Horizon Chase Turbo

Horizon Chase Turbo is openly an homage to the 16-bit racing arcades of the late 80s and early 90s — Lotus Turbo Challenge, Top Gear on the SNES, Rush — and it doesn't try to hide its references. The handling is loose enough to drift on instinct, and the AI pack stays close enough that overtakes happen on the final straight.

Twelve cups span forty-eight cities and over a hundred tracks, with weather swinging through rain, snow, volcanic ash and sandstorms. The visual style leans on flat-shaded polygons and saturated secondary colors, putting the postcards of each country into deliberate pastel relief.

Barry Leitch, who scored several of the games this one points to, returns to write the soundtrack. Four-player split screen ships in the box, which is the mode the whole thing was designed around.