Ahh dang it, I wish I'd seen this before... I was wondering how they went about filming the game's intro cinematic and well, here's a making-of video from 1997 that shows some behind the scenes stuff regarding exactly that. Fantastic: ua-cam.com/video/ucIG1ANRCJE/v-deo.html
Check out his posthumous album called Theodosius! Before he passed, he was working on new music; a lot of the old musicians that worked on NFS with him came back together to finish it.
I had the PC version but it ran slowly on my PC and kept crashing. I then bought a used copy of the PSX version which although lower resolution was pretty close to the PC version. The difference between the PSX and PC versions of NFS3 and 4 (High Stakes) were much bigger though. That was the era when technology was advancing at an incredible pace and the old Playstation seemed so primitive against new 3DFX technology on PCs.
Same issue here! I had a Cyrix processor 133 Mhz equivalent to Pentium 75 Mhz and 16 MB of RAM... actually it barely could run at 320x240 but I played anyway... I was FAR away from a Pentium 200 Mhz with a 3dFX card... it was the best PC at that time and my dream as a child... well...
Only us from 90s decade (or lower) knows how it feels, buying a game thinking if our pc can run the game even on lowest graphics, fortnite generation will never know the feeling of our era
Same, my dad got me the game as a gift, i remember waiting patiently as he tried installing it on the super slow and super underpowered family computer that took ages to finish. And when it finally did and fired up the game, i had to watch the menu options on the left load in at like 1 fps. Legit took 10 mins just to load the main menu... but hey at least that awesome menu music was playing fine the whole time!
My words. We only had the ability to run the game in software mode since we didn't had a 3d accelerated GPU at the time. Was still fun beside the choppy FPS.
It looks very different indeed. I remember being very disappointed in this one, figured they had struggled to adopt the Glide API and decided to phone it in to meet some arbitrary deadline. TD5 came out barely a year later and blew it out of the water.
Hi, Thank you LGR. This was the very first game I played on my cousin's PC. I still remember every single moment of it. Thanks for bringing more memories back :)
Holy shit, when the menu music kicked in I got goosebumps. NFS II was one of the first racing games I ever played, I remember being obsessed with the McLaren F1. Thank you for the nostalgia LGR.
This game was my life as a kid , it’s what made me a car guy to this day! That music and those cars oh man what a throw back. The Nazca C2 was my favourite.
@@JV64 It is a prototype made by Italdesign at the request of BMW. And Calà is a Lamborghini prototype (baby Lambo) made by Italdesing that became inspiration for Gallardo.
Commenting on a three-year-old video here, but I just recently watched this and it compelled me to try NFS 2 SE via MyAbandonware. And I've had a blast with it; this game from 1997 has given me more than most AAA racing games from the past ten years. And I'm someone who has no nostalgic connection to it. The bangin' soundtrack, the chance to control cars I'll never drive in real life (always welcome), and the wacky physics even on "Simulation" mode, so much comes together to bring me a joyful experience. I actually really love the crazy physics, bopping an opponent off the road and watching them tumble like a Hot Wheels car down the stairs brings such a goofy smile to my face and it gives me the vibe of a proto-Burnout, just not as violent. Good stuff.
Ahh I am happy to hear that! I've always thought that this game retains a special kind of silliness that holds up to today, so long as you're not expecting anything "realistic." It's just raw late 90s fun, and I'm glad that came across to you too. _Hot Wheels tumbling down the stairs_ is a great way to describe it.
It's crazy seeing the subtle similarities between this and my personal jam, Need for Speed III Hot Pursuit. Would be great to see a retrospective on that one!
100% agree! I loved that game and still think of the dispatcher guy's voice when I pass through certain tunnels or other areas in real life that remind me of the game. Get me a Diablo!
I played all the NFS games up to Hot Pursuit 2, and this video brought back so many memories. I really love your content and your voice. I think I could listen to you speak all day!
this was the first one I played a ton of. I think the actual first one I played was NFS shift maybe? I just remember it being on a proper race track, it being incredibly difficult for child-me to control the car and keep traction. I never got more than 15 seconds in before ruining the race lol (I did play with a wheel and pedals too)
I still remember when my mom brought this home out of the blue for me when I was a kid. I never even asked or knew it existed but she saw how much I loved the first game, so she picked it up.
One of the first games I tried on my Voodoo 4MB card, all my friends that had a playstation and an N64 were all amazed beyond belief, the 90s were the best!
The FMVs of the intro, and the single ones for the Italdesign and the Jaguar, that's definitely Sardinia, my homeland... Since I had a pirated copy of the game as kid, without the videos, this is totally new for me
I gotta say, the futurism of the GT90 has aged surprisingly well. Like it looks like a supercar someone could have designed and made *today*, which is impressive considering how of its time so much 90s futurism was.
Yep. And this game showcased them so well. Better than the games that came bundled with them, that's for sure. The first time you saw the lava in NFS2SE was mind blowing.
EA really needs to remake/remaster these games and bring them back to the market. In a golden era bundle, or something. NFS3 Hot Pursuit and Highstakes were always my favourite. Oh man, the music... that 90s techno. Especially “Callista”
We don't need that. NFS2 to 5 already have custom renderers for them to make it run at modern resolutions and widescreen with proper FoV. In fact, you can use the DirectX 8 renderer, use d3d8to9, then use Reshade to enhance the graphics (and possibly add software raytracing through RTGI, although I haven't tested it myself, so I don't know if it's possible).
The cheats were still the best in any racing game, and damn near the best in any game not called Ultima VII. Seriously, you could be a T-Rex, an outhouse, a log, a rock, and just about any object you could see on the map that wasn't terrain. I remember being quite fond of the log for its insane acceleration, even if the outhouse had objectively better handling.
The T-Rex with Pioneer performance is legit fun. You get to ram everything out of the way like it's nothing. I miss when we have so much control in a retail game.
The car showcase videos in this game were literally my favourite thing in the world for a time. The F1 and GT90 in particular. That menu music still hits deep for me.
Man, so much of your discussion around NFS SE and the GT90 ring absolutely true for me; I hadn't owned a PC yet but played it on PS1, then by '99 I was building a gaming rig and rebuying all my fav games for PC. Man oh man good times.
Still the best game in the franchise in my opinion. With NFS: Hot Pursuit II being second :) The police chases, rain/weather conditions, the interesting tracks, the uplifting trance/techno music.. Not going to lie, some of it is nostalgia. But NFS 3 Hot Pursuit is still the best NFS experience I had. And Hot Pursuit II was the last game in the franchise before EA ruined it by appealing to the hiphop/pimp my ride/street racing culture. Not my cup of tea.
It had a charm a good mix of classic arcade racing circuit tracks but with so many cars and tracks to pick you had hours and hours of fun the snow maps like summit and then desert maps like red rock ridge man they balanced it for every fan silly jumps but serious track lay outs to split high ways
I have all the track music on CD, and listen to them depend on the weather when driving. I remembered I had my old Cougar 2000 back in the days, gave my friend a ride with NFS 3 playing, she thought it was rave music. Of course, always Aquatica on rainy days.
Yeah the soundtrack made a lasting impact for me also. EA games in general had such a great standard for such things in the 90's although the games themselves were not always that great.
Holy nostalgia! Pure '90s feeling. I played NFS II SE so much when I was around 15 yo, and I didn't have many games to play. I still have the CD and fond memories of the time I spent playing it. Awesome video.
This is definitely one of those games in my past that I remember looking far, far better than it really did. Still, those showcase videos were highlights of my childhood. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
Agreed - I LOVED Porsche Unleashed. It made me become obsessed with Porsches (with all its detail and models), and it was graphically the most gorgeous game I'd played until then.
Once you played through the different time periods in NFS5 and got yourself the Porsche 911 1995 turbo with the right settings, it was just crazy fast and accurate to drive.
I grew up loving this game so much as a kid. My dad and I played the heck out of this game back then. This also prompted my mind to start loving fast cars.
For me, a European kid it was the BMW Z3, always took it to school, until some kid brought a Lamborghini Diablo and the other brought a Countach. After playing NFS Carbon though, i always wanted a Aston Martin Vantage model.
My brothers and I had NFS2 on Playstation and we loved it; we were all under the age of 10 so we didn't know any better when it came to driving models or it's competitors, but none of that matters. We sunk a ton of time into it and loved every moment of the goofyness. Those cars are also legendary to me, especially the McLaren F1, even to this day. Thanks for reacquainting me to that McLaren FMV, I use to watch it so many time lol.
Clint, you are a masterful reviewer. Thanks so much for making these videos. We're about the same age and I get much more out of watching a 20-minute overview of a game from my childhood than digging up a copy of the game somewhere and playing it. You are the perfect guide for a walk down memory lane.
Need for Speed needs to go back to its roots instead of trying to come up with movie-like storylines and NOS tuner cars. NFS 2 was a lot of fun, pure ‘90s goodness
Greatest memory of my childhood, sitting with my brother in front of a 14 inch CRT and racing in split screen mode. When you pressed too many keys at once, the system would lock up for a brief moment. Hearing NFS2 or NFS3 music today still goes right to the core for me and I can barely contain myself.
Probably a true statement. NFS 1 was almost a semi simulation, NFS 3 was far from that, but real fun with cop chases and NFS 2 was just ... boring. I remember how angry I was, when I bought the game. Roads were boring, cars handled like Mario Karts and there were no cops.
@@T0m0zuki I wouldn't call a game that allowed you to ride a T-Rex Dinosaur into a cave of lava and a sci-fi movie set "boring." Also the cars were much cooler than the first game and Rom di Prisco's soundtrack was killer. But yeah, cops were sorely missed.
@@fardimnazir666 Truth to be told; I`ve never tried to drive a T-rex or a log as it seemed ridiculous to me. My friend however loved the idea. But my perception of NFS was, that it was kind of serious racing game and with the NFS II my reaction was "WTF". Cars were cooler or at least more exotic, but that was also the turn off for me. There were mostly concepts which was a step into different direction from what street racing was or what it was supposed to be. Soundtrack was good, tho. NFS III kind of satisfied my taste, despite the fact that the game was more arcade than the first NFS.
0:20 "...Half a year earlier. That was an irrefutable eternity in kid time" As a fellow 90's kid - 😭 Time moves so slow as a kid, but so fast as an adult. Whyyyyyyyyy?!
I read something about how When you’re 10 half of your entire life and memories was 5 years ago As an adult, half your entire life and memories was 15 years ago It’s not about time moving fast, it’s about our perception being skewed because we remember so much of it
@@ACTNRPLY I would argue that there's more milestones as a kid - things that bookmark your memories. As a kid, there's always something new going on, always something to absorb. We meet new people on the regular, learn new things, explore different activities, and partake in different events. As an adult though, we have a routine, and most of the time we rarely deviate from it. We learn less than when we were kids, and simply repeat our day to day actions until a major change comes about. But still, Clint's comment makes me feel old lol
My first ever NFS. Thanks for the nostalgia hit. This game made me a car nerd which i am to this day. I remember i used to watch the irl images of the cars in the game and now this video just hits different. Again, thanks for this
I love that you made this tribute to the game! This and the other classic NFS games will always be special to me for a lot of the same reasons you mentioned. Would love to see a video on NFS III and High Stakes!
Oh yeah. My college roomie and I had NFS III and a LAN. Play for a couple hours, order some pizza, slam a Mtn Dew, get back to playing. :-) Those were simpler times.
Mom: Daaad, your son is gonna be driving like a maniac when he grows up, playing that game all day. Present day: can't even manage a stick. Fearful of driving auto.
The viper is perfect. When it was released and up until this day, it manages to look futuristic, retro and current, all at the same time. It's an amazing vehicle.
NFS2:SE is playable on Windows 10. Just google for verokster patch (on his blogspot) or Zaps166 wrapper (on his GitHub). There is also Discord community for first 6 NFS titles with multiplayer sessions. Yeah, you can play NFS2SE online! Invite is on needforspeed3(dot)racing ;)
Man, those memories! I remember playing this after school at my friend with other classsmates. Those cars, racetracks and great soundtracks... Just pure fun! 🏁
This brings back the childhood memories! I remember the reversing trick into the stands for the wild jumps over the rails to the "Pioneer" cheat making everything that little bit faster and more insane. Used to drive the Unimog heaps just to obliterate the traffic 2CV! The game that also introduced me to the XJ220 which in my eyes is the prettiest car ever made. :)
In my first game dev job, I worked with the Art Director of this game. Turns out the game was developed for Playstation then ported to PC. PC got all the credit. At least we got our Vancouver track. Keep up the great videos!
My first racing game that introduced me more deeply to video games and racing games specially. And yes, that soundtrack, THAT MAGNIFICENT SOUNDTRACK I remember all time; cars, showcases, tracks, races, traffic, etc, etc, etc..., for me, the NFS more interesting, through of its curious (and little bad) details. Some day this NFS (and all classics) should comeback, they deserve be remembered and, again, THAT EXCELLENT SOUNDTRACK!!!
A German folk section on Hienerklingle, A didgeridoo on Pavlova, bongo's & a sitar on Nashat, & all mixed wonderfully with techno, rock & metal. I wish I could of been in the meeting where that idea was proposed lol. On paper it sounds ridiculous but man they knocked it out of the park. Add the childhood nostalgia & whenever I hear the fist few bars of any of those tracks, I grin from ear to ear :)
This is a pretty thorough and insightful analysis, with lots of respect given to the game both in its original context and how it stacked up today. Nice job!
I got to valet an XJ220 at the North Ky/Cincinnati Airport during the WINTER WITH ICE AND SNOW! Car actually got frozen in place in our parking lot. Good times.
So excited, used to play this back in Russia, pirated copy (that's all my small town used to sell) with no music, but damn I remember discovering you can drive T-rex. So good!
@@Maximus20778 I am not wrong, I played Most Wanted too. Has nothing to begin against NFS I, II, III and High Stakes. Most Wanted gets stale after 40 minutes of replay.
I've played all of the classic NFS games up until Most Wanted (2005), and the only ones that held my attention for the longest were NFS Underground, and NFSII: Special Edition. Man those games were amazing. They just don't make'em like this anymore.
I was a big fan of NFS and NFS:SE, but never bothered to get NFS2 for the exact same reason that you gravitated toward it. I liked the real vehicles of the original over what I felt were the "melted, blobby looking" supercars of the sequel.
Ahh dang it, I wish I'd seen this before... I was wondering how they went about filming the game's intro cinematic and well, here's a making-of video from 1997 that shows some behind the scenes stuff regarding exactly that. Fantastic: ua-cam.com/video/ucIG1ANRCJE/v-deo.html
This is incredible, thank you for sharing!!!
Very interesting! Incredible how ambitious EA were back then..
do age of empires 2 de and max payne and commando
which games were famous in 1990s
Those car videos in the game have to be the most 90s thing I have ever seen! Lol
RIP Saki Kaskas, the creator of the old NFS games music. Still have the soundtracks of the games in my playlists
Yeah, I'm so glad he mentioned him. Kudos.
Oh man, High Stakes had such an incredible soundtrack.
One of his tracks ended up in Mass Effect 2. His music was truly timeless. RIP
Check out his posthumous album called Theodosius! Before he passed, he was working on new music; a lot of the old musicians that worked on NFS with him came back together to finish it.
@@arbutusunedo2069 The mentioned track is "Callista". Original from NFS High Stakes showcase, which somehow it reached ME2 too
As a kid, I remember buying this game and finding out later at home that my pc could not run it. Oh man, those were sad times.
I feel your pain. No pain like not enough MHZ back then.
I had the PC version but it ran slowly on my PC and kept crashing. I then bought a used copy of the PSX version which although lower resolution was pretty close to the PC version. The difference between the PSX and PC versions of NFS3 and 4 (High Stakes) were much bigger though. That was the era when technology was advancing at an incredible pace and the old Playstation seemed so primitive against new 3DFX technology on PCs.
Same issue here! I had a Cyrix processor 133 Mhz equivalent to Pentium 75 Mhz and 16 MB of RAM... actually it barely could run at 320x240 but I played anyway... I was FAR away from a Pentium 200 Mhz with a 3dFX card... it was the best PC at that time and my dream as a child... well...
Only us from 90s decade (or lower) knows how it feels, buying a game thinking if our pc can run the game even on lowest graphics, fortnite generation will never know the feeling of our era
Same, my dad got me the game as a gift, i remember waiting patiently as he tried installing it on the super slow and super underpowered family computer that took ages to finish. And when it finally did and fired up the game, i had to watch the menu options on the left load in at like 1 fps. Legit took 10 mins just to load the main menu... but hey at least that awesome menu music was playing fine the whole time!
3:42 As an Australian, I can confirm this is a regular occurrence in our day to day life.
hi
Yee
Real pest when I'm driving to work of a morning
No wonder your continent is so sparsely populated
😅
That main menu music just gave me shivers. I didn't realise how burnt into my brain it is and I haven't heard it since the 90's.
I just had the same experience
Same lol
just shed grown ass man tears, more than I'd like to admit.
Me too!!
There was a music with destorsion electro guitar. Anyone remember the name?
that soundtrack by Rom Di Prisco is unique and on point.
And many say that Rom di Prisco songs are all GOATED.
I only ever played this on software render at a stupid slow framerate. Seeing it in 3dfx mode at full speed looks like a different game.
It honestly still looks "wrong" to me, the entire aesthetic is different than the NFS2 I most remember!
My words. We only had the ability to run the game in software mode since we didn't had a 3d accelerated GPU at the time. Was still fun beside the choppy FPS.
It looks very different indeed. I remember being very disappointed in this one, figured they had struggled to adopt the Glide API and decided to phone it in to meet some arbitrary deadline. TD5 came out barely a year later and blew it out of the water.
Good old days. I feel really old now.
@@AlexCreemers You and me both mate.
Still blows my mind that there's an actual GT90 in existence that actually runs.
5:55 That Mouse Cursor jumping killed me XD Thanks for the memories!!
I could swear he said "63% of my happy endings come from that song". Had to check twice.
Mouse Cursor seemingly is quite broken.
Hi, Thank you LGR. This was the very first game I played on my cousin's PC. I still remember every single moment of it. Thanks for bringing more memories back :)
Holy shit, when the menu music kicked in I got goosebumps. NFS II was one of the first racing games I ever played, I remember being obsessed with the McLaren F1. Thank you for the nostalgia LGR.
I'm 33, this was one of the best early PC games, right around the time it was this and Age of Empires! MSN Gaming Zone krew 4 life!
Saaaaame dude...I played this game around 2004-5 at my cousin's house and it was amazing
@@tilda140Age of Empires 1 and 2 are still the KING.
The menu music is where a young Clint fell in love with electronic music which eventually lead to his synth-lord status today!
Hehe, back in times u could have random techno or psytrance party just hanging in the menu
11:50 like dude, u could play this at psy party and noone would notice its from 25 y old game
Dark lord of the synth
I can say NFS3's techno soundtrack influenced my music style, when I started making it 10 years later..
He even name-dropped Rom Di Prisco. That makes him a true fan in my eyes.
This game was my life as a kid , it’s what made me a car guy to this day! That music and those cars oh man what a throw back. The Nazca C2 was my favourite.
Same dude. I swear to god if this game didn't exist I wouldn't love cars at all.
fzr2000 best car :D
His grill looks liie BMW
Ahhh yeah. This game and the December 1997 issue of Road & Track set my life down the gear head path. Mclaren F1 forever.
Thanks the nostalgia trip!
@@JV64 It is a prototype made by Italdesign at the request of BMW. And Calà is a Lamborghini prototype (baby Lambo) made by Italdesing that became inspiration for Gallardo.
Extremely well-planned and articulated video. Thanks for the memories! :')
DANCING CURSOR IS ALL THAT I NEED NOW
10 hours loop when?
@@alexsilva28 ITS WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW
Check out Kevin MacLeod specifically on UA-cam, where you fullfill all your dancing cursor needs.
@@lcmiracle YESSSSSSSSSSSSS LIKE MOTH TO FLAME
He has a small one with the Sims 1 Autorun Jungle.
Hello there
_HI_
General kenobi
Oh my God it's Vick!
Raycevick!
General Kenobi!
the angel from my nightmare
Lost my shit at the T-rex tumbling end over end and letting out the stock sound effect scream
The T-Rex in NFS II: ITS OVER 9000!
Commenting on a three-year-old video here, but I just recently watched this and it compelled me to try NFS 2 SE via MyAbandonware. And I've had a blast with it; this game from 1997 has given me more than most AAA racing games from the past ten years. And I'm someone who has no nostalgic connection to it. The bangin' soundtrack, the chance to control cars I'll never drive in real life (always welcome), and the wacky physics even on "Simulation" mode, so much comes together to bring me a joyful experience. I actually really love the crazy physics, bopping an opponent off the road and watching them tumble like a Hot Wheels car down the stairs brings such a goofy smile to my face and it gives me the vibe of a proto-Burnout, just not as violent. Good stuff.
Ahh I am happy to hear that! I've always thought that this game retains a special kind of silliness that holds up to today, so long as you're not expecting anything "realistic." It's just raw late 90s fun, and I'm glad that came across to you too. _Hot Wheels tumbling down the stairs_ is a great way to describe it.
It's crazy seeing the subtle similarities between this and my personal jam, Need for Speed III Hot Pursuit. Would be great to see a retrospective on that one!
100% agree! I loved that game and still think of the dispatcher guy's voice when I pass through certain tunnels or other areas in real life that remind me of the game. Get me a Diablo!
Fun fact: When playing on 3d accelerated mode, the textures were actually lower resolution, because of the limitations of the Voodoo1 cards...
"...after the Dodge Viper, of course."
Ah, Clint, I see you are a man of taste!
Or a kid/preteen /teen of the 90s
I, too, can only love cars that actively try to murder me.
@@DankbeastPaul like Christine?
I feel like the entire LGR channel is deserving of its *own* Retrospective.
I agree 100%
He did one for the 10 year anniversary ua-cam.com/video/WRb6heH4LOI/v-deo.html
@@johnmills5106 I think your post should have its own retrospective.
Why wouldn't you just watch all the episodes? No recap needed.
It really messed me up having not been caught up on his channel for years and coming back to see that he had hit well over a million subs.
The game I miss most is NFSIII: Hot Pursuit
HP2 was my first one. The music is still nostalgic to me today.
I miss nfs X
X2
playing as a cop was something. Deploying spikes and setting roadblocks
I still play NFS3 to this day. Still my favorite.
I loved NFS 2. Still have the box and CD. That menu music is legendary.
I played all the NFS games up to Hot Pursuit 2, and this video brought back so many memories. I really love your content and your voice. I think I could listen to you speak all day!
LGR has more fun with this than sims 4, and I don't blame him.
If EA makes a GT90 Stuff Pack though...
My first ever racing game, still remember it fondly.
same here, first playstation game, and got the same maisto model of the gt90 too lol (except in white)
this was the first one I played a ton of. I think the actual first one I played was NFS shift maybe? I just remember it being on a proper race track, it being incredibly difficult for child-me to control the car and keep traction. I never got more than 15 seconds in before ruining the race lol (I did play with a wheel and pedals too)
When I’m an old man my line will be “back in my day we had cheat codes!”
"Back in my day, 'game hacks' were called trainers and we used them to absolutely break single-player games!"
OK boomers 😂
Yep. I was a THPS fan for the consoles. Cheat codes and game winners was my jam. lol
@@XMguy reddit has a gamewinners subreddit if you want to meet old GW forum members. Just a tip :)
@@adventureoflinkmk2 ..I'm not even mad. 😂
I still remember when my mom brought this home out of the blue for me when I was a kid. I never even asked or knew it existed but she saw how much I loved the first game, so she picked it up.
Sounds like your mom is awesome!
One of the first games I tried on my Voodoo 4MB card, all my friends that had a playstation and an N64 were all amazed beyond belief, the 90s were the best!
Man, 90's Need For Speeds were something special. Countless memories.
Hoping for a return to this style of NFS game sometime in the future!
in my opinion the best need for speeds got made from 2003-2007
@@jammygamer8961 for me, last good nfs was 2011, the run
@@jammygamer8961 Not a chance, 3 was the best, all downhill from there.
Can't agree more. NFS3's soundtrack and raceways are still burned into my memory, as well as NFS High Stakes. Always enjoyed that one.
The FMVs of the intro, and the single ones for the Italdesign and the Jaguar, that's definitely Sardinia, my homeland... Since I had a pirated copy of the game as kid, without the videos, this is totally new for me
Oh yess. I like the location they used. Seems like somewhere in Mediterranean. I love the Mediterraneo map.
GOOSE BUMPS. THANK YOU for making this video.. just brought tears to my eyes, no joke. the nostalgia. the good feelings. thank you LGR.
I gotta say, the futurism of the GT90 has aged surprisingly well. Like it looks like a supercar someone could have designed and made *today*, which is impressive considering how of its time so much 90s futurism was.
This was the first racing game I've ever played and those videos are really a nostalgia trip. Love to see people are still enjoying it
It's crazy how much better the Glide graphics are. People back then must have been blown away by the new Voodoo cards.
Yes, we were.
MK4 and NFS2se were my first glide games, I was playing on 486 dx4 with voodoo2 and it was jaw dropping back then
can confirm. Voodoo 1 changed everything for me. This, Quake, MechWarriror 2...
Yep
Yep. And this game showcased them so well. Better than the games that came bundled with them, that's for sure. The first time you saw the lava in NFS2SE was mind blowing.
EA really needs to remake/remaster these games and bring them back to the market. In a golden era bundle, or something.
NFS3 Hot Pursuit and Highstakes were always my favourite. Oh man, the music... that 90s techno. Especially “Callista”
After the mess they made of the Most Wanted "reboot" no thanks
@@JohnSmith-xq1pz Yeah, online requirement, invasive DRM, trimmed down on mechanics
If i wanted that BS i would get a console
@@rompevuevitos222 lol
We don't need that. NFS2 to 5 already have custom renderers for them to make it run at modern resolutions and widescreen with proper FoV.
In fact, you can use the DirectX 8 renderer, use d3d8to9, then use Reshade to enhance the graphics (and possibly add software raytracing through RTGI, although I haven't tested it myself, so I don't know if it's possible).
@@ZX3000GT1 Ohh that sounds cool
The cheats were still the best in any racing game, and damn near the best in any game not called Ultima VII. Seriously, you could be a T-Rex, an outhouse, a log, a rock, and just about any object you could see on the map that wasn't terrain. I remember being quite fond of the log for its insane acceleration, even if the outhouse had objectively better handling.
Cheating in this game is a sin, probably the easiest NFS game to beat in single player mode.
Thanks for saving me the time to type this exact comment.
The T-Rex with Pioneer performance is legit fun. You get to ram everything out of the way like it's nothing. I miss when we have so much control in a retail game.
"The outhouse had objectively better handling"
that is the strangest phrase I have ever read.
I forget, were you able to race as a bush too?
The car showcase videos in this game were literally my favourite thing in the world for a time. The F1 and GT90 in particular. That menu music still hits deep for me.
Man, so much of your discussion around NFS SE and the GT90 ring absolutely true for me; I hadn't owned a PC yet but played it on PS1, then by '99 I was building a gaming rig and rebuying all my fav games for PC. Man oh man good times.
Your cursor has more dance vibes than most of us
Than me for sure!! LOL hahah
I cant wait for the NFS 3 review. That game was something else!
oh god you're right
Still the best game in the franchise in my opinion. With NFS: Hot Pursuit II being second :)
The police chases, rain/weather conditions, the interesting tracks, the uplifting trance/techno music..
Not going to lie, some of it is nostalgia. But NFS 3 Hot Pursuit is still the best NFS experience I had. And Hot Pursuit II was the last game in the franchise before EA ruined it by appealing to the hiphop/pimp my ride/street racing culture. Not my cup of tea.
@@Madsy9 NFS: Hot Pursuit was AMAZING. Still remember running from the cops in the pouring rain. 1998 doesn't seem that long ago. :D
It had a charm a good mix of classic arcade racing circuit tracks but with so many cars and tracks to pick you had hours and hours of fun the snow maps like summit and then desert maps like red rock ridge man they balanced it for every fan silly jumps but serious track lay outs to split high ways
I have all the track music on CD, and listen to them depend on the weather when driving. I remembered I had my old Cougar 2000 back in the days, gave my friend a ride with NFS 3 playing, she thought it was rave music.
Of course, always Aquatica on rainy days.
Proving Grounds' "Headless Horse" is still my jam to this day.
Such a great soundtrack.
Yeah the soundtrack made a lasting impact for me also. EA games in general had such a great standard for such things in the 90's although the games themselves were not always that great.
Holy nostalgia! Pure '90s feeling. I played NFS II SE so much when I was around 15 yo, and I didn't have many games to play. I still have the CD and fond memories of the time I spent playing it. Awesome video.
This is definitely one of those games in my past that I remember looking far, far better than it really did. Still, those showcase videos were highlights of my childhood. Thanks for the trip down memory lane.
NFS 5 : Porsche also please, maybe in the later videos.
In my opinion, it still remains the best NFS in the entire franchise.
Totally agree
Agree. NFS Porsche was by far the best one ever, and the swansong for the original franchise to me.
If I remember correctly, he has expressed dislike for NFS 5. But I suppose that doesn't mean he won't look at it!
Agreed - I LOVED Porsche Unleashed. It made me become obsessed with Porsches (with all its detail and models), and it was graphically the most gorgeous game I'd played until then.
Once you played through the different time periods in NFS5 and got yourself the Porsche 911 1995 turbo with the right settings, it was just crazy fast and accurate to drive.
Crazy how its been 24 years! Remember it like it was yesterday. Great video man.
What is the "retro" year cutoff? I always wondered that about classic rock radio stations too. I noticed they play 90s grunge since several years ago.
I’d pay top dollar for a classic NFS collection on modern platforms. 90s goodness with modern support, sounds great to me.
Or get then on internet without need to pay. I tried it and it's dang smooth.
NFS1-4 with better netcode and native Windows 10 support, then yes
I can finally install this game on Windows 10 after *10 years* . Albeit the sound is not perfect.
@@casioak1683 I've noticed it's kinda scratchy sounding. I'll trying messing with sound setting on my desktop.
Thank you very much for this review. You drove me back to my childhood and I went digging through my boxes to find NFS2 CD.
I grew up loving this game so much as a kid. My dad and I played the heck out of this game back then. This also prompted my mind to start loving fast cars.
As a fellow late 90s car kid, the Dodge Viper was truly untouchable.
Me as a truck kid the Chevrolet Silverado 454SS was the ultimate dream truck of they 90's
For me, a European kid it was the BMW Z3, always took it to school, until some kid brought a Lamborghini Diablo and the other brought a Countach. After playing NFS Carbon though, i always wanted a Aston Martin Vantage model.
@@Highrollinhunter The Dodge Ram was the truck to have in the 90s!
@@armchairgeneralissimo yeah James Hetfield from Metallica was driving an single cab Dodge RAM 1500 when making the load and reload albums.
@@armchairgeneralissimo Red 1997-'98 Dodge Durango...Ho-LY S#!T!!!!
Oh man, the menu music. Totally remember it now hearing it again.
The joy in your voice talking about need for speed makes me happy.
My brothers and I had NFS2 on Playstation and we loved it; we were all under the age of 10 so we didn't know any better when it came to driving models or it's competitors, but none of that matters. We sunk a ton of time into it and loved every moment of the goofyness. Those cars are also legendary to me, especially the McLaren F1, even to this day. Thanks for reacquainting me to that McLaren FMV, I use to watch it so many time lol.
HAHAH that cursor bobbing along with the menu music. That’s a picture worth a thousand words. Thank you for this amazing review!
Clint, you are a masterful reviewer. Thanks so much for making these videos. We're about the same age and I get much more out of watching a 20-minute overview of a game from my childhood than digging up a copy of the game somewhere and playing it. You are the perfect guide for a walk down memory lane.
LGR and Raycevik both talking about a Need for Speed game, released within a minute of each other?
Now i gootta go check his
Now that is perfect timing !
I thought the same. Very weird
I love coincidences, assuming it was one. Raycevik had great graphics for his opening credits.
Insert incredibles meme here
Need for Speed needs to go back to its roots instead of trying to come up with movie-like storylines and NOS tuner cars. NFS 2 was a lot of fun, pure ‘90s goodness
Hot Pursuit 2 on PS2 was the last of the great non-tuner era NFS games
Look, we love tuners, but we also love non tuner cars too!
I really hope that one day EA relaunch an old-school NFS.
@@Juan-gt7ro Hot Pursuit 2010 is exactly that, and it even *just* got a remaster...
@@maitele I replayed the PS3 version not so long ago. it's good, but the cars handle like absolute bricks. I prefer Rivals.
Greatest memory of my childhood, sitting with my brother in front of a 14 inch CRT and racing in split screen mode. When you pressed too many keys at once, the system would lock up for a brief moment. Hearing NFS2 or NFS3 music today still goes right to the core for me and I can barely contain myself.
Ahhh the summer of 97”. Hanging out at my buddies house playing this game late into the night !
This game brings back memories... I still can hear the sound of the announcer talking about the cars with specs and background!
When Need For Speed 3 came out, a local IT magazine had a famous headline: "Need For Speed 3, better than the second, worse than the first".
So dumb. The 2nd was awesome. First one was wonky as fuck.
@@zackjay71 I second that, no matter how many likes the bloke's comment above gets.
Probably a true statement. NFS 1 was almost a semi simulation, NFS 3 was far from that, but real fun with cop chases and NFS 2 was just ... boring. I remember how angry I was, when I bought the game. Roads were boring, cars handled like Mario Karts and there were no cops.
@@T0m0zuki I wouldn't call a game that allowed you to ride a T-Rex Dinosaur into a cave of lava and a sci-fi movie set "boring." Also the cars were much cooler than the first game and Rom di Prisco's soundtrack was killer. But yeah, cops were sorely missed.
@@fardimnazir666 Truth to be told; I`ve never tried to drive a T-rex or a log as it seemed ridiculous to me. My friend however loved the idea. But my perception of NFS was, that it was kind of serious racing game and with the NFS II my reaction was "WTF". Cars were cooler or at least more exotic, but that was also the turn off for me. There were mostly concepts which was a step into different direction from what street racing was or what it was supposed to be. Soundtrack was good, tho. NFS III kind of satisfied my taste, despite the fact that the game was more arcade than the first NFS.
0:20 "...Half a year earlier. That was an irrefutable eternity in kid time"
As a fellow 90's kid - 😭
Time moves so slow as a kid, but so fast as an adult. Whyyyyyyyyy?!
Relativity is a bitch.
I read something about how
When you’re 10 half of your entire life and memories was 5 years ago
As an adult, half your entire life and memories was 15 years ago
It’s not about time moving fast, it’s about our perception being skewed because we remember so much of it
@@ACTNRPLY I would argue that there's more milestones as a kid - things that bookmark your memories. As a kid, there's always something new going on, always something to absorb. We meet new people on the regular, learn new things, explore different activities, and partake in different events. As an adult though, we have a routine, and most of the time we rarely deviate from it. We learn less than when we were kids, and simply repeat our day to day actions until a major change comes about.
But still, Clint's comment makes me feel old lol
My first ever NFS. Thanks for the nostalgia hit. This game made me a car nerd which i am to this day. I remember i used to watch the irl images of the cars in the game and now this video just hits different. Again, thanks for this
12:42 lovely “interactive music” when you get to first places it would ramp up and when you hit sections it would changed. I loved that feature.
The interactive and dynamic musics in NFS II also is a noticable highlight.
I love that you made this tribute to the game! This and the other classic NFS games will always be special to me for a lot of the same reasons you mentioned. Would love to see a video on NFS III and High Stakes!
I do miss when people had to game TOGETHER in the same house. Great video!
Oh yeah. My college roomie and I had NFS III and a LAN. Play for a couple hours, order some pizza, slam a Mtn Dew, get back to playing. :-) Those were simpler times.
McLaren F1 and Lamborghini Diablo is %94 of that game for me
@Neoand12 that car was badass. Not gonna lie
I don’t think NFS 2 had a Diablo, there was the Italdesign Cala which was a Lamborghini prototype but the Diablo was absent from this one.
Mom: Daaad, your son is gonna be driving like a maniac when he grows up, playing that game all day.
Present day: can't even manage a stick. Fearful of driving auto.
I loved the video showcases in the game as a kid. Was absolutely thrilling to see clips of cars like the McLaren F1 and Ferrari F50 on the road
The viper is perfect. When it was released and up until this day, it manages to look futuristic, retro and current, all at the same time.
It's an amazing vehicle.
I never thought I would feel so represented by a mouse cursor
5:54
YES!
NFS2:SE is playable on Windows 10. Just google for verokster patch (on his blogspot) or Zaps166 wrapper (on his GitHub). There is also Discord community for first 6 NFS titles with multiplayer sessions. Yeah, you can play NFS2SE online! Invite is on needforspeed3(dot)racing ;)
I highly recommend this Classic NFS community!
+
Does exist some kind of Widescreen/HD patch for NFS High Stakes too?
@@NCC-0000 sadly not... ( Widescreen )
I was a member of it for the past 5 years if i am correct
To this day I think NFS II SE is my most played racing game, hours wise.
It could be in my top five as well.
Man, those memories! I remember playing this after school at my friend with other classsmates. Those cars, racetracks and great soundtracks... Just pure fun! 🏁
That menu song takes me back, my brother and I loooved this game!
Even in the 90s EA still has ways to charge you extra just to get an extra color
This brings back the childhood memories! I remember the reversing trick into the stands for the wild jumps over the rails to the "Pioneer" cheat making everything that little bit faster and more insane. Used to drive the Unimog heaps just to obliterate the traffic 2CV! The game that also introduced me to the XJ220 which in my eyes is the prettiest car ever made. :)
In my first game dev job, I worked with the Art Director of this game. Turns out the game was developed for Playstation then ported to PC. PC got all the credit. At least we got our Vancouver track. Keep up the great videos!
My first racing game that introduced me more deeply to video games and racing games specially.
And yes, that soundtrack, THAT MAGNIFICENT SOUNDTRACK I remember all time; cars, showcases, tracks, races, traffic, etc, etc, etc..., for me, the NFS more interesting, through of its curious (and little bad) details.
Some day this NFS (and all classics) should comeback, they deserve be remembered and, again, THAT EXCELLENT SOUNDTRACK!!!
NFS II deserved to be remastered for PS5 in 2025!
Heinerklingle is one of my all-time soundtracks in any game I've ever played. Just listening to it now makes me feel like a kid all over again.
A German folk section on Hienerklingle, A didgeridoo on Pavlova, bongo's & a sitar on Nashat, & all mixed wonderfully with techno, rock & metal. I wish I could of been in the meeting where that idea was proposed lol. On paper it sounds ridiculous but man they knocked it out of the park. Add the childhood nostalgia & whenever I hear the fist few bars of any of those tracks, I grin from ear to ear :)
I watched that intro as a kid a hundred times, and the music still pumps me up to this day!
Damn, the live action intro and menu were even more nostalgic than I thought they'd be.
The exactly same feeling here!
This is a pretty thorough and insightful analysis, with lots of respect given to the game both in its original context and how it stacked up today. Nice job!
Wow, that brought some great memories back. That menu music was just so atmospheric, it screamed 90's high tech supercars.
Need for Speed: High Stakes was my all-time favorite
Me and my friend used to call it Need For Speed - Hot Steaks. It was that good!
Objectively the best retro nfs unlike Porsche Unleashed no police mode and only Porshe cars was rely disappointed back then.
I got to valet an XJ220 at the North Ky/Cincinnati Airport during the WINTER WITH ICE AND SNOW! Car actually got frozen in place in our parking lot. Good times.
High stakes on ps1... oh boy the memories start lighting up
I loved that one too! There were A LOT of mods available for it. New cars, tracks, they were so much fun!
So excited, used to play this back in Russia, pirated copy (that's all my small town used to sell) with no music, but damn I remember discovering you can drive T-rex. So good!
I take this silly physics over the new NFS games. It just more fun seeing the cars just rolling, flying and tumbling around when crashed.
Yeah, cruisn exotica is my favorite racing game for that reason
But most wanted🙁
@@Maximus20778 this is miles better than Most Wanted. The replay value with this one is insane.
@@Toxic2T I respect your opinion but no your wrong
@@Maximus20778 I am not wrong, I played Most Wanted too. Has nothing to begin against NFS I, II, III and High Stakes. Most Wanted gets stale after 40 minutes of replay.
That menu music! This was my first 3D accelerated racing game ever! (I've started gaming on the NES, but this was truly revolutionary)
AMAZING!!! This was actually the first game I purchased when I was 15!! Incredible memories, thanks so much for this video dude ❤️🔥👌🏻
I'm kinda at a very low point in my life, this brings me such nostalgia and I literally want to weep.
hang in there man!! 🤙
bless you beautiful boo!!
Why man what happens?
I'm not exactly at a low point in my life and that still brings tears to my eyes, specially the music.
This was my first pc game! I still remember that day when my dad gave me nfs 2 disc. I was so happy. Sad to see what ea has become today
I've played all of the classic NFS games up until Most Wanted (2005), and the only ones that held my attention for the longest were NFS Underground, and NFSII: Special Edition. Man those games were amazing. They just don't make'em like this anymore.
I remember walking a quarter mile up the road to my friend's house on the weekends to play this back in the day. Excellent review
Just binge watched your channel haha!!! Dude the nostalgia, specifically this video when the Music started... Opened op some prided memories for me!!
I was a big fan of NFS and NFS:SE, but never bothered to get NFS2 for the exact same reason that you gravitated toward it. I liked the real vehicles of the original over what I felt were the "melted, blobby looking" supercars of the sequel.
These games were the pinnacle of my youth
Starts up game: makes the mouse an equalizer. That made me lol.
🤣🤣😭
And I followed it... until I got thrown out of the loop entirely.
equalizer is , or rather was used to trim certain frequency bands. some of them had a visual affect with leds, is that what you were referring to?
@@jasonbrown467 you don't get it, isn't it
@@jasonbrown467 at 6:00
Omg... the memories man! Would have spend 1000's of hours on the entire NFS range. Many thanks for your work.
I still have NFS III. looking forward to the review in the future videos of this channel.