Released in 1987 by Nintendo and developed by Squaresoft, Rad Racer was released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1987. This game was one of two psuedo 3-D games produced by Square for the NES. The other was 3D World Runner. As the title suggests, it was a racing game with a unique twist: the game came packaged with 3-D Glasses, for use in the 3-D mode which activates when you press the select button. The game takes place on a variety of different courses, from deserts to the big city.
Strangely, each course is dotted with palm trees, which seem to be the main obstacle in the game other than the other drivers. Hit the trees at a slow speed and you will bounce back a bit and be able to continue. Hit them at a high speed, however, and the car will flip repeatedly and land a good distance from the road. Luckily, the computer will automatically right the car, but you will lose several valuable seconds of time.
There are 2 cars in this game: a red sports car (dubbed the 328 Twin Turbo), and the F-1 Machine. There are no real differences between these cars, it's mainly a cosmetic choice. A fun little game, but it's not worth putting a lot of effort into tracking down a copy. Of course, you could always just download a ROM and play it on an emulator...
It also may be worth mentioning that this game totally bombed, along with another title, King's Knight. These failures nearly put Square out of business, but a little game called Final Fantasy saved the day. And the rest, as they say, is history...
Thanks to amib.