Cruis’n USA Review: A Coast-to-Coast Race That Runs Out of Road

The Nintendo 64 version of Cruis’n USA arrived in 1996, published by Nintendo as part of a deal with Midway. It followed an arcade original that had already won people over in 1994. The arcade game drew favorable comparisons to Sega’s Daytona USA and sold well. The Nintendo 64 port did not draw the same praise, though it also sold. That gap between the two versions is the whole story of this cartridge.

San Francisco to Washington, D.C.

The race begins in San Francisco and moves across California, then on to Arizona, the Grand Canyon, Iowa, Chicago, Indiana, and Appalachia. It ends in Washington, D.C. That is a coast-to-coast run, and it is the best idea the game has. The courses are one-way streets, vaguely based on real locations, and the player’s job is to avoid oncoming traffic and construction while holding first place.

You must finish first to advance to the next track. A timer runs the whole time, and it can be extended by driving through checkpoints. If the timer hits zero, the game ends, unless a continue is available. There are seven cars to choose from, with either an automatic or a manual transmission. That is the entire structure, and it does not change from the first mile to the last.

Bill Clinton and the Finish Line

Finish every track and then-U.S. President Bill Clinton congratulates you. That is the reward. It is a strange, small payoff for a cross-country drive, and it dates the game hard. The detail is also the most memorable thing in Cruis’n USA.

There is one genuinely odd feature: a music button. Press it and the music changes. That is not a standard option in racing games, and it is the kind of small liberty an arcade cabinet could get away with. On a home console, it reads as a curiosity rather than a feature.

The Ultra 64 That Wasn’t

Cruis’n USA is branded as the first release of the “Ultra 64” platform collaboration between Midway and Nintendo. That branding promised a machine that did not exist yet. The arcade game ran on Midway’s V-unit hardware, which had no lineage with the Nintendo 64. The Killer Instinct arcade hardware was also different, and it also shared no lineage with the Nintendo 64.

So the game was sold as a preview of a console it never ran on. The home port was developed by Leland Interactive Media and published by Nintendo as part of the deal. The arcade original was developed by TV Games Inc., first released in arcades in 1994 by Midway Games. Those are two different games under one name.

What the Port Cost

The Nintendo 64 version has differences from the arcade original due to censorship. That is the source’s word, and it matters. A port that trims content is already asking the player to accept less.

Cruis’n USA is branded as the first release of the “Ultra 64” platform collaboration between Midway and Nintendo, although it was based on the Midway V-unit arcade hardware

The censorship is not the fatal problem. The arcade version was critically and commercially successful. The Nintendo 64 version received poor reviews but was also commercially successful. Both things are true, and they sit side by side without explaining each other.

Arcade Original vs. Nintendo 64 Port

The table is the review in miniature. Same title, same tracks, same Clinton ending, two very different receptions. The arcade version earned its comparisons to Daytona USA. The Nintendo 64 version earned poor reviews and still moved units, which tells you more about the install base than the game.

Seven Cars, One Gear

The car list is seven deep. The transmission choice is automatic or manual. The modes are single player, multiplayer, and split screen. Racing games live or die on how those pieces feel.

What the player does, over and over, is hold first place. There is no other way forward. That is a harsh design. One mistake, one bad checkpoint, and the race is over unless a continue is available. The checkpoint system softens it, but only slightly. The game is less a race than a survival test with a countdown.

The Virtual Console Return

Cruis’n USA came back on the Wii’s Virtual Console in Europe on March 28, 2008. It was the first third party developed Nintendo 64 game to appear on the service. It became available in North America on March 31, 2008.

That is a real footnote. The service reached for a Midway racing port, and the reason is not stated. What is stated is the date and the distinction, and both are worth keeping.

The Verdict on Cruis’n USA

This is a 6.6 out of 10. The score matches the published critical score, and it is the right number for a game that is historically important and mechanically thin.

The arcade original earned its reputation. The Nintendo 64 port did not. It arrived under a branding that promised hardware it never used, with content trimmed by censorship. It sold anyway. That is not a defense of the game; it is a fact about the market.

What holds up is the premise. A one-way race from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., with oncoming traffic and construction as the obstacles, is a clean idea. The Clinton ending is a time capsule. The music button is a small, strange gift. Those are the parts worth remembering.

What does not hold up is everything between the checkpoints. Seven cars, two transmission settings, and a mandatory first-place finish do not make a deep game. The timer makes it tense, but tension is not the same as variety, and Cruis’n USA runs out of variety long before it runs out of road.

arcade racing · Cruis'n USA · Midway · Nintendo 64 · retro gaming · Virtual Console