This is one I played a lot when I was younger. An extremely fast futuristic racing game on tron-like sci-fi motorbikes. It’s a proper competition-based racing game (where all the racers start at the same place, not an overtaking arcade racer) and has a bunch of weapons thrown into the mix.

The biggest criticism about Extreme-G is probably the handling, which does not manage to keep up with the speed of the bikes. To counter this, the developers added a bunch of things to ease the frustration. Walls don’t slow you down that much (they do slightly damage your shields) and the sides of the track have a kind of “energy barrier” that keeps you on the track. Respawning after falling off is also very quick. Even using the cheat to make the game even faster, making mistakes in races never feels annoying.

There are weapons dotted across the track that you can pick up, which come in lots of slight variations. These have a smaller immediate impact on racers than the likes of Mario Kart, but do whittle away shields (you also have a laser you have access to at any time to do extra damage to shields). However, the weapons are difficult to use effectively and ones like the cannons are more likely to harm you than your opponents.

Extreme-G has a good amount of tracks (compared to other racers at the time on N64, at least), although they do tend to blur a bit together due to the winding nature of them. There’s a track set around some lava games that’s the most difficult track in the game (by a massive margin), and the final track is a futuristic forest with Santorini-inspired buildings and UFOs flying around and looks absolutely gorgeous.

On top of the standard league mode, there’s time trial, practice and a shoot-’em-up mode where you have to blast drones. The multiplayer also has a battle mode in unique arenas, so there’s a good amount of stuff to do in the game.

Extreme-G is still a lot of fun, and manages to feel different to both Wipeout and F-Zero.

Great

And, if nothing else, Extreme G is wonderful to look at. It marries Blade Runner and Alton Towers to awesome effect and, speed-wise, beats Wipeout at its own game.

Tim Weaver, N64 Magazine #9. Review Score: 87%

Remake or remaster?

An Extreme-G collection would be wonderful to see. Just do some minor improvements like properly implemented widescreen and customisable controls, perhaps even add weapon icons to the HUD. Unfortunately, IP owners Throwback Entertainment seem uninterested in the franchise, only re-releasing the poor PC port of the second game, lacking analogue steering or proper controller support.

Official ways to get the game.

There is no official buy Extreme-G, but it available to rent via Nintendo Switch Online.