Daytona USA (1994 game)

Daytona USA is a 1994 arcade racing game, developed by Sega for the Model 2 arcade board. The game was given a limited release in Japanese arcades in August 1993 to test people's reactions to the new arcade board, before being given a full international release in March of the following year. The game is loosely based on the NASCAR event at the Daytona International Speedway - the game and most of its sequels and rereleases were officially sponsored by the International Speedway Corporation. A Sega Saturn version was released in April 1995, to mixed reception.

Gameplay
Daytona USA places the player in control of a stock car named the "Hornet" (which has gone on to become something of a face for the series), racing against numerous other cars across three selectable courses. The game gives you the option to use either automatic or manual transmissions - the latter being more complex, as it requires use of the gear stick, but also allowing your car to drive faster than the automatic if used properly. Crashing into walls or other cars can inflict damage and consequently, poorer performance on your car - this can be remedied by stopping at a pit lane in each level to repair the car, albeit at the cost of some time.

Daytona USA is notable for its AI, which was rather advanced for its time - it would analyse the player's skill during the first lap, and if they were doing poorly, it would instruct the other cars to move out of the way (while also doing the opposite if the player does well). The game is also notable for its multiplayer features: it was the first arcade game ever to allow up to eight cabinets to be linked together, with each player competing in the same race (taking control of differently-colored Hornets).

Development
Daytona USA came about from a desire to explore the newfound potential of the Model 2 arcade board. A meeting was held between SEGA's three main divisions (Japan, America and Europe) to determine what kind of game could use this board to its fullest potential and capture gamers' attention. Virtua Racing, the Model 1 board's debut game, went over well with Japanese and European audiences, but for this new title, SEGA Enterprises USA president Tom Petit wanted something that could appeal to an American audience as well. He suggested using the NASCAR license, pointing out that it was the most watched racing event in America and that no other game beforehand had used the license. Yu Suzuki, another person in the board, was immediately intrigued by the idea, but it faced skepticism from other people there, such as Vic Leslie of SEGA Europe, who worried that such a US-centric pitch wouldn't do much for SoE's bottom line. An agreement was made to perform market research to determine the viability of a NASCAR game in Japan and Europe.

Petit soon heard that his bosses were willing to proceed. SoJ were convinced that the game would do well in Japan, thanks to factors such as racing games' frequent popularity in the country, and its youth's fascination with American culture. It was then discussed exactly what kind of NASCAR racer SEGA would make. Eventually, a decision was made to simply center it around the Daytona 500, as it would make licensing easier, thus making the concept more attractive. They then met several times with representatives at the Daytona International Speedway to negotiate the license - once it was secured, there was only the matter of design. It was agreed that the speedway should be represented as closely as possible, and coupling that with the desire to showcase the Model 2's full potential, there was a need for the best possible team to work on the game. As such, AM2 was chosen to take on the job.

Development started in May 1993, with instructions to one-up Namco's Ridge Racer. The task of designing and directing the game fell on Toshihiro Nagoshi. This was the first project he'd direct at SEGA, and it served as the perfect opportunity for him to showcase his 3D graphics skills. Nagoshi was aware of the number of racing games in arcades at the time, and as such, he wanted his project to do something different. It was on a business trip to the US that Nagoshi watched a NASCAR race and got the inspiration for the game's design - he found the sport simple, exciting and appealing, and recognized that no other game at the time had done anything with it. AM2 understood that what ultimately differentiated arcade racers from each other was their AI, and so they got to work on AI that would match the player's skill level (see the Gameplay section). Nagoshi wanted the game to feel just like an actual NASCAR race, and as such the developers took extended trips to the speedway - even going as far as to ride on it -, making sure each and every detail was translated over as accurately as possible. To this end, the team recreated the speedway using satellite imagery.

Worth mentioning is the game's soundtrack, composed by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi, who differentiated this game's soundtrack from other arcade racers by adding vocals to it. As the Model 2 board couldn't support CD-quality audio, Mitsuyoshi had to get creative, using brief vocal samples and looping them to vary the duration of the note. The game was unveiled at Amusement Machine Show Tokyo in 1993, impressing everyone in attendance. It later got a limited release in Japan in August 1993, possibly having been done deliberately to test the game's local appeal. It finally got a full worldwide release in March 1994.