I bet many of you are wondering when, or if I'll ever talk about the Micro Machines gaming series. Some on 1UP probably remember that game better than RC Pro Am or any of the arcade title's I've mentioned. Sorry but Micro Machines was one series that didn't make the cut. Neither did any of the Hot Wheel titles. I will say that some of the Micro Machine and Hot Wheel games were good times but cannot compare to the series I feature today.
Choro Q got started as a line of toy cars from Takara. Around the world these were known as Penny Racers. Cute, super-deformed cars with pull back motors. Just about every make and model of car, truck, scooter, wagon, what-have-you was made in Choro Q form. These were done at least a decade before the term "super deformed" was even coined. The artistic stylings of those cars which would pop up in Japanese racers for the next 30 years. In particular as the cabinet art that I really admired in Sega's Hot Rod. Even though Japan never had a hot rod renaissance, CARtoons magazine or Ed Roth, they still managed to make the car something unique and memorable. To give it life, and in the case of Choro Q, make them magical.
The Choro Q game series has been around for years. The length and depth of the gameplay going far beyond the Micro Machine series. The Choro Q's themselves were sentient vehicles. They talked, pantomimed and lead very human lives. The games were not solely about racing but an adventure RPG. There were tons of mini games and missions to make each play through interesting. The main car, you, would go on adventures, complete missions and become weaved into a plot. The moral for most Choro Q games was about self discovery rather than accomplishing a 1st place ranking. The other vehicles you met on your journey represented the range of the human experience. Some were funny, some sad and some very angry. As melancholy as the game could get it was always tempered with a message that life must go on. It is up to the player to make the world a better place, even in their absence.
Animal Crossing gets a lot of love in the gaming community for covering a lot of this familiar ground. Gamers like myself find it hard to emote through anthropomorphic animals and super deformed kids, however we can identify through the Choro Q vehicles. It must be a guy thing. As I had hinted to 1UPper Erin, the Choro Q games is very much the Animal Crossing experience with cars. For those of us that adore cars in every form could really get the game on every level, but especially on the racing format.
The game was targeted for boys but the challenge on the races was serious enough for older gamers as well. Some of the races are real nail biters, coming down to the last turn or a final gear. The tracks themselves ran through every possible format and added a dozen new concepts to the mix. Racing games had touched just about every possibility, few games have managed to do one format well, let alone many formats equally well and, more importantly, fun. Choro Q featured traditional circuits. Oval racing, road racing, off road racing and rally tracks. Where they really shone were in their hybrid and original courses. Worlds where the race was part on a mountain track and part of a downhill skiing course, or inside a gigantic computer, an enormous underwater cave or even on another planet. Even Sega was hard-pressed to invent tracks with as much imagination as some of the Choro Q courses. These courses all required their own strategies and special equipment if you hoped to stand a chance against the ruthless AI.
Of course players could expect to earn money and buy upgrades for their cars. The game had a very imaginative way of handling upgrades. Parts could be added to the car to make them perform better, including all sorts of silly things like a rack for camping gear and a propeller for chopping through the water. Bodies, tires and anything else that you could imagine could swapped out and painted in infinite combinations. Layered over the entire game were all sorts of whimsical songs. Ranging from rock to blues, dance and electronica, there was something for everyone in the Choro Q games. Matt did the ChoroQ review right here on 1UP. The Atlus release for the PS2 is worth checking out especially for those that are fans of an amazing racing experience.
Choro Q was great, but was it the best racing experience ever? Who would lay claim to that legacy? I'm pretty sure you know the answer already but bear with me as we take a look at the best that Sega had to offer on the next blog.
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