The Need for Speed

1994 video game

The Need for Speed is a 1994 racing game developed by EA Canada, originally known as Pioneer Productions, and published by Electronic Arts for 3DO in 1994. It allows driving eight licensed sports cars in three point to point tracks either with or without a computer opponent. Checkpoints, traffic vehicles, and police pursuits appear in the races. Ports were released for MS DOS in 1995, then PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1996, with additional tracks and cars. The Need for Speed was renamed Overdrivin' DX in Japan, and a version for Microsoft Windows was sold as The Need for Speed SE (Special Edition). Electronic Arts collaborated with automotive magazine Road & Track to match vehicle behaviour, including the mimicking of the sounds made by the vehicles' gear control levers. The game contains precise vehicle data with spoken commentary, several "magazine style" images of each car's interior and exterior and short video clips highlighting the vehicles set to music. The game was a commercial success. Video game publications praised the incorporation of realism into the gameplay and graphics, as well as the inclusion of full motion videos. It is the first installment released in the Need for Speed series, which has influenced other racing games.

The premise of The Need for Speed involves racing in sports cars, including several exotic models and Japanese imports. The original 3DO version includes three point to point tracks, each divided into three stages; subsequent ports feature both the point to point tracks and new closed circuits. The Saturn and PlayStation versions include an additional three tracks. Traffic vehicles appear in races, and may be avoided by the player. Police pursuits are also a key gameplay mechanic, with the player ticketed or arrested if a police car succeeds in catching up with them. Players are arrested if they receive a third police ticket (or a second ticket in the Sega Saturn version). In the special edition, completing the tournaments (or entering a cheat) unlocks the "rally" mode, where car dynamics are changed to make for a faster "arcade" experience, as well as the "Warrior PTO E/2", a fictional jet powered sports car. Except for the aforementioned Warrior, each car in the game comes with detailed specifications, history, audio commentaries and real life videos, which would also be featured in subsequent games in the series, though this was omitted in later games. A replay feature allowed the player to view a saved race. Multiple camera views, playback speed and video navigation are offered. Multiplayer consists of a two player head to head racing mode, which requires computers connected via modem. There are a total of six courses in the game (three in the 3DO version The Need for Speed was released in 1994 for the 3DO.

In 1996, an edition of The Need for Speed, The Need for Speed: Special Edition, was released only on PC CD ROM, containing MS DOS and Windows 95 versions. It includes two new tracks ("Transtropolis" and "Burnt Sienna") and various enhancements to the game engine. The Windows 95 version supports DirectX 2 and IPX networking. The Need for Speed: Special Edition is the only game in the Need for Speed series to support MS DOS, as subsequent releases only support Windows 9x. In June 1995, Atari Corporation struck a deal with EA in order to bring several titles from their catalog (including The Need for Speed) to the Atari Jaguar CD. These ports, along with The Need for Speed, went unreleased.

In 1994, Electronic Arts Victor translated the 3DO version of The Need for Speed into Japanese, and released it in Japan as Road & Track Presents: OverDrivin (ロード＆トラックプレゼンツ：オーバードライビン, Rōdo & Torakku Purezento: Ōbādoraibin). The PlayStation port of the game was exported to that country as Over Drivin' DX (オーバードライビンDX, Ōbā Doraibin DX) in 1996. Two additional Nissan sponsored versions of the game were announced at that year's Tokyo Game Show: and Nissan Presents: Over Drivin' Skyline Memorial (日産プレゼンツ:オーバードライビンスカイラインメモリアル, Nissan Purezento: Ōbā Doraibin Sukairain Memoriaru) (released in 1997 for the PlayStation). The former's car lineup consists only of Nissan vehicles, whilst the latter exclusively features Skyline models.

The Need for Speed was a runner up for Computer Gaming Worlds 1995 "Action Game of the Year" award, which ultimately went to Crusader: No Remorse. The editors wrote: "The Need for Speed, Electronic Arts' incredibly fast and enthralling driving game, almost caught the checkered flag. Multiple courses with distinctive feels, brilliant SVGA graphics, and some of the hottest iron on the road made this 3DO conversion a worthy entry into the PC action game arena." In 1996, GamesMaster ranked The Need for Speed 87th on their "Top 100 Games of All Time". In the same issue, they also rated the 3DO version 6th in its "The GamesMaster 3DO Top 10". In 1998, Saturn Power listed the game 100th in their Top 100 Sega Saturn Games.