There are recreational venues that for some strange reason never made the leap to a domestic system. And unfortunately these are mostly high-quality games that are still remembered today, like the beat ’em up Cadillacs and Dinosaurs developed by Capcom, which could not be rescued in either Capcom Beat ’em Up Bundle or Capcom Home Arcade due to licensing issues. Except Alien vs. Predator, luckily!
If we look back there are many exclusive arcades of those arcade rooms, but very soon it will be necessary to cross out a highly demanded one from that list. Because there are very few days left before the Gaelco cartridge for Evercade with World Rally as the most attractive claim. Yes, the legendary 1993 game that many people dubbed “Carlos Sainz’s arcade.”
60 seconds much tougher than Nicholas Cage
I do not know anyone in my circle of friends who has not seen that iconic machine developed by Zigurat Software, a team made up of old Made in Europe components (Sir Fred, among other classics of 8-bit systems in the eighties). And although this arcade was left without the official image of Carlos Sainz (due to the change of team that the pilot suffered, as we remember when talking about the recent Super Woden GP of ViJuDa from Vigo), his name remained on the collective.
It is important to emphasize that fact of the two-time Spanish champion, since he won his world rally championships in 1990 and 1992 with his iconic Toyota Celica ST165, the one in the image precisely of this World Rally edited by Gaelco. And what car did you use in 1993 with your new team? The Lancia Delta HF Integrale.
It was not, in any case, the only game that Gaelco had on rally racing with the official or unofficial image of Carlos Sainz. Without going any further, in 1990 they did launch the call Carlos Sainz – World Rally Championship on 8-bit systems like Amstrad CPC or ZX Spectrum. What not so many people remember is that in 1995 came the sequel to the game that places us now, baptized as World Rally 2: Twin Racing, sharing the image of the Toyoca Celica worn by Carlos Sainz along with the no less mythical Subaru Impreza 555 by Colin McRae.
But today we have to talk about this World Rally de 1993 that I have been able to enjoy, finally at home officially, thanks to one of the cartridges that came as a gift in the limited edition of the Evercade VS console. Because when I analyzed that machine, it was clear to me that this console did want to have it in my hands, unlike the Evercade laptop, which did not cover all my needs in the retro sector.
This cartridge will be released in mid-January (if it is not delayed further), containing in its interior another five Gaelco games, such as Alligator Hunt The Biomechanical Toy, of which the Snow Board Championship (that I did not know) for replicating the style of this rally game within that other sport with snow. But it is not that Ziggurat invented gunpowder either, since the Thrash Rally ADK’s (Twinkle Star Sprites) was released in 1991 and already used the visual cues so typical of this kind of racing game. And, of course, also adopted by the great classic SEGA Rally in 1995.
World Rally attracted a lot of attention for its isometric view. It was one of his entry claims. But also because of that immediacy for the games that constantly reminded us of its arcade spirit: If we went over 60 seconds in the race, we lost the game. And if we wanted to continue (spending coins) we had to completely redo the race. No, it was not easy at all.
World Rally, a true arcade classic
That toughness took only a race to show its cards. Peranaldo, the first test of the San Remo Rally (Italy) was easy, while Totip, the second, slapped us with the increase of curves, obstacles and narrow passage bridges. And if we had enough expertise (apart from nerves of steel) to go to the last phase (Ospedaletti), snow awaited us with the possibility of skating. As if there were no problems running in less than 60 seconds …
Looking back, a greater real variety of circuits is missing, because there were hardly any aesthetic differences between the circuits. four rally championships available. The pattern was always the same: track on asphalt, other parts on dirt and some with snow. They changed for the climb in difficulty, of course, being the Monte Carlo rally (Monaco) the average level, Acropolis (Greece) the difficult one and the 1,000 lakes rally (Finland) the only one reserved only for experts.
And how was the control of the vehicle? The truth is that the guy continues to endure very well, being a joy to enjoy it in the 21st century. And it is surprising to remember that there was no brake button. But this was not an impediment to take the curves perfectly, you just had to pay attention to the indications and give the right touches to the control (or steering wheel) to take those turns without any failure.
A clearly arcade mechanics that we were penalized with a spin if a turn got out of hand when we collided with an element of the stage. If we were lucky and it was a simple scratch, nothing would happen and it was still possible to reach the goal in less than 60 seconds, but if the thing went more in other subsequent circuits it was certain “death” … And to drop another coin for continue later.
I didn’t need more to sting us, it was (almost) perfect like that. It mattered little to us in his day that he only had a vehicle or that we did not see any rival on the screen, just that fight against the clock. Its sequel implemented three racing cars to choose from and fight against ghost cars, but it was not the same anymore. World Rally had an impact difficult to repeat, that’s why we keep so much affection for him from that time …
Gaelco Arcade 1 Evercade Cartridge (Piko Arcade)
