Rally Cross Series

Rally Cross was a PS1-exclusive series all about frenzied rally racing. Many see Rally Cross and Rally Cross 2 as some of the most overlooked and underrated racing games ever. This blog post highlights on the two Rally Cross games, and maybe you will get an idea of what a lot of people either played or remembered about this series.

If you are new here, welcome to "John's Race Space!" This is my blog that was born as my blog about Gran Turismo and Tourist Trophy, but has since been evolved to discuss all racing/driving games including GT and TT.

--- Rally Cross Series ---

The Rally Cross series features fictional cars in fictional locations. The action can be fairly intense as four cars (including yours) take on all of the different tracks. Each location could be run in the normal or reverse directions. On top of that, there are different race types to keep things interesting. Perhaps unique to this game series is how you must manually try to push the car back on four wheels if you manage to roll your car over. That's right- if you roll your car over and end up on your roof, the game will NOT automatically roll you back over! The games offer great difficulty, but the games aren't overly difficult to the point of frustration.

There were only two games in the Rally Cross series. Some fans of the Rally Cross series want to envision a third installment even in this day and age.

--- Rally Cross: The Games ---

It is now time to take a look at the individual games. (Some information provided by Wikipedia)

Rally Cross (1997).

Rally Cross was released in 1997 by Sony Computer Entertainment America. This game was all about competitive off-road racing across a variety of different courses and terrains. None of the cars are real, and none of the locations are real either. You have five modes of racing to play- Unlimited Laps, Solo, Race, Head On, and Suicide. You can choose between six different locations. Three are available early on, the rest have to be unlocked with progress through the Season Mode. You are also given a number of vehicles to choose from. You can unlock more cars by progressing through the game.

Here is a demonstration of Rally Cross:

^ "Rally Cross [PSX] Gameplay - Islands 1"

Rally Cross 2 (1998).

From Idol Minds and 989 Studios (as opposed to Sony Computer Entertainment America), Rally Cross 2 was released a year after the first Rally Cross. The cartoonish appearance of the first title are gone in favor of more realistic-looking graphics. You still had a good amount of racing types to stay interested. You can run a single race, a season, a time trial, or practice. Race types include normal, head-on, and suicide. There are eight tracks to choose from with a variety of surfaces and environmental features. These course can be raced in the normal or reverse direction. The courses are vastly longer than what the first game offered. You can choose between ten different cars, each with varying characteristics in regards to power, speed, and weight. You can set up each car and even change up the paint style of each.

Here is a sample of "Rally Cross 2" for you all:


^ Rally Cross 2 PSX gameplay


What do you think about these two games?





I think you can get both titles on PlayStation Network for your PlayStation 3 as part of the Classics collection. You can certainly poke around eBay for copies of the original PlayStation 1 discs for both games. I hope you enjoyed your time here on "John's Race Space." Thank you for reading!

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