is an

racing In sport, racing is a competition of speed, in which competitors try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed to reach a specific go ...

simulation game Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

released by

Namco was a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game and entertainment company, headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo. It held several international branches, including Namco America in Santa Clara, California, Namco Europe in London, Na ...

for arcades in 1990. It is the arcade sequel to '' Final Lap'' and runs on Namco System 2 hardware.

Gameplay

Much like the original title (and ''

Four Trax is a 1989 racing arcade game developed and published by Namco. It was released in North America by Atari Games, and was ported to the Mega Drive/Genesis in 1991 as ''Quad Challenge''. Gameplay Players take control of four quad bikes (red for ...

''), it allows up to eight players to play simultaneously when four two-player sit-down cabinets are connected together, but this one features four different tracks which are set in the game's home country of Japan (the

Suzuka Circuit The , more famously known as the , is a long motorsport race track located in Ino, Suzuka City, Mie Prefecture, Japan and operated by Honda Mobilityland, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co, Ltd. It has a capacity of 155,000. Introduction Soich ...

from the original),

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign ''Sovereign'' is a title which can be applied to the highest leader in various categories. The word ...

, and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

(which resembles the Test track that was featured in ''

Pole Position II is the sequel to racing simulation A simulation is the imitation of the operation of a real-world process or system over time. Simulations require the use of Conceptual model, models; the model represents the key characteristics or b ...

''). For a second time, the players must take control of either the Williams, McLaren, March or Lotus cars, which have been redesigned, in a Formula One race on one of the four tracks - and in the single-player mode, the player's score shall again be based upon how far his car travels until the timer runs out or he completes four laps of the chosen circuit, and hitting another car or a billboard will again not cause a player car to explode like it did in the two ''

Pole Position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

'' games, but it can still send it (or the other car) spinning off the track, costing valuable time. In the multiplayer mode, up to eight players can again race simultaneously; this shall again allow for better lap times, as the plain green CPU-controlled cars (which have also been redesigned) shall appear less frequently. The United States track is the easiest of the four, and is recommended for the novice players - and once a player has mastered it, he is ready to move on to the Monaco track, then the Italy one (which are of medium and medium-hard difficulties). However, the Japan track is the most difficult one, given that it is the Suzuka Circuit from the original game and it is therefore only recommended for the expert players or the players who had managed to master it in the original.

Reception

In Japan, the arcade magazine ''Game Machine'' reported that ''Final Lap 2'' was the top-earning upright/cockpit arcade game of September 1990. It went on to be Japan's highest-grossing dedicated arcade cabinet of 1991, and third highest-grossing overall arcade game of the year (below ''

Street Fighter II is a fighting game developed by Capcom and originally released for arcades in 1991. It is the second installment in the '' Street Fighter'' series and the sequel to 1987's '' Street Fighter''. It is Capcom's fourteenth game to use the CP Sys ...

'' and ''

Final Fight ''Final Fight'' is a series of beat 'em up video games by Capcom, which began with the arcade release of '' Final Fight'' in 1989. Set in the fictional Metro City, the games focus on a group of heroic vigilantes who fights against the control ...

''). ''Final Lap 2'' was then Japan's second highest-grossing arcade game of 1992, again below ''Street Fighter II''. In North America, it was the top-grossing new video game on the ''RePlay'' arcade charts in May 1991, and was then the top-grossing upright cabinet from June to July 1991. It was awarded the Silver Award at the 1992 American Amusement Machine Association (AAMA) tradeshow for sales excellence in 1991; it was one of five

arcade video game An arcade video game takes player input from its controls, processes it through electrical or computerized components, and displays output to an electronic monitor or similar display. Most arcade video games are coin-operated, housed in an ar ...

s at the show to receive a Silver Award or higher. It also topped the ''RePlay'' deluxe cabinet chart in March 1992. Mark Caswell of '' Crash'' magazine gave it a positive review, calling it a good racing game and noting it "is one of the only racing games I know of where you MUST brake when approaching a corner and this realism is well appreciated."

Notes

References

External links

*
''Final Lap 2''
at the Arcade History database 1990 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games Formula One video games Multiplayer and single-player video games Namco arcade games Racing video games Racing video games set in the United States Sports video games set in Italy Video game sequels Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Shinji Hosoe Video games set in Monaco Video games set in Japan {{NamcoBandai-stub