Racing Destruction Set

Racing Destruction Set
Developer(s)	Rick Koenig
Publisher(s)	Electronic Arts & Ariolasoft (Europe)
Designer(s)	Rick Koenig
Engine	NA
Platform(s)	Commodore 64, Atari 8-bit family
Release date	1985
Genre(s)	Racing game
Mode(s)	Single player, Two player
Media	5¼" disk or 4x Cassette tapes
Input methods	joystick

Racing Destruction Set is a car racing and motocross computer game written by Rick Koenig, with art by Connie Goldman and music by David Warhol and published in 1985 by Electronic Arts. It was developed for the Commodore 64 computer system, and was advertised as being Commodore 128 compatible. A version for the Atari 8-bit family of computers was also released.

Koenig, Goldman and Warhol had all worked for the Intellivision game design team at Mattel during the early 1980s, where Koenig had programmed the Intellivision Motocross game. When Intellivision Director of Game Development Don Daglow left Mattel and joined Electronic Arts as a Producer in late 1983 during the Video Game Crash of 1983, he reunited Koenig, Goldman and Warhol on Racing Destruction Set at EA.

Racing Destruction Set was supplied on either floppy disk or two double-sided cassette tapes. Side 1 of the cassette had the game files and sides 2, 3, and 4 had track files. The cassette conversion of this game was done by Ariolasoft.

The game was a one or two-player game played with joysticks. Player 1 controlled the red car on the top screen and player 2 controlled the yellow car on the bottom screen.

The game had several innovative features which created a classic and innovative computer game. First, the game allowed the player to create different race tracks using a variety of templates. The player could create ramps and elevation changes in the layout of the track as well. The builder also had the options to change the type of terrain—laying slippery ice stretches of track, normal track, or difficult sandy sections of track.

For a particular race, the player could change a variety of features. The player could alter the gravity to reflect gravity on different planets or the moon. The player had the option of changing which vehicle they wanted to race in and make customized changes to the tires, engine and other aspects of the vehicle. The vehicles available were a Can-Am sports car, a Jeep, a Lunar Rover, a dirt bike, a baja bug, a pickup, a Sting Ray, a stock car, a street bike, and a indy/gran prix car.

The race was done in split-screen mode, with one player able to race in the top half of the screen and another player in the bottom. The races had an option for racing mode or destruction mode. In racing mode, a number of laps were chosen and the quickest to complete them was the winner. In destruction mode, each player had access to oil slicks and landmines which could be ejected from the back of the vehicles.

GameSpy.com awarded Racing Destruction Set a "Gotcha" award as one of the top games of its era. In the UK, issue 6 of Zzap!64 magazine awarded Racing Destruction Set a "Sizzler", giving it a rating of 95%.

In a February 2008 XBOX Live Gamer Spotlight, Det Ansinn (gamertag: borocouncilman) identified Racing Destruction Set as the best game of all time.

Remakes

In 1991, RDS was remade on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System, and released as RPM Racing. This was followed up by Rock N' Roll Racing, also on the SNES, in 1993.

See also

• TrackMania, a spiritual successor
• Adventure Construction Set
• Music Construction Set
• Pinball Construction Set
• Ultimate Wizard

References

1. ^ Stadium 64 - Game Infos: racing Destruction Set. Retrieved on 2007-03-24.
2. ^ TriXie Interviews borocouncilman. Retrieved on 2008-02-28.

External links

• STADIUM 64 review of Racing Destruction Set
• Review of the Atari 8-bit version of Racing Destruction Set
• Racing Destruction Set at MobyGames
• Racing Destruction Set at c64sets.com - Images of the package, manual and screen shots