There are remastes, there are modifications, restarting and spiritual continuations. Tokyo Xtreme Racer is something else; This is full of resurrection. This is the return of a unique series of games – and a programmer – who has been almost dead for almost 20 years. But this is also not re -tribute or open tribute. This is a continuation of games in their original form, as if the last two decades simply never happened. This is the best racing game in 2005, released in 2025. It’s great.
Perhaps you know the series of one of the many other names: Battle Shutokou, Battle Battle, Tokyo Highway Battle, Import Tuner Challenge or Street Supremacy, Highway 2000 or Wangan Dead Heat. Genki-programist, not a manufacturer of accessories-literally made dozens of games inspired by the Japanese street scene in 1994–2006. Then it suddenly stopped. The studio retired Genki Racing Project Development ARM I, except for a few unsuccessful attempts to take care of the battle on mobile devices to take care of very, very serene.
But equally suddenly, Genki Racing Project and Tokyo Xtreme Racer They came back. The game was released in early access to Steam in January 2025 and simply updated to version 1.0 on Thursday, September 25. I play it since early spring, and although some noteworthy corrections and accessories appeared, Genki programmers had a concept from the very beginning. Of course, that-in the world of video games in Tokyo races are OGS. This is their world.
And what a seductive world is. IN Tokyo Xtreme RacerThe action takes place only at night, on express roads and Tokyo flyover, and the only races are challenges for rivals that happen, passing the streets or spending time in parking lots. Flashy your rival beams and you both grow health bars in the style of a fight. Contact the fries, but it’s not really a game of fighting with the vehicle; The faster you are, the faster the competition’s health belt is.
It is extremely basic, and the challenge may vary depending on where you encounter the rival and the route chosen by them. On the outer highways, which include the obscure void of the bay, races can be nothing more than straight in a few seconds. In the C1 loop, which turns and tunnels around the city center a race with a strenuous opponent requires a needle hit by street traffic and around the blind quick turns, using such a petite brake as you can escape, avoiding contact with a wall that can remove half of your health.
A key thing to understand Tokyo Xtreme RacerIt is, however, that it is just as blissful, night, automotive Pokémon as it is a technical racing game. What’s more, in fact. It is about grinding races to raise the level, unlock benefits and get loans for up-to-date rides and modernization of the car. The idea is to go through the Perk tree to unlock legendary tuner cars such as Nissan Fairlady from 1998 or Toyota Sprinter Trueno from 1987, and adapting them with neon backlight, sticking and fat.
It’s about hunting for colorful members of dozens of racing teams who circulate the streets, hoping that they will eventually pull their leaders. It’s about browsing the entertaining biographies of players with alias (bad names, in the lexicon of the game), such as Woodpecker, melancholic Jupiter, foreign accountant and still Mongoose. It’s about spending time in parking lots to check the silhouettes of fashion rivals from the 2000s, get involved in strangely court, sparring dialogue with them and collect tips on mysterious wanderers and how you can unlock the requirements of their racing.
In other words, it’s a climate. Tokyo Xtreme Racer It can now be the most significant racing game. And vibrations are improved only thanks to the appearance of the game, which has not evolved much since 2006, or technically or aesthetically, and the better. It is a granular, moon world of flickering fibrillation of sodium streets and unclear skyscrapers, soundtracks with crunchy metal guitars, techno bits and burning Hammond organs.
Accelerating on an endless night Tokyo Xtreme Racer I was my joyful game place in 2025 – which is all the more surprising, because somehow I have never played a series before and I have no specific nostalgia. I am nostalgia for visions as specific and beautifully realized as this, created by people who have been doing it for decades and feel in their bones. Tokyo Extreme RacerI never knew you, but it’s great to have you back.
Tokyo Xtreme Racer It is now available on Windows PC and will be released on PlayStation 5 at a later date. The game was checked on a PC using a copy purchased by Polygon. Additional information about the policy of polygon ethics can be found here.
