Review - Cruis'n USA (N64)
Date: 2026-06-28
I've just come back from a couple of weeks abroad and have enjoyed a quite a few sessions of the Cruis'n games via their N64 ports (on Steam Deck) with my 5 year old. Cruis'n USA is so simple in it's mechanics that I often wonder why it's so good. If you drive an automatic in this game, there is a go button and a break button and that's it. There's no drift mechanics, no boosts (well there's some secret unlockable nitro mechanic, but by default there's no boost), it's just plain old racing. It's probably the closest descendant to the 2D racing games of the 16 bit era. But if we're all going to be honest, those games sucked. I remember them having some novelty at the time, but many are borderline unplayable now, with the winners of the genre being those on the SNES that used mode 7 to imply some proper depth and movement (see F-Zero). Other than being properly 3D, I think Cruis'n USA succeeds from a couple of things.
Theme and setting
A lot of what makes this game good comes from it's commitment to a theme - namely a Gumball 3000 style race across America. Each stage takes you along a map across the US, and levels host various iconic landmarks and cities. Each level feels unique and like a legitimate set of roads you're racing down. The traffic helps a lot with this and provides a bit of challenge that requires some forethought when hitting blind corners and hills.
Overall this gives the game a wild and illicit road race feel that we found to be a blast. My son and I would set challenges each race, naming one of the other cars and trying to beat them.
What the other games (World and Exotica) lose from these theme, they make up for in absurdity - namely wackier cars, tracks, and a boost mechanic.
Music
The music is slapping. It uses a small set of midi instruments and some bizarre vocal samples to great effect. It kind of reminds me of the original C&C soundtrack in terms of its eclecticism and primitive sound palette.
Ports
Cruis'n USA, World and Exotica got ports on the N64 - which makes sense with them being Ultra 64 arcade games. Cruis'n was intended as a launch title for the N64, which it missed, and is considered the worst port of the three, with World being the best. I haven't played USA on an actual N64 in over 25 years, so I can't speak to the framerate on actual hardware, but I don't remember it being a huge issue - bearing in mind that many classic games on PAL N64 ran at garbage frame rates. Draw distance is also worse on USA, but not problematically so.
There are a number of other tweaks that were made in bringing the series to home consoles. Various bits of bikini action were replaced, along with billboard advertising and a Bill Clinton hot-tub scene. How wild is it that an arcade game launched in 1994 with scandalous imagery of the then-current president?!
Closing
These games hold up like pinball tables now, which is probably appropriate with developer Midway having old pinball ties. They're wacky and highly thematic arcade pieces that look clunky and complicated under the hood, but play like nothing we have today.
Music - 8/10
Visuals - 8/10
Gameplay - 8/10
Playability - 8/10
Overall - 8/10