Does not contain actual road fighting
Retro fun fans Hamster have dropped another classic title into their Arcade Archives range, making Konami’s top-down racer Road Fighter available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Released way, way back in 1984, Road Fighter is a high-speed driving title not dissimilar to Taito’s Spy Hunter, which had hit the arcades in the preceding year. Modern video game fans might also remember it as a launch title for the tragically mishandled Microsoft Game Room. In Road Fighter, players gun a flashy sports car down a busy highway, dodging traffic and grabbing bonus points. In true ’80s fashion, the vehicle guzzles fuel like nobody’s business, so pickups must be collected en route in order to reach each course’s finish line.
Although simplistic in nature, Road Fighter’s twitchy gameplay and smooth-scrolling makes for a surprisingly addictive score-attack challenge, even today. But even though the quaint Konami classic can still hold its own in the modern day, I’m unsure as to whether its worth plonking down eight bucks for the experience.
Road Fighter is available to download now on PS4 in Japan and Nintendo Switch worldwide.
