History VideoGame / Cruisn

The series began in 1994 in arcades with the release of ''Cruis'n USA'', though the game was created as a response to the developing change in home consoles. {{Creator/Sega}} was touting that their upcoming {{Platform/SegaSaturn}} would be able to handle arcade-perfect ports of their latest 3-D graphics arcade games, like the sit-down racer ''VideoGame/DaytonaUSA'' and the fighting game ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter''. To counter, Sony, preparing to launch the first Platform/PlayStation1, signed a deal to get Creator/Namco, Sega's arcade rival, to exclusively port their own racing game ''VideoGame/RidgeRacer'' and fighting game ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' to the new system. Nintendo, not to be left out, wanted their own games in those genres that could use show off the capabilities of the then-upcoming Nintendo Ultra 64 (which later became the Platform/Nintendo64).

--> "OH NO! A TORNADO!"
--> "EAAAAARTHQUAAAAKE!"
--> "IT'S CARNIVAL!"
--> "THAT PLANE IS ON FIRE!"

The series began in 1994 in arcades with the release of ''Cruis'n USA'', though the game was created as a response to the developing change in home consoles. {{Creator/Sega}} was touting that their upcoming {{Platform/SegaSaturn}} would be able to handle arcade-perfect ports of their latest 3-D graphics arcade games, like the sit-down racer VideoGame/DaytonaUSA and the fighting game VideoGame/VirtuaFighter. To counter, Sony, preparing to launch the first Platform/PlayStation1, signed a deal to get Creator/Namco, Sega's arcade rival, to exclusively port their own racing game ''VideoGame/RidgeRacer'' and fighting game ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'' to the new system. Nintendo, not to be left out, wanted their own games in those genres that could use show off the capabilities of the then-upcoming Nintendo Ultra 64 (which later became the Platform/Nintendo64).

The series began in 1994 in arcades with the release of ''Cruis'n USA'', though the game was created as a response to the developing change in home consoles. {{Creator/Sega}} was touting that their upcoming {{Platform/SegaSaturn}} would be able to handle arcade-perfect ports of their latest 3-D graphics arcade games, like the sit-down racer VideoGame/DaytonaUSA and the fighting game VideoGame/VirtuaFighter. To counter, Sony, preparing to launch the first Platform/PlayStation1, signed a deal to get Creator/Namco, Sega's arcade rival, to exclusively port their own racing game VideoGame/RidgeRacer and fighting game VideoGame/Tekken to the new system. Nintendo, not to be left out, wanted their own games in those genres that could use show off the capabilities of the then-upcoming Nintendo Ultra 64 (which later became the Platform/Nintendo64).

So they struck a deal with Midway, another major arcade player, to produce a racing game and a fighting game that Midway would release in arcades and Nintendo would later publish as launch titles for the N64. They divvied up the work, each overseeing one of the games. With Midway already having their own rather popular fighting game franchise to devote time to (Franchise/MortalKombat. You may have heard of it.) Nintendo (or more accurately, Creator/Rare, which was part owned by while Nintendo at the time) would oversee the fighting game, ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct''. Meanwhile, Jarvis's team at Midway would handle the racing game.

A few more titles have been sprinkled about through the years, including a UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance spinoff ''Cruis'n Velocity'' (the only game with no involvement of Eugene Jarvis), a UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} reboot simply titled ''Cruis'n'' (which is actually a DolledUpInstallment of a licensed arcade racer, ''The Fast and the Furious'' though it was already seen as a SpiritualSuccessor as Eugene Jarvis headed development of that game at his new company Raw Thrills) and a 2017 revival called ''Cruis'n Blast'' also released in arcades by Raw Thrills, which received a UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch port in 2021.

* AfricaIsACountry: Amongst the track names in ''World'' such as "China", "France", and "Australia", there is a track simply called "Africa." Even weirder - there is another African track that's set in Egypt! Fortunately, the Nintendo 64 port of ''World'' changed the name of the track to Kenya for the purpose of avoiding this trope.

** In the N64 port of ''Exotica'', there's a mode where each course can be run as a two-leg race, with start and finish points provided. Aside from both legs being indistinguishable in terms of scenery, the first leg of the Korea race states that it goes from Pyongyang to Seoul. Problem is, in real life, there are no roads in either Korea that cross the Demilitarized Zone.

* {{Atlantis}}: A track features this in ''Exotica''.

** Death Valley: [[UsefulNotes/{{Tornadoes}} A tornado appears]], blowing up the NPC vehicles and a train (but weirdly doesn't affect the player cars), as well as [[EarthquakesCauseFissures a giant earthquake in an airbase]].
** Madagascar: [[LivingDinosaurs Lots of dinosaurs]] around the track.

** Singapore: [[DramaticThunder A thunderstorm]] that can ''topple a skyscraper sideways''.

* {{Fauxrrari}}: Generic cars based on real-world models were used in the first two games and the N64 port of ''Exotica''. The fictional cars' names were either gaudy or play on national stereotypes, like for example the Toyota Supra {{Expy}} "Kamikaze AWD". The arcade version of ''Exotica'' and later games in the series eventually featured licensed vehicles (''Crusi'n Blast'' originally featured cars licensed from Lamborghini but lost the license for later arcade releases so dropped those vehicles in favor of more cars from their other licensed manufacturers - the Police Cruiser managing to retain a lot of obvious nods to the fact it was originally the Lamborghini Veneno).

''Cruis'n'' is a series of arcade {{Racing Game}}s developed by Creator/EugeneJarvis for Creator/MidwayGames and published by Creator/{{Nintendo}}. The premise is about as simple and arcade-y as it comes -- you drive a car across a voyage along a set of tracks that are confined to a specific theme, depending on which game you are playing. Your goal is to come in first on each course and attempt to make it to the very end, while also dodging all the oncoming traffic. Fret not, however, if you run into the traffic, as your car will only comically fly through the air before landing back on track unscathed.

The series began in 1994 in arcades with the release of ''Cruis'n USA''. This game is particularly noteworthy in the fact that Nintendo used it as a catalyst to show off the capabilities of the then-upcoming Nintendo Ultra 64 (which later became the Platform/Nintendo64). They claimed it, along with the arcade version of ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'', was running on the same hardware that would eventually be seen in the home console proper and that the home port would be a launch title that would play identically to the arcade release. This turned out to be [[BlatantLies untrue]], however, as the N64 hardware turned out to be vastly inferior to the proprietary arcade hardware that Midway actually used.

Two sequels followed -- ''Cruis'n World'' in 1996, and ''Cruis'n Exotica'' in 2000. The former has the player traversing famous locations all around the world as opposed to a single country, while the latter takes the player across exotic places such as Las Vegas, Hong Kong, and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking Mars.]] A few more titles have been sprinkled about through the years, including a UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance spinoff ''Cruis'n Velocity'', a UsefulNotes/{{Wii}} reboot simply titled ''Cruis'n'' (which is actually a DolledUpInstallment of another arcade racer based on ''The Fast and the Furious''), and a 2017 revival called ''Cruis'n Blast'' which received a UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch port in 2021.

* AdaptedOut: The Lamborghini cars are not present in the Switch port of ''Blast'', likely because the license contract with Lamborghini expired during the production of the port.

** In ''World'', the England race goes from London to Stonehenge, which is 75 miles away; also, the New York track looks like a mashup of everything the city has, as it goes from the Cross-Bronx Expressway to South Manhattan, close to the Statue of Liberty. The Germany track is obviously based off Black Forest, with the Neuschwanstein Castle being visible in the background, yet the woman's voice says "Wow! The Berlin Wall!". Berlin and the Black Forest are 400 miles away.

** In an example that crosses over with GameplayAndStorySegregation, the Moon is only shown to have 1/5 of Earth's gravity in its intro cutscene. During the race, the car still jumps at the same height as on Earth.

*** The LudicrousGibs; animals no longer preside on the edges of tracks, and in cases when they cross the tracks, they are placed too far for the cars to hit them. Incidentally, the roadkill issue happens to be the reason why the game was taken off the N64 launch schedule in the first place.

* BigApplesauce: This is one of the tracks in ''World''.

* DoNotTouchTheFunnelCloud: Averted. Your car passes through the tornado in Death Valley without any problems whatsoever. ''Twice''.
* DolledUpInstallment: The Wii game, simply title ''Cruis'n'', is simply a port of an arcade game based on ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' with all the references to the film removed, though to be fair, that game was a SpiritualSuccessor to the ''Cruis'n'' series to begin with.

* AfricaIsACountry: Amongst the track names in ''World'' such as "China", "France", and "Australia", there is a track simply called "Africa", which probably was meant to represent Kenya. Even weirder - there is another African track that's set in Egypt!

* AfricaIsACountry: Amongst the track names in ''World'' such as "China", "France", and "Australia", there is a track simply called "Africa", which probably was meant to represent Kenya or Tanzania. Even weirder - there is another African track that's set in Egypt!

** In the N64 port of ''Exotica'', there's a mode where each course can be run as a two-leg race, with start and finish points provided. Aside from both legs being indistinguishable in terms of scenery, the first leg of the Korea race states that it goes from Pyongyang to Seoul. Problem is, in real life, there are no roads in either Korea that cross the Demilitarized Zone. Not that the Korea track is based on any North Korean location anyway.

* EarthquakesCauseFissures: In the arcade version of ''Blast'', near the end of the Death Valley track is an airbase that gets the ground partially destroyed because of an earthquake.

** Many of ''World'''s tracks. Australia is set in the Outback with Uluru present in the background, France takes place from Chambord (with its iconic castle) to Paris (with the Eiffel Tower of course), Egypt has you drive inside the Pyramids, China has you drive through the Great Wall and Forbidden City, and much more.

** Singapore: [[DramaticThunder A thunderstorm]] that can ''put a skyscraper sideways''.
** Averted in Rio de Janeiro. Instead of a massive disaster happening in the city, [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans it's carnival, baby!]]

* LargeHam: The male commentator in the arcade version of ''Blast''.

The series began in 1994 in arcades with the release of ''Cruis'n USA''. This game is particularly noteworthy in the fact that Nintendo used it as a catalyst to show off the capabilities of the then-upcoming Nintendo Ultra 64 (which later became the UsefulNotes/Nintendo64). They claimed it, along with the arcade version of ''VideoGame/KillerInstinct'', was running on the same hardware that would eventually be seen in the home console proper and that the home port would be a launch title that would play identically to the arcade release. This turned out to be [[BlatantLies untrue]], however, as the N64 hardware turned out to be vastly inferior to the proprietary arcade hardware that Midway actually used.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The end of the Grand Canyon track features Mount Rushmore, which is about 1,000 miles away. In the game, it only takes a couple ''minutes'' to reach it. This happens all over the series; in ''World'', the England race goes from London to Stonehenge, which is 75 miles away; also, the New York track looks like a mashup of everything the city has, as it goes from the Cross-Bronx Expressway to South Manhattan, close to the Statue of Liberty.
** In the N64 port of ''Exotica'', there's a mode where each course can be run as a two-leg race, with start and finish points provided. Aside from both legs being indistinguishable in terms of scenery, the first leg of the Korea race states that it goes from Pyongyang to Seoul. Problem is, in real life, there are no roads in either Korea that cross the Demilitarized Zone.

* LudicrousGibs: In some tracks, you can run through animals and they'll disintegrate into a mess of bodily chunks.

* RecycledInSpace: In ''Cruis'n World'', the final track is [[spoiler:on the moon.]] The entirety of ''Cruis'n Exotica'' can also qualify.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* LivingDinosaurs: ''Exotica'' has the Amazon track populated with various dinosaurs. ''Blast'' does this as well with the Madagascar track and offers a ''Triceratops'' as an actual playable ''vehicle''. The Nintendo Switch port of ''Blast'' remixes four of the tracks to have dino theming as well.

** Somehow, the bonus cars in ''Blast'' are even more ridiculous. Not only do you have cars that are otherwise completely unsuitable for racing in the real world like a British taxi cab and a double decker bus, you also have "cars" like a Roman chariot and a ''Triceratops.''

* EverythingsBetterWithDinosaurs: ''Exotica'' has the Amazon track populated with various dinosaurs. ''Blast'' does this as well with the Madagascar track and offers a ''Triceratops'' as an actual playable ''vehicle''. The Nintendo Switch port of ''Blast'' remixes four of the tracks to have dino theming as well.

* WorldTour: ''Cruis'n World'', ''Exotica'' and ''Blast'' all have races spanning different corners of the globe, although ''Blast'' has much less different locations than the other two.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The end of the Grand Canyon track features Mount Rushmore, which is about 1,000 miles away. In the game, it only takes a couple ''minutes'' to reach it. This happens all over the series; in ''World'', the England race goes from London to the Stonehenge, which is 75 miles away; also, the New York track looks like a mashup of everything the city has, as it goes from the Bronx Expressway to South Manhattan, close to the Statue of Liberty.

'''Cruis'n''' is a series of arcade {{Racing Game}}s developed by Creator/EugeneJarvis for Creator/MidwayGames and published by Creator/{{Nintendo}}. The premise is about as simple and arcade-y as it comes -- you drive a car across a voyage along a set of tracks that are confined to a specific theme, depending on which game you are playing. Your goal is to come in first on each course and attempt to make it to the very end, while also dodging all the oncoming traffic. Fret not, however, if you run into the traffic, as your car will only comically fly through the air before landing back on track unscathed.

* WackyRacing: When the series has vehicles like an army Humvee, a big rig, a three-wheeled truck, a Deadhead van, and an old station wagon, it's a step in this direction. The courses take the series the rest of the way, including routes through an Egyptian pyramid, along the Great Wall of China, through a prehistoric jungle, and even on Mars.

* {{Fauxrrari}}: Generic cars based on real-world models were used in the first two games and the N64 port of ''Exotica''. The fictional cars' names were either gaudy or play on national stereotypes, like for example the Toyota Supra {{Expy}} "Kamikaze AWD". The arcade version of ''Exotica'' and later games in the series eventually featured licensed vehicles. The arcade version ''Cruis'n Blast'' features licensed cars as well (although between the original arcade release and the home port Raw Thrills lost the Lamborghini license, forcing them to replace some of those cars with more Chevy vehicles for later arcade releases and the Switch port - the Police Cruiser, an obvious remodel of the Lamborghini Veneno, being the last remnant of the license).