NES prototype of Tengen's Hard Drivin' finally released!

[TL]

[align=center:1272gv6z]

[size=140]It was previewed in magazines, shown in catalogues and advertised all over the place but Tengen's NES version of the ground breaking Atari coin-op never saw the light of day, until now that is!

For their 10th anniversary, prototype and long lost games website Lost Levels have published the full story of the game on their website and released both a ROM and a video of the game, which you can see below.

Please take a look at the full story and download the ROM file for play on emulators and flashcarts from their website:[/size]

[size=180]NES Drivin'[/size]

Hard Drivin' NES unreleased game footage[/align:1272gv6z]

[TrapZZ]

Wow this is awesome, I remember seeing it advertised but I forgot it never came out.  Thanks for sharing!

[TrekMD]

Awesome!  Downloading this now!

[Gorf]

God awful!

[DreamcastRIP]

Considering that this is on the lowly NES I thought, based on that video footage alone, it a sterling effort.

Yes, as a game in its own right it looks pretty dire and the linked article explains what liberties were taken to have the game running so well by NES standards. But let's not forget just how godawful the C-64 conversion of Hard Drivin' was and that the NES shares the same CPU as that computer. Compared to the C64 conversion this looks a masterpiece! I'm not seeing any references to the cartridge of the NES conversion featuring any extra chips inside either so it this is running on an unaided NES then colour me impressed... by NES standards.

Considering how many piss poor games were released on the NES despite the much lauded (by fanboys) Nintendo Seal of Quality I'm a little surprised this game never made it out.

[onthinice]

Cool! Now, can someone find a copy of Police Academy for the Nes?

[TrekMD]

Cool! Now, can someone find a copy of Police Academy for the Nes?

Did someone actually make that game?  In any case, while it is cool this game finally was released, it is not so good as a game.  At least it has seen the light of day. 

[onthinice]

Police Academy was another vaporware Tengen title.

Always thought that about Hard Drivin'. Glad to see it get released after all these years.

I liked the 16-bit version on the Genesis/Mega Drive. Unlike fine wine, that version has not aged well either!

[TrekMD]

I liked the 16-bit version on the Genesis/Mega Drive. Unlike fine wine, that version has not aged well either! :24:

[sloan]

I do not remember the arcade version at all, but have to say that the Genesis version is sorely underwhelming. To the point that I cannot fathom ever playing the game again.

[TL]

The Mega Drive version isn't bad but the best home version was definitely the one on the Lynx.

[DreamcastRIP]

... the best home version was definitely the one on the Lynx.

For the console conversions, yes. When including all versions, I preferred the ST conversion largely because using the mouse did a better job of aping the analogue steering of the arcade coin-op than a digital d-pad could ever hope to achieve.

[Greyfox]

I'm with DC on that. The St version was the best version they made, even better than the Amiga version, it had the perfect balance of gameplay matching the original arcade version cheek to cheek..

As for the NES version, I actually think they did a great job considering non-existent 3d polys on an 8bit console and I am sure than it would have had allot more going on screen than this demo version above, so well done to them for getting dithered 3d running at an exceptional rate.

[Spector]

It looks not bad at all considering. It moves quite quickly for an 8 bit, you have to give it that. It also seems a little more forgiving in terms of control than many conversions I've played, including the fine looking Lynx one which- like the Spectrum version due to its ultra sensitive controls- should have been called Very Hard Drivin'.

[TL]

Given that I have completed the Lynx version I don't think it is all that hard.