Hey thanks for playing this! I was one of the developers on this game and it was really fun to see it again. I remember the rubber banding being a big point of contention amongst the development team. I tend to fall on the same side as you do. It's impossible to determine if you've improved at all if your opponents are always 2 seconds behind you. I feel like the multiplayer was a stronger source of fun than the single player, but I get that's not the point of the playthrough. This was one of my first games to ever work on and it's really great to see it being played again. Thanks!

To me, the fun was getting all the point boxes on every track while still getting first place. Figuring out the optimal driving line and then driving perfectly to achieve the goal was so rewarding.

Definitely a game that feels different when the objective is to hit the credits. As a kid I remember the most fun part was exploring the map to find all the secrets and points. Maybe the appeal was it was in a era where just having a big place to explore was still novel. The multiplayer was also a lot of fun and helped give a reason to want to explore every box in the game.

As an Aussie who grew up playing the HSV one, I had no idea the Beetle one existed! Also, look up the Aussie announcer if you haven't heard him, it's amazing!

As someone who always loved racing games, this one stood out to me for it's great course design. The courses are huge, full of shortcuts and super fun to explore. It was a tough game in the earlier stages before you unlock some of the better cars, but worth it for all the stuff you can unlock.

“…or if you’re beating all the N64 games, and you mean ALL of them.” I died laughing…

The best part of the game is the multiplayer. My friends and I spent countless hours destroying each other's cars. The powerups were phenomenal, especially the one where you steal the opponents stuff. But yeah, I can't articulate how essential the multiplayer is to people's memories of this game. We barely played the single player.

The joke at 14:13 was excellent lol love this series

Man, I miss this game. I tried so hard to get all those points hidden around the track. I eventually got 100%. LOVED THIS GAME! The bonus points were to unlock the multiplayer maps and such. So, yeah if you don't play multi-player, they're kinda pointless.

The exploration was the highlight for me as a kid. Jumping off the bridge to find a ufo was so awesome back in the day

I think this might be the best one of these videos you've put out so far. It's tough to review racing games, especially two identical ones, and I'm amazed this video lasted 18 minutes and it never felt like it was dragging on. Really appreciated the in-depth review, not only looking at your experience but looking up other people who played it; I really feel like I have a great sense of this entire game now. Excellent script writing, and as always the editing is top notch. I know these videos are ready long before they're posted, but I think you're really into your groove on these now. These are probably my favourite content right now, and that's an impressive thing to pull off considering the relatively niche creator you were before.

This was one of THE games for me as a kid. Love the soundtrack as well. Composed by the legendary Phil Western. Would definitely recommend any of his work

I'm from Australia and never knew about the beetle version. Always thought it was cool Holden had a game.

THAB hit the nail on the head when he said the multiplayer is what makes this game great. I remember playing this game with my cousins growing up. It’s the first racing game i remember that diddnt feel like the game was trying to help you stay on track , it really felt like you had full control of the car

You get cheat codes and extra race tracks for the point to collected during a race, each tracks 100 points unlocks something new. I remember one of the cheat codes was driving around with just wheels, was funny... also when you ramp if you hit the e brake and turn just right you'll do a 360

Australia did actually get both versions of the game here. I remember being confused as to why a reskinned version of the game was released.

I'm just waiting for you to play Nightmare Creatures. That game was something else to me as a kid.

I really enjoy Thab's sense of humour.

I played the hell outta this as a kid, and nobody else knew about it, so they'd give me weird looks the few times I described it, a VW beetle racing game that actually slapped.

Can't wait for another great racing game, Extreme G

My favorite driving game on the 64. So fun.

14:20 nice meta reference to "and I mean all of them"

This game was the first time I saw actual reflections of your surroundings on your car. Reflection before this were always generic lighting to make them look kind of shiny, but this game you can actually see the track and things you drive by reflect off the car. It was amazing at the time.

"or if you're beating every N64 game... and you mean all of them" dude I nearly spat my drink all over the screen in laughter when you said that. I love your sense of humour hahahaha. Been following all the vids in this series, keep it up!

I look forward to you playing Hotwheels Turbo Racing. That one was a gem.

The best part is the multiplayer. I feel like that occured a lot with the 64, being able to have up to four players was a big selling point for a ton of games back then.

Great show man, still waiting for "Body Harvest" and "F-Zero X", keep it up!

Collecting all the bonus points on every track is really the key to mastering this unique arcade racer. By doing this, you learn every alternate path of all these amazing tracks. They really don't design tracks like this anymore. The creativity and imagination that went into their design is a lost art in my opinion. I love this game! Back in the day, I did 100% it. In order to collect everything does require an insane amount of memorization and planning which, nowadays, seriously intimidates me. I only like to play this game to perfection and I'm seldom up for that. Thanks for the play through. Love the channel.

my favorite arcade racer. nothing says realism like hitting a fence post so hard you disintegrate.

Beetle Adventure Racing and Vigilante 8 both shine in the multiplayer aspect

This is one of the best racing games ever made.

This is one of those games from an era where if you did not have access to a lot of different games (like most of us as kids) - it was just a huge sandbox to play in. You could get on the tracks with your friends and just try to explore every nook and cranny and have a great time for hours indoors. There are so many fun little goofy visual rewards for exploring while not actually trying to win a race. Stuff like this has definitely lost its luster as folks nowadays have way more to choose from and can be stuck in a more of a "completionist" mind set. Great video, love the series. Excited for you to try Hybrid Heaven, Shadowman, and Hexen.

This was a rental game for me. I had a lot of fun for the weekend I had it. My brothers and I played more of the multiplayer than the single player race but we all loved this game.

In the old days alot of rubber banding was to due system limitations. If they let them split out to much they would run out of memory and crash I'd say alot to do with bad coding but either way we have learned alot about these systems and tricks to get more out of them but at the time wasn't as easy

This series brings me a lot of joy. Keep going!

Love how all Beetles are called "Car"

I used to love this game as a kid, although I only remember the first two tracks for some reason… I played a ton of Beetle Battle, this game’s battle mode.

This game was so much fun.

Your feelings towards this game match my feelings towards basically every beloved Final Fantasy game. Lucky for you, the Beetle Adventure Racing fandom is smaller and probably a lot nier and understanding, so I'm sure you won't get your head bitten off for not loving the game.

17:47-17:52 aw damn so close to paper Mario and perfect dark, only a couple off.

I'm not of racing games but this is one of the very few (if not the only one) that I liked it a lot.

Love this series, great job thab!

A lot of people loved this game because they were kids. The rubber banding made it always competitive even if you were terrible. That, mixed with plenty of different routes made the multiplayer really fun. As an adult that's actually good at racing games now, I imagine I wouldn't enjoy it very much.

Yeah, I definitely fall under the category of people who really loved this game when I was young. First of all, this game was just well made, overall. The tracks were really cool and diverse, with excellent graphics (for the era) and little to no lag. Yes, the tracks were longer, but there were only 6 in total so that balances things out. Rather than make dozens of small, boring tracks, they made fewer tracks that were really well designed. That leads me to my next point: this is a game that is worth completing, not just beating. A lot of the appeal of this game comes from exploring all the levels to find all the point boxes. But even there, even once you find them all, you still actually have to get them (some can be tricky to hit as they're in the air and you have to hit the ramps at just the right angle). This often requires you to carefully plan your path through the course, as there are often several concurrent paths containing points, and you have to take different paths on each lap to get them all. Finally, there's something you appear to have completely missed (you didn't mention them at all in the vid): Each course has 3 very-well hidden flower boxes which unlock different cheats. Hunting these boxes down can take a lot of time searching and exploring. The N64 was sort of overrun with racing games, and many of them were pretty shoddy (if you dislike this game, wait until you have to do Automobil Lamborghini... ugh). This was one of the best racing games on the system, IMO, especially in terms of the single-player aspect. Many games like Mario Kart focused more on the multiplayer aspect, but this game is/was a lot of fun to play in single-player.

The keyword to this title is "adventure". This review is good, but it left out things like the 3 cheat boxes in each level. The 4/10 difficulty is probably fair if you just want to race & win the championships & nothing else, but once the adventure aspect is added where you have to get all 100 points on each track during championship races, & also find the cheat boxes during the championship races, it becomes much more challenging to work out multiple different route options per track to get all the points, while still trying to finish in a high enough position to advance to the next track. I'm playing back through it again now to find those last few cheat boxes I missed as a kid, & to see if I can beat my old times with different routes. It's still just as fun as it was when this first came out.

With Beasts voice you can never tell if he's being sarcastic or serious... "Old games are exacly how you remember them" Is something that could be 100% a real thing.... but also, it's something that could 100% be sarcasm. Which is it??

Exactly my memory - I was SO impressed by the explorable courses but it didn't gel with being a race-to-the-finish. A simple fix for the single player would've been to do a Silver Coin Challenge like in Diddy Kong Racing - you HAVE to get 50+ bonus points AND first place to beat the race.

love these vids. gonna try to watch more on this account.

I find it interesting so many N64 collectors never count HSV Racing as part of a complete collection.

I get it- I loved this game as a kid but it hasn't really aged well and gained a lot of nostalgia from the multiplayer

That third race had your number, Thabs!

Love the series. Thanks for it.

doing 360s off the jumps was the best part, lol.

The fun of this game was racing while exploring all the different paths and collecting everything, of course you're going to miss the point powering through stuff as quick as possible just to see the credits to put an arbitrary 'finished' stamp on it.

Been waiting for this one

one of the best racing games ever!! always had a ton of fun with it

Such a fun game! The single player is good but I have had so many good times in multiplayer. The announcer is hilarious there!!

i really wish you would have went for the bonus boxes more, that honestly is the funnest part for me was finding all 100 and having to win to unlock the multiplayer levels. also there is a bunch of red cheat code boxes your can find in each level that are super hidden for the most part

Electronic Arts : *Re-skins one racing game for the Australian market.* Silicon Dreams : "Hold my beer." *Re-skins a soccer game three times for different European countries.*

I think a lot of the nostalgia for this game came from low expectations. My friend convinced me to rent it and I saw it as just some quick buck marketing gimmick game, then we played it and it really was a quality game, particularly the multiplayer. But nostalgia is crazy like that, so who knows?

The serie goes on and you still alive thats a good thing

Many comments are saying it, but you missed out on the exploration of the tracks, getting all the points. The hardest thing to do was getting all point crates, and reaching Wicked Woods only to search for every point crate. The cars drive on their fastest, so you don't have much time to find them all. Also, there's three secret red crates in every course, extremely well hidden, you need these to unlock cheats. Finding these is a PAIN IN THE BUTT. They, unlike the regular point crates, do not spawn in Single Race. So you need to reach Wicked Woods and then use your time you have there to search, but when you get behind 60 seconds, you will be disqualified, so you need to search FAST. It ramps up really fast in later courses, so I highly recommend you to give it a spin again and try to find all points and red flower crates. 🙂

My friend had this growing up! Thanks for the memories

It's a hard game to enjoy if you leave out the "adventure" part of it. Where the fun was for me, was discovering all the secrets, shortcuts, cheat boxes, and other fun references in the levels. Like SF Rush, where the game excels is exploring and goofing around

I loved this game. I always wanted a Beetle IRL to drive around in, never got one, so this is the next best thing to me.

I loved this game as a kid but I mostly remember playing the other game modes

Man That RNG Sure Loves Choosing Obscure Games. . . Anyways Great Video! Can’t Wait For The Next One!

I love your dedication man

The alien part of that snow map is the best

Thab making a timely and accurate F1 reference.....I like it

too bad you didn't like this one too much. I was one of the ones who loved it as a kid and had my mind absolutely blown by the graphics at the time. I loved the shortcuts and secret areas (especially in the winter and city stages) but I agree that taking them should have given you more of an advantage. loved revisiting this one regardless!

a VW Beetle doing 180mph is hilarious 😂

I played this for the first time a couple years ago when I got my Everdrive and yeah, I don't like it much either. It's not bad, looks and plays alright, but there's just not a whole lot to it. Especially coming from an era where 3D racing games were new and saturating the market, with developers competing to make their games stand out with gameplay gimmicks and unique aesthetics, it's weird seeing such a pedestrian game so fondly remembered.

This was never a favorite of mine, but the course design is definitely superb. Especially for the time.

I remember inferno isle so well that my brother and i had to get our parents to play for us because we got scared of driving past the Trex :D

top dawg - well done

Guys please, help me! Is he beating every n64 games? Does he mean ALL OF THEM? I don't know, there must be a twist to this...

This game multi-player slapppeeed. Super fun mini games

Nice!! But side note, his narration sounds like Oddworld Abe’s Odyssey!

That's about how I remember that game. It was a good hire from the video store to play with friends.

Some youtuber back in the mid 2010s talked this game up at "a hidden gem" and everyone latched onto that as the final word in gaming. Ever since a bunch of people new to the hobby have just gone along with it like sheep. Nobody ever takes this game and compares it to the Rush games and that's how you know it's just internet hype.

It's too bad that you're going to miss out on so many N64 experiences who really lived and died by their local multiplayer. I don't think couch multiplayer was ever more popular than it was on that console and the very next generation―after that, it quickly became a quaint relic of the past compared to its former glory. So many games of this era can only really be understood in the context of their multiplayer―without it, you're basically not even playing the same game we played back then. Also, I think maybe the mixture of adventure gaming with racing was a bit lost on someone just trying to roll credits. Granted it's an old game, but to that point, it was one of the first racing games I can remember that actually rewarded and encouraged the player to just explore a bit and ignore their position in the ranking. As a kid less into racing and more into the adventure part, I loved that―Diddy Kong Racing did it a bit, too, of course, with the Hidden Keys. Maybe that novelty isn't super big anymore, but then again, it's why I had so much fun with Forza Horizon 4 as well: The exploration and adventure. I didn't have this game as a kid, but even I remember friends who did and loved it. TBH I probably wasn't as enthralled back then, like you weren't, but I know enough to know that giving it a 5/10 is only something a person who never touched the Multiplayer would do. So yeah, that's a bit of a shame, though I guess nowadays it's the way most people are most likely to actually play these 64 games, so maybe it's kinda helpful in _that_ regard rather than an actual "How Do These Games Hold Up Overall?" regard

Id love to know how many hours ive spend playing this game with my cousin. Good memories.

The next game is definitely a “what is that”

This series is REALLY showcasing just the sheer amount of chaff in the N64 games line-up. So many amazing games but not one has been picked yet. 1080 Snowboarding was a pretty good one, Silicon Valley was a decent interesting title, but all the brilliant classics are yet to be picked after nearly 80 games selected at random. SO much junk. But i still love watching them all!

Cool series. This is one of my top racing games for the N64. But in my opinion this review didn't do this game justice, & I see why "Thab" had a lackluster feel for the game yet heard so many good things about it. Sounds like he missed out on a big portion of the game & didn't get to see everything that makes this game so much fun. I myself have unlocked the cop car, & know this game all to well. To put it short (not really, Lol) the maps are long for a reason. There are 3 different routes per each race. To get the full race experience & visuals of different terrain u must go these routes. If u go the same route in any race you're doing it wrong (unless ur playing on Novice cause Novice is only used to unlock the faster cars which can make specific jumps) Here we go: -There are 100 points available in every map/race. -You're supposed to go a different route on every lap which enables u to get all 100 points which also means you're supposed to find the hidden routes & u only get one shot at getting those boxes, cause if u decide to go that same route next lap then u will miss out on the other route & point boxes u were supposed to take being that there are only 3 laps. This is tricky cause certain point boxes need to be hit at certain speeds cause of where they are placed. -Playing on novice only gets u familiar with the regular route of the race & since u have slower cars u will not be able to reach some of the hidden entrances but it gets u familiar with where some of the point boxes are on the regular route. This game uses a memory card, so once u beat Novice it stays unlocked etc.. -The last lap is always slightly different cause a portion of the map gets blocked off & u have to take the detour to the end of the race. So if u missed something you're outta luck. -The hidden routes are the main stake of this game. For instance, on race 2 "Mountain Mayhem", if u stay to the right at the ski-resort u will race down a ski jump & jump over your regular race route & land on an elevated area, where u will break thru some ice & race thru an ice cave. -Also on Mount Mayhem, on the bridge where you see the helicopters hovering above a big crash on the left side of the bridge ur supposed to jump off the lip of that damage of the bridge & u will land below & enter a cave where u race past a semi-working ufo. That's when u realize that's what caused the damage on the side of the bridge & thats why there are army helicopters hovering above. -Like I said there are 100 points per each race.The totals are shown at the end of each race so u will know if u completed it correctly or not. To get practice u can also try Single race mode to practice going different routes. **Fun Fact: After the race is over if u let it play the race will be replayed from different angles for ur viewing pleasure. So if u do something cool u get to see it. You can use your (e-brake) to do tricks off of jumps. I like to do this off of the ski jump & make the car do a 360 in the air & land it & go thru the ice cave then watch the replay. **In my opinion Thab needs to go back like he did w/ Vigilante 8 & try going different routes on each race & getting the 100 points to fully experience the game. Tho I do understand that technically he beat the game & has to move on. It just hurts my soul that he didn't see what the big deal about this game was & gave it kind of a low score in my opinion..Thanks for the ranting space! Luv this game!!! 🚗 🎮👍🏼

This game definitely aged badly, back then when it released it was pretty unique at what it did, and of course, so many secrets just helped with the replay value that was somewhat uncommon for N64 games back then. Like MR racing, that game you beat in like 40 minutes.

14:14 hyped me up. Lol.

I waited for this game. I knew the races were very long!

Please bring back the old clip of you saying “I’m beating every N64 game, and I mean all of them” and never change it again.

Man, my brother and I used to play this way back when!

“The fifth course is called ‘Metro Circuit’ *says ‘Metro Madness’ * 😂😂😂

11:40 did Thab just casually destroy an opponent's car? D:

A small note about your wrap up talk: you are indeed subjective. Objective you are not.

Nostalgia gonna hit me hard when you play War Gods or Bio Freaks. Keep'em going!!

beetle racing was surprisingly decent imo. I remember renting it and being pleasantly surprised, I thought it'd be garbage.

I remember getting jump scared by the T. rex so bad that I turned off the console

Just waiting for Ogre battle 64 and Starcraft 64, Ogre Battle cause I love the series and SC 64 cause it's impossible to play.

I heard ultra man and thought it was bravo man. I was so excited for about 1 second before I realized you wouldn’t play a game where your character says “Bravo” 10 million times.

Can't wait for Elmos Letters