Rad Racer

Rad Racer
North American box art
Developer(s)	Square
Publisher(s)	JP: Square WW: Nintendo
Designer(s)	Hironobu Sakaguchi[1]
Programmer(s)	Nasir Gebelli
Composer(s)	Nobuo Uematsu[2]
Platform(s)	Nintendo Entertainment System, Arcade (PlayChoice-10)
Release	JP: August 7, 1987 NA: October 1987 EU: January 15, 1988
Genre(s)	Racing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Rad Racer, known as Highway Star^[a] in Japan, is a racing video game developed and published by Square for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in 1987. In this game, players drive a Ferrari 328 or a generic Formula One racing machine through a racecourse. The game was released in North America and Europe months after its debut. The title became well known for being one of two titles from Square that made use of stereoscopic 3D, which was made possible by wearing a pair of anaglyph glasses. Square president Masafumi Miyamoto initially conceived the game as an opportunity for developer Nasir Gebelli to demonstrate his 3D programming skills. Gebelli developed, and often drew by hand, the graphics for the game's 3D mode.

The game sold 1.96 million copies and is considered one of the best racing games on the NES, but was criticized as being derivative of other racing games from the period. Reviewers widely compared the game to Out Run, though opined that Rad Racer was different in some ways, and they praised the sense of speed. The game appeared in the 1989 film The Wizard and was one of three games to feature a unique competition course in the 1990 Nintendo World Championship.

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