Tokyo Xtreme Racer

the video game series

Tokyo Xtreme Racer is an arcade racing video game series created by Genki and inspired by street racing on the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo. Its first installment, Shutokō Battle '94: Drift King, released in 1994 for the Super Famicom. In 2017, Genki released the latest installment of the series, Shutokou Battle Xtreme, for iOS and Android devices. While the series was most commonly localized under the name Tokyo Xtreme Racer, when published by Crave Entertainment, other publishers have given certain installments entirely different names, such as Tokyo Highway Battle when published by Jaleco & THQ International; Import Tuner Challenge by Ubisoft; and even Street Supremacy when released by Konami.

The series was originally subtitled "Drift King", after the trademark nickname of street racing and professional racing driver Keiichi Tsuchiya who is featured in the first Shuto Kousoku Trial episodes and endorsed the game with, then team manager, Masaki Bandoh of Bandoh Racing Project.

During the 1990s Genki produced a highway drift/adult content (omitted in the localization Highway 2000) oriented Shutokou Battle spin off series for the Sega Saturn, Wangan Dead Heat, and a circuit/tune edition unique episode for the PlayStation, Kattobi Tune, which oriented the Shutokou Battle series through a new direction, leading to the Dreamcast version and its worldwide recognition and distribution. "Kattobi Tune" was compiled under the supervision of Rev Speed, a popular Japanese car tuning magazine and features seven licensed professional tuners, RE Amemiya, Spoon, Mine's, Trial, "RS Yamamoto", Garage Saurus and JUN Auto, appearing years later in Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix and also in the influential Gran Turismo series by Polyphony Digital.

Though the entire Shutokou Battle series has been referred to as the "Tokyo Xtreme Racer" series in the west, only a subset of games had an official "Tokyo Xtreme Racer" title attached. The games also received different names in different regions, adding to confusion. + The chronology and regional name variants of "Tokyo Xtreme Racer" console games Original Japanese Title Year (JPN) US Title PAL Title Console NoteShutokō Battle 首都高バトル1999Tokyo Xtreme RacerTokyo Highway ChallengeDCShutokō Battle 2首都高バトル 22000Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2Tokyo Highway Challenge 2DCShutokō Battle 0首都高バトル02001Tokyo Xtreme Racer: ZeroTokyo Xtreme Racer PS2PAL region name not to be confused with earlier "Tokyo Xtreme Racer" (1999) in US region on Sega Dreamcast. Kaidō Battle: Nikko, Haruna, Rokko, Hakone街道バトル 〜日光・榛名・六甲・箱根〜2003 (Feb)Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift (2006)Not released. PS2 Kaidō Battle sub series, 1st entryShutokō Battle 01首都高バトル012003 (July)Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3Not released. PS2Kaidō Battle 2: Chain Reaction街道バトル2 CHAIN REACTION2004Not released. Kaido Racer (2005) PS2 Kaidō Battle sub series, 2nd entryKaidō: Tōge no DensetsuKAIDO 峠の伝説2005Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2 (2007)Kaido Racer 2 (2006) PS2 Kaidō Battle sub series, 3rd entry

The D1 Grand Prix drifting championship inspired the new series Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix, released in 2005 and remembering the 1997 drift circuit based Shutokou Battle Gaiden and the continuation of the "Shutokou Battle circuit + RPG" concept introduced in Kattobi Tune, a genre close to the Zero4 Champ series by Media Rings. The first and only episode has the tagline "C1 Grand Prix", which is a double reference to the D1 GP and the Route C1, the latter being the Inner Circular Route of the Shuto Expressway and the circuit for most episodes of the Shutokō Battle series.