many others. I most often saw this game in 8-player configurations at arcades I went to when on vacation, starting in 1994 and lasting for at least 2 years after that. It had such lasting power that the long line of machines was almost always present in my teen years (and always positioned at the front of the arcade, where they would be sure to pull people in). I have never seen a stand-up unit in my entire life. I've always disliked those units and the only one I ever remember playing was an Outrun cabinet at our local bowling alley. Later on I think I saw 4- and 2-player configurations, but I don't believe I ever saw a single-player cabinet by itself.
Edit 2: I'll go one step further and say that it's not just one of the greatest arcade games of all time, it is THE greatest arcade game of all time. And I'm pretty sure the sales numbers back that up.
@@rars0n I think our experiences are very similar, because you have to take the scope into effect. My hometown is technically not even a town, by census standards it's a village, in 1990 the town has less than 5,000 people according to census data. So seeing something like a 2 player Daytona was just as mind blowing as seeing an 8 player unit in a big location in 1994. I can't believe the bowling alley could even afford one to be honest.
Daytona cheat: If you crash into a wall, hold down the accelerator and the turbo button at the same time while the car is being auto repositioned back on to the track. The car will shoot off like 300mph. Just keep yourself scraping against the wall so you don't need to steer. The burst lasts about 10 seconds and uses all your turbo up but it's more than enough time to give you a huge lead. I would beat anyone I played every time using this cheat.
Great video.
Thank you.
I own the 2 player sit down version, sadly one half of it does not work and here in Malta its not easy to find a tech to fix it…
i never understood the handling, what’s the trick, are we meant to drift like in outrun 2?
Yeah, tight corners need to be drifted to maintain speed.
Who remembers the camera on the side of the car 😂🎥
DAY-Y-TONAAAAA.
Epic journey!!!
Had the Sega Saturn version. It was very advanced for the time, but it lacked the personality of other racing or NASCAR games. Couldn't play as your favorite driver, no car brands used, only three tracks. Those songs are fun at first but get grating very quickly especially "Day-a-tooo-nnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"
I was a Sega fan back in the day, but even I had to admit that I liked the cruisin' series better. Had more personality and was more fun.
God i remember that theme being blasted in arcades, the daytonnaa one LMAO. It was super annoying but funny.
@@profo4544 I eventually changed the lyrics to "Hey Donut" as a joke.
DAYTONNAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Rolling staaaaaaaaaaaaart!!!
Would subscribe but I don't want my feed cluttered up with playthroughs. Great video though!
@@Whidmarke Uh, thanks.
Daytoooonaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!
I was more of a Ferrari F355 Challenge fan myself
@@poindextertunes I've never played that one. I've played Daytona 1 and 2, and Super GT. Along with the old scalers like Hang On and OutRun.
@@RedCometXIII omg man you have to find a F355 cab with the 3 wrap around screens. especially if you love Daytona. You’ll thank me lol
@@poindextertunes While doing research for this video I found a picture of Michael Schumacher playing F355 Challenge and I REALLY wanted to include it somewhere but it just didn't fit in anywhere, unfortunately.
It was a nice game but was more impressed with daytona usa 2
@@Pinman1973 Yeah, Battle on the Edge/Power Edition is definitely better, I think the first game left such a lasting impression that still to this day it overshadows it. I think it also came out when arcades here (United States) were really in decline so not as many people played it. In my lifetime I've seen way more Daytona 1 machines than 2. I agree it's better but didn't seem as wide spread or popular.
nice b roll from not the original game.
@@LanceHayabusa Best way for me to make the video. You wanna provide footage then feel free.
Mitsuyoshi Takenobu > Mozart
Rolling staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa