Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally (Game)

Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally

GAME » on April 14, 1988

Nintendo's take on rally racing, with players driving sports cars, dune buggies, and SUV's on long-winding courses with different types of terrain. It is also one of the few games to support Nintendo's early take on stereoscopic 3D.

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Overview

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Famicom Grand Prix II: 3D Hot Rally is a behind-the-back rally racing game developed by HAL Laboratory and published by Nintendo (Company) for the Famicom Disk System (Platform) exclusively in Japan on April 14, 1988.

A sequel to Famicom Grand Prix: F1 Race, 3D Hot Rally switches from circuit racing in F1 cars to rally racing in multiple types of rally cars, with players driving across vast multi-terrain courses with branching paths in order to reach the finish line in time (somewhat similar to OutRun (Game)). Rather than a top-down perspective, the game uses a behind-the-back one, similar to games like OutRun, Rad Racer (Game), and Nintendo's earlier F1 Race.

It is notable for having Mario (Character) as the player car's driver and Luigi (Character) as the player car's navigator, and the Monster buggy has been in multiple Mario Kart (Franchise) games as a bonus. In addition, the game received a contest where players mailed in their disks (containing the records) to win prizes.

It is one of seven games to support the Famicom 3D System peripheral for stereoscopic 3D. This functionality is entirely optional, and is toggled by pressing the Select button during gameplay.

Gameplay

In 3D Hot Rally, players choose from three different types of cars, each with their own affinity to different terrain:

The sports car Kattobi is the fastest out of all three, and is the best in handling paved roads and grassy paths, but is the least durable and handles poorly off-road.
The 4WD SUV Yongue is neither the most durable nor the fastest, but it handles well in all forms of terrain (and it performs the best on snowy roads).
The ATV buggy Monster is the most durable out of the three, and is the best in handling sand and dirt paths, but it is the slowest and handles poorly on paved roads and grass.

The game features a system where you collect "Hot Dots" scattered throughout the road, which fill up a gauge that, when full, unlocks a fifth "HOT" gear for a temporary "Hot Dash" turbo boost.

Each of the three courses has several branching paths, similar to OutRun (Game), with players switching between different terrain types (paved, grass, snow, sand, and dirt). At the beginning of the race, players determine where on the map is the "repair point", which recovers damage automatically. Otherwise, they will have to stop at the side of the road to repair damages at a significant time loss.

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