LGR - Memories of the Need For Speed Series

I played 4 all the time as a kid. Couldnt get enough of the customising cars and that. I had it on ps1 so im guessing thats why i didnt recognise alot of the NFS4 footage you showed. I don't think the ps1 version let you do much customising, or repairing of the cars. i think you just had three upgrade packs, you'd pick one and it will install to the car. Great vid as always.

Clint, you have the voice, the cadence and the personality to engage with a more personal view on gaming. Please keep on doing those videos, I really liked that one.

Tiago Bonamigo

Oh man, this just brought me back so much, it's funny how similar my experience was, including how everything faded out after Underground. Except my Voodoo 2 actually worked and NFS 3 was the first game I played with it (and Tomb Raider 2 I think). Thanks for this video!

Matej 'Retro' Jan

Need for Speed 3 was pretty much my favorite racing game for years. I mostly drove a third gen Trans Am in it I'd found on one of the modding sites, which was my real-life car at the time. It was a hoot driving my "real" car in it. In the end, I was mostly into the more realistic racing sims like Viper Racing, Grand Prix Legends, Nascar 4/2003, etc so the NFS series sort of faded away for me. If you ever want to get a Viper Racing multiplayer setup going again, let me know :)

Scott Holder

That was deep. It's like you condensed together all the little tidbits of nostalgia that are sprinkled throughout your usual videos. I second the "LGR Remembers" series idea.

Zabe

Really does put a lot into perspective, especially at a young age. But it's been a valuable thing to learn!

LGR

Heh. Hehe.

LGR

I haven't dove into Assetto Corsa yet! Although I've heard EA may be renewing it's Porsche contract come the end of the month

LGR

And thank you for the support!

LGR

Oh man, the crashing over the guardrails on Mediterraneo! If I recall, you had to activate that on PC by reversing into these snack carts at the start of the race at just the right speed, haha

LGR

Danged rich college kids :P

LGR

The memories!! <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsHHjxdlXh8" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xsHHjxdlXh8</a>

LGR

NFS 2 was my favorite, my cousin and I used to play this all the time instead of studying :-) Sorry to hear about your loss, puts a lot of things in life in perspective.

I guess you could say, with your slower computer at the time, you had the need for speed.

Gary Leigh

Great video! Ahh, NFS. I'd have to say, High Stakes was probably my favourite of the series. I remember downloading cars from NFSCars and doing career mode in my Skyline R34 and Lamborghini Murcielago (yeah, I kept playing long enough for that to appear in game), or big old '69 Dodge Charger R/T. That being said, do you play Assetto Corsa? I'm pumped the EA monopoly on Porsche is finally over and we'll see it in game. Just sayin' <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv-cPGa9Zsg" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jv-cPGa9Zsg</a>

Mark Kim

XD

its god to lnow that somenoe likes NFS as much as i do and keep the god work

Amazing memories, man! I remember my Dad getting NFS2 and just getting addicted to crashing as badly as possible. Remember the warp on the track over a cliff that would just send you flipping off into nothingness? I got it in my head that I crashed so hard on that rail one day that I affected it in all my other racethroughs, haha. And oh man, NFS III was even better. Beautiful tracks, the Countach, and those incredible tracks by Rom Di Prisco which is still one of my top soundtracks ever. It was fast paced and perfectly ambient for a race track. Man, I really gotta play the PC version again~

MilesRose

It really stands on its own and it's been created with the game in mind. To me it airs dedication, heart and talent and gives the game that extra piece of soul. Much like the Quake OST, for example. And well, a lot of 90's music is pretty timeless to me, but that's partly because I'm getting old ;)

Marnix

I got my Porsche lessons from that game too. I loved all the history stuff in there. I didn't really care that much but it was nice to learn a bit about the company and the various models.

Alyxx the Rat

Yeah, Rom DiPrisco's soundtrack has aged better than most techno/electronica from the 90's. I guess it's cause he used a lot of really timeless synth noises and made it sound less dated...

Alyxx the Rat

Thanks for sharing your memories. I was totally infatuated with the Dodge Viper when I was in high school. When I went to college there was a kid with not one but two of them! He couldn't even get them over the campus speed bumps so they made a special parking exception for him. I had Need for Speed on the 3DO when it came out. Loved the quality of the photos of the cars during the loading screens especially that Dodge Viper! But I always preferred driving the Lamborghini because it could get up to 200mph+ in the right spots.

Lon Seidman

I agree, it looks horrible. And a huge disappointment after Rivals which I thought was pretty good. By the way, thanks for sharing the story about your sister. I greatly respect how personal you are willing to get about a game that meant so much to you, and it was really touching to hear about it. I have never lost someone that close and pray I never will, I can't imagine how devastating it must've been. But at least you have something good to tie to that memory...

Alyxx the Rat

I've actually pretty much avoided NFS for most of my life... Not by intent so much as not really seeing anything in them which interested me. The only NFS game I've played (and also own) is Hot Pursuit 2, which is a fun game for sure, but it just serves to remind me why I don't have many "realistic" racing games, as I much prefer my racing games to be more fantastical, like Wipeout, F-Zero, Mario Kart... BUT, that said, I completely get and connect with the kinds of emotions and thoughts you were talking about, because that's ultimately what makes nostalgia a thing. Also I almost completely forgot "Viper" was a thing... :O

Kris Asick

Oh man, great video. I grew up with the NFS series as well and I could probably talk about my memories about the games for a half an hour (or more) too. :) My favorites in the series are the first one, Hot Pursuit and Porsche Unleashed/2000. I originally only had the demo version of the first game. It had only one track and one playable car (the Viper) but I still played it over and over again. Then one morning when I woke up and went to the kitchen for breakfast I noticed a box on the side table that had a picture of a car tire on it (this one: <a href="http://clzgames.r.sizr.io/core/covers/lg/0f/0f_d_12696_0_.jpg)." rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://clzgames.r.sizr.io/core/covers/lg/0f/0f_d_12696_0_.jpg).</a> I thought it was some car parts or something that my dad had bought so I didn't pay much attention to it, but later that day he came to me and asked if I had noticed the game that he had bought and I went back to check and the box said The Need for Speed. I was completely blown away. Me, my brother and our dad played that game so much. I think we still have that box at my parents house :) The second one was such a disappointment with its arcadey physics and missing cops, even though the drivable outhouses and whatnots were pretty hilarious for a while. Hot Pursuit was amazing again because of the incredible graphics, the possibility to play as the cops and the mods. The driving model, even though still kinda arcadey, was fun as well. High Stakes/Road Challenge I played for the first time many years after it had been released and even though I thought it was a great game I really couldn't get into it that much, especially after playing Hot Pursuit so much. Porsche Unleashed was awesome because I loved the career mode and playing through the different eras, I loved the detailed and branching tracks, I loved the return of the more realistic driving model and most of all I love Porsches. :) After that my interest in the series started to die out as well, even though I did really like the Underground games too. I really liked the idea that you could take an ordinary everyday car and the modify it to look and perform like a sports car. I didn't mind that they abandoned the real supercars, since I guess the Underground series always kinda felt like a spinoff from the "main" series to me or something. Two Undergrounds were enough though and I did enjoy the return to supercars with Hot Pursuit 2. The only NFS game I remember playing more after that was the 2010 Hot Pursuit, which I enjoyed a lot even though I never finished it. I did try one or two of the other newer games but didn't really get into them. Can't even remember which ones they were. Zero interest in the new NFS.

Nr7

I remember spending the entire weekend with my best mate, competing for lap times on Need for Speed SE. A QuickShot, a Pentium 75 and no school in the morning - good times.

BaudBand

The branching paths in NFS5 were fantastic, yeah. Really expanded on the hidden shortcuts in NFS3/4. Haha, and yeah, modding the other cars into Hot Pursuit mode were a right of passage! Danged Mercedes and Ferrari not wanting to be in there, haha

LGR

The latest FMV NFS game was really lackluster for a whole load of reasons. Not only was the FMV just awful, but the whole 30fps lock, no steering wheel or manual transmission support, and online-only mission structure just really turned me off. Plus the weird driving model that emphasized drifting too much made it feel like you were driving on sludge. Graphically it's downright gorgeous, but that's about it.

LGR

NFS3 really does have the best original music in the series. It still holds up strangely well.

LGR

Hehe, LGR Remembers would be the easiest series to make ever. This video is practically what happens anytime someone drops by my house and asks about my collection, haha.

LGR

Oh crap, you sold a Music Machine cart?! You have my deepest condolences

LGR

True that, even some of the suckier games I had around that time mean a lot to me!

LGR

You know, to this day I've still never played an NFS game online. Not a single one!

LGR

Hehe, that analog keyboard... I really wonder if that'll be any good. Seems like such a strange concept, I just can't see there being enough leeway in key movement for it to make sense!

LGR

That's the Euro release, not the US one I'm looking for :) Though I'd love to have that one too!

LGR

Hehe, nice! That game is criminally overlooked.

LGR

Well that was weird, as soon as you stated that there were a lot of great games in the late 90's, the first thing that came to my mind was DethKarz, and then you showed the box art... :) I loved that game so muuuuuuch...

Balazs Szabo

I think that I found that Need for Speed II. <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEED-FOR-SPEED-II-2-PC-WINDOWS-BIG-BOX-RARE-VGC-/112019853138?hash=item1a14e74f52:g:mIAAAOSwUuFWt" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEED-FOR-SPEED-II-2-PC-WINDOWS-BIG-BOX-RARE-VGC-/112019853138?hash=item1a14e74f52:g:mIAAAOSwUuFWt</a>~V4

Teemu Pekkanen

The first racing game I played on a friends computer was TestDrive. Ah..yes. Later I got NFS5 and I loved the Porsche stuff. The career mode was soooo good. But playing with a keyboard was not easy. Although there is an analogue keyboard on Kickstarter that would have been great back in the day. Now I have a wheel

Hot Pursuit 2 was super fun to play online with friends

Tapani J.

Porsche Unleashed was the first NFS game that I got and played. I never became any good at driving in that game, but man, I loved the history section of the game with the video footage, timelines, pictures, and stuff. I learned a lot about Porsche, I had no idea that the 356, 550 Spyder, and 944 models ever existed. Heh. Oh yeah, the tracks were really cool too, they had a lot of detail and branching paths and were very immersive. Like the rainy Autobahn track or the snowy track. I eventually played NFS 3 and 4 and really enjoyed those games as well. On NFS 3, I remember changing a line in the .ini files to turn all of the police cars into the fastest models, the secret El Nino police car. So many fond memories... Thanks for making this video, LGR.

Roy Taylor

NFS 3 was my favourite growing up and to this day remains a favourite. It had amazing music and graphics for its time. I also remember playing it with a SideWinder steering wheel which was a lot of fun. I got into the series again with the remake of Hot Pursuit honestly, but the latest game just doesn't seem that interesting with the lame FMV scenes and shit... I did play a bit of Porsche Unleashed when it came out. Never seen a game solely dedicated to a single manufacturer before but it was a fun game with some cool tracks. High Stakes was called Road Challenge in Europe (no idea why) and I've wanted to play that one some more for ages.

Alyxx the Rat

Rivals is pretty fun! But yeah, that intro video can go where the sun don't shine...

Alyxx the Rat

Undercover got me into Pendulum. Of all things I played the Nintendo DS version the most cause I had it with me on a lot of trips.

Alyxx the Rat

Never cared about anything beyond NFS 3. This game had the most awesome music.. well, not ever but it's high up there in the best game OSTs ever. Original music tailor-made for the game. None of the following games would have that, and the race tracks became too realistic\boring. Porsche Unleashed blew it for me and I lost interest pretty much forever (also the franchise just lost its freshness after that anyway, it became more of a product instead of a game). But NFS 3 still is awesome, and even 2 (SE) is pretty fun although I played that one many years later.

Marnix

Man, I plum forgot about the Rovers in that game. You've just made me remember how exotic they seemed to me back then. As for the video... Quarterly or Bimonthly Series: "LGR Remembers"

Paul

My dad is a bit of a motor head, and I remember when I was a kid he told me that'd we "Break the game" if we kept playing it the way we were playing it. Not even the CD scratches brought the game to it's knees. As nice as split screen was, having a Sega Saturn certainly limited my choices in future game purchases. We never got any of the future NFS games, but I suppose when you're a child and you can only have one gaming system because you couldn't afford anything else meant you'd always be envious of someone having something you couldn't.

Leigh Beattie

My hateful memory of the first Need For Speed is that during my minimum wage high school budget (while trying to keep up on 3DO games) was stupidly trading over 50 Atari 2600 games to somebody in trade to get the 3DO version of this game. One of those games was The Music Machine (only one of the 20 most rare Atari 2600 games!?! which goes for a t least a couple 100 bucks cart only!!!!!!!!!!) I was a sucker and I'm sure that jackass knew what he was getting by specifically asking for it in the mass haul he wanted in trade for the game! It's funny even, because if you look up The Music Machine, I can confirm it was only sold in Christian stores. I hated being dragged into this one by my mom, but after multiple months back in 1986, I kept seeing this Atari 2600 game and she caved in and bought it. Deloreon time machine, take me back and save me!

Steve Martin

NFS3 was certainly my favourite! It's always fascinating to hear about how games can mean so much to people, just because of what was going on at that time in their lives. Thank you for sharing, my friend. :)

RetroSwim

That's awesome, I was always really envious of the split-screen mode in the console ports!

LGR

Crashing the cars in NFS was the best thing about it. We owned the Sega Saturn version and that's all we'd do. We'd have friends over and play split screen, sometimes going to each end of a long straight and just doing head long collisions into each other. Or we'd try and trap/pile up as many pedestrian cars as possible. Great entertainment for young me and my friends. We had the Sega Saturn steering wheel, but only one so we had to share it round.

Leigh Beattie

Ahh, Blindside. I had a few of their albums! Also, who can forget "Get Low" playing every time you booted up the game..

LGR

NFS Underground had some badass music - got me into a band called Blindside

mavrick

Rivals was pretty good once you got through all the mandatory introduction garbage! Yeah, that stuff really irks me, especially when you wanna play it again and have to sit through it AGAIN

LGR

I just played Need for Speed: Rivals the other day, really liked the game ... but couldn't get passed the 5 minute mandatory intro video every time you boot up, the long load times at every turn and the online only play (which is actually a mixed bag). Just drives me bonkers that some modern games require so much time to load, connect, build teams and actually get into the game.

Bolthouse