Off Road Challenge

Off Road Challenge can be thought of as an off-road version of the Cruis'n series. Most of the gameplay is like the Cruis'n games, but this game features some real sponsors (primarily Toyota). Players are invited to test their off-road racing mettle on six courses. Arcade and Nintendo 64 versions of this game are available. This blog post takes a look at this classic racing game from Midway.

--- Off Road Challenge ---

This is Off-Road Challenge:


^ from: www.amazon.com - Go for an off-road adventure in Off Road Challenge.

Off Road Challenge was created in 1997. The goal of this game is to simply finish ahead of all of your opposition. All six courses are all unique in their character and in their racing. Doing so requires you to make the most of your machine's capabilities as you drive on different surfaces as well as make plenty of jumps. Need a little boost to get by? Make sure you have some Nitrous onboard to gain that little edge you need that can help you win the race. Do whatever it takes to cross that finish line first! Think of this game as an off-road version of the Cruis'n games.

Vehicles.

There are no "cars," but you do get a handful of capable and rugged trucks and buggies to rampage across the various off-road landscapes. You can race with the Toyota Trophy Truck as raced by one of the best off-road racers of all time- Ivan "Iron Man" Stewart. You may opt to race with a quick and speedy buggy. Besides the four machines, you can access other machines offering differing levels of performance. Take top speed, power, handling, and weight into consideration as you select a machine. Pressing some of the View buttons will access some hidden machines. What you should know:

• Speed - acceleration and top speed of the vehicle.
• Power - the amount of horsepower the engine makes.
• Handling - how well the machine handles corners and terrain.
• Weight - lighter vehicles are more nimble; heavier vehicles are slower.

Pick a machine and choose a transmission type, and get ready to race!

Tracks.

Six tracks are offered to gamers. There are two tracks under each difficulty: Beginner, Medium, and Advanced. Each location is different. Here is a description of each location:

• Mojave (Beginner) - a simple course with long straights, big jumps, and easy corners.
• Baja (Beginner) - a fun coastal course with plenty of jumps
• El Paso (Intermediate) - a course with a Western ghost town and a graveyard.
• Pikes Peak (Intermediate) - this popular course utilizes dirty and snowy terrain.
• Vegas (Advanced) -
• Ol' South (Advanced) - traverse through swampy and muddy conditions in this difficult course.

Racing.

Each race consists of eight machines to a track. Scattered across the track are money boxes and powerups. Collect the boxes of money to add funds to your account. This money can be used to upgrade your machine in the Speedshop for future races. Collect Nitro to gain temporary boosts of speed. Finding an Anti-Crush Helmet in each stage allows you to take damage without suffering a wicked crash. Watch out for a variety of hazards littered on the road and as part of the environment.

Clear Checkpoints to extend the game. If you win the race, you will not have to insert credits to continue the arcade game.

Speedshop.

After completing a race, you will be able to access the Speedshop to upgrade your machine's performance. Here are the many options for you:

• Acceleration - makes your machine go faster.
• Shocks - improves handling in corners and over jumps.
• Nitros - offers temporary speed and power boosts.
• Speed - increases top speed.
• Tires - improves handling.

You'll even receive a money bonus if you choose to upgrade your vehicle after making a continue.

--- Off Road Challenge: Final Thoughts ---

While not entirely groundbreaking, Off Road Challenge is a thrilling and fun game to play with its own unique challenges. It is a good deal on the difficult side, as it is not very easy to climb up to the front of the pack. You just need to minimize mistakes and keep driving hard. It remains one of the better off-road racing titles even today.

Video Preview.

Come and get your look at "Off Road Challenge" with this video; and really, this was the best I could find to feature this game. This is the Nintendo 64 version:


^ "N64: Offroad challenge"


And there you go.





You can get "Off Road Challenge" if you have a Nintendo 64. Check it out:



If you want the arcade unit or parts for the arcade unit, try this eBay link:

Off Road Challenge (arcade) on eBay

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Off Road Challenge. I hope you enjoy this blog post and my various others. Thank you for reading!

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