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Daytona USA 2
Sega's arcade-style stock car racing returns for its second arcade outing, now with updated visuals, a new rockin' soundtrack, and a new selection of cars and tracks to choose from.
Overview
Daytona USA 2: Battle on the Edge is a stock car racing game developed by Sega-AM2 and released by Sega (Company) for arcades (using their Sega Model 3 (Concept) hardware) in Japan on June 1998 and overseas in October 1998.
A sequel to the original 1994 Daytona USA, Daytona USA 2 revamps the original's stock car racing with enhanced visuals and car physics, a new assortment of three tracks, a new rock soundtrack (in collaboration with members of the band Winger, with vocals by either Dennis St. James or Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (Person), depending on operator settings), double the amount of linked players (for up to 16-player races), and multiple cars to choose from (each with different preferences between speed and handling). It was released with Single, Twin, and Deluxe cabinets, the latter of which feature new force feedback (the "Crash Impact Generator").
The game later received a major update on December 1998, known as Daytona USA 2: Power Edition. Along with some track changes, this version features revamped Beginner course visuals, a new "Challenge" course, an updated "Special" car, a new Reverse mode, and online leaderboards (U.S. only).
Neither the original or Power Edition received home conversions at the time, although both versions of the game were later included as bonus mini-games, with the Power Edition included in the 2023 game Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name and the original version included in the 2025 game Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. Due to licensing issues, the game's naming was changed to both Sega Racing Classic 2: Battle on the Edge and Sega Racing Classic 2: Power Edition. Additionally, a variation of the Power Edition's Challenge course was included as a bonus course in the Xbox version of OutRun 2 (Game).
Gameplay
As with the original Daytona USA, players participate in stock car races with arcade-style controls and handling.
Courses
Like the original Daytona USA, the game includes three courses of multiple difficulties. Some courses have slight updates in Power Edition.
- Beginner (Forest Dome) - 8 laps standard, 40 laps in Grand Prix. 40 car race. A simple oval course set in a domed tropical setting. It plays similarly to the Three Seven Speedway (Location), complete with a rolling start. Its venue is reworked in the Power Edition to better resemble a traditional speedway (such as the Daytona International Speedway (Location)).
- Advanced (Joypolis 2020) - 4 laps standard, 20 laps in Grand Prix. 20 car race. Set in a fantasy amusement park with a variety of outlandish themes that the drivers race through. Its name and theme refers to a futuristic vision of Sega's Joypolis series of indoor amusement parks.
- Expert (New Joke City) - 2 laps standard, 10 laps in Grand Prix. 30 car race. A lengthy technical course set throughout a closed-off major city.
Power Edition added a fourth "Challenge" (or "MIX") course, which progresses through a lap of each of the three main courses (Advanced -> Expert -> Beginner), in a point-to-point race, with each course connected together through tunnels and have no pit stops. This course can be played in Mirror mode, but not in Reverse or Grand Prix modes.
Cars
Like the original Daytona USA, players can choose between Automatic and four-shift Manual for the transmission. However, players now choose between four different cars, each with different speed and handling. Their liveries, however, are based on the arcade machine selected.
- Easy (Chums Gum) - Easier steering, despite its slower speed. In Power Edition, the car's design is reworked as "J.C. Eagle".
- Normal (Scorpio Plasma) - Balanced speed and handling.
- Hard (Phantom) - Faster speed, despite its slippery handling.
- Special (Hornet) - Returns from the original Daytona USA. In the original version, the car is hidden via cheat code and allows you to fine-tune the engine (Torque <-> Speed), steering (Under <-> Over), and suspension (Soft <-> Hard). In Power Edition, the car is playable by default and instead controls more like it did in the original Daytona USA (sacrificing both speed and handling for some familiar tech).
Modes and Features
Along with standard racing (including cheat codes to play the course mirrored and/or reversed, the latter of which added in Power Edition), players can opt to instead play the Time Lap mode alone. As an option, multiplayer games can opt to either have only player cars participate in the race, or disallow rubber-banding by no longer increasing the speed to players lagging behind in the race.
Like in the original game, operators can enable lengthier "Grand Prix" races for special events through special settings. This mode increases the amount of laps by five times, adjusting the checkpoint timer to accommodate, and makes use of both tire wear and limited fuel as simulation-style mechanics, making use of a new indicator on the HUD. Both the tire and fuel gauges are replenished through pit stops. Additionally, wrecks can now happen while playing the Beginner course, causing a full-course yellow period ("Full Course Caution") which relinquishes control of all cars ("auto drive") and reduces their speed down to 100 mph until the wreck is cleared.
In the overseas versions, operators can enable bonus features:
- For even lengthier event races, "Grand Prix" mode can be changed to 100-mile increments ("100 MILE", "200 MILE", "300 MILE", "400 MILE" and "500 MILE"), which adjust the laps to match the amount of miles chosen and removes the checkpoint timer completely.
- When the game is in the USA region, operators can enable the ability to add extra laps to standard lapped races with additional credits (with the default as +4 laps per credit for Beginner, +2 laps per credit for Advanced, and +1 lap per credit for Expert). This option is unavailable in event modes.
- A "campaign" mode can be enabled that makes use of a separate leaderboard, with players tracking the amount of points they earn persistently (tracked through a combination of the three-letter name entry and four-digit "birthday" password, similar to NBA Jam (Game)).
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- Name
- Daytona USA 2
- Release Date
- June 1998
- Platform
- Arcade (Platform)
- Developer
- Publisher
- Genre
- Driving/Racing (Genre)
- Franchise
- Daytona USA (Franchise)