Supermodel Emulator...First Time I've Played Daytona 2 In A Long, LLLooooonnnngggg Time...

Oh Good Lord is this a weird day...

Now I posted those Daytona 2/Scud Race emulation videos a while back and they were stunning.  A guy by the name Bart Trzynadlowski (this is his site) has been working on a model3 emulator for some time.  Now you can play it yourself.

Gotta give credit to isamu for posting the link to the message board topic.  I guess he is our emulation reporter guy.

This is the link to the Supermodel emulator.  Click on the first link you see (Win32.zip).  Then follow these instructions on how to set up the program.  It's not that hard to do if you have any computer know-how.  EDIT: BTW, here are the default key configs (they can be edited, read to find out how).

Then you need the roms.  I got roms for Daytona 2, Daytona 2: Edition, and Scud Race Plus.  Only one of them worked--D2: PE.  I don't know where workable roms are for those games since they are missing files.  I'm not going to tell you where to get the roms (I don't want to get sued) but just type in "download model3 roms daytona usa 2" in Google and you'll find that one easily.  I'll give you a hint if you're downloading a proper D2:PE rom--it'll be 84.9 MB.  Then when you start up the D2:PE rom, read this tip here on how to get the game working after you've loaded the rom.

Wow, 84.9 MB.  The Daytona 2 game in my hands.  You could fit 40+ copies of this game on a standard 4 GB flash drive.  The entire content of a magnificent Sega racer in my hand and I can't play it.  Unbelievable.  It's like owning an iPhone with no battery.  It's like having a fine cake but you're lactose intolerant.  It's like being the richest man in the world but having no friends.  You'd think with today's technology, everyone is able to play this game, but no.  Only now, 13 years later, is the game actually starting to come together.  And Sega has done NOTHING to bring back the game.  The OutRun 2 bonus courses are as close as we got.

 .........

But anyway, let's talk about the game.

You'd think that I'd be in cardiac arrest over the game, but to the contrary, this game is not arcade smooth for me.  The framerate on my computer is terrible.  For everyone one in-game second, it takes 10 seconds in real life.  So basically, the game is running at 5-10% speed.  Yes, I did try reducing the resolution but it didn't change anything.  It took me about five minutes just to press start, pick a track/car/transmission and go.  Other problems include texturing and all that emulator nonsense.  There is also no sound whatsoever.

 This is how the car select screen looked.

So then I pick the Phantom AT on the Challenge course (all 3 courses in one).  Now previously, I had gone to the service settings and altered the difficulty to Easy so I had the most time to finish.  You use the up and down arrows to gas/brake and the left and right arrows to steer.  Alright.  I try to take my time on every turn and avoid powerslides and wrecks.  The only bad wreck was the alley-to-alley right turn in the city.  I got wedged between the barriers and that wasted a lot of my time.  This is when not being able to go in reverse bites you in the ass.  Playing with a slow framerate doesn't make it any easier (unless you're going for a TAS run).

This is the turn in question.  I got stuck by those red arrow signs.

But by going slow, you get to check out all the little details that you missed.  When you wreck, the items on your hud shake back and forth a bit.  Also even more interesting are some elements in the scenery.   For instance, there are yellow "New Joke City" banners by the Expert course starting line.  There are Daytona 2 promotional posters on the wall in the alleyways in the area above.  There is also an orange-checkered banner labeled "Sega Dreamcast Cup Racing" above the pit area on the Beginner course.  Dreamcast???  Back in 1998?  Yes, it's there, go look for it.

This is as far as I made it.  I was only one turn away from the finish line.  The race lasted 30-40 minutes.  I sat there for the entirety, listening to no music and sound, controlling the car with these tiny laptop arrow keys, not even encumbered by the Xbox 360 which I had left on and was blowing heat into the room.  This is the screen capture I took:

I wish I had taken more pictures of the game, but I wasn't running Fraps and the game couldn't be paused so I had to keep on playing.

I really don't know what to make of this.  Emulation can only get better from here so hang on boys.

........

*cries* I got to play the game after all these years.  And it was only at 10% of the speed but it was so satisfying.  Seeing that car bob back and forth through the turns...it was awe-inspiring compared to these stiff-as-a-board racing sims these days.  While satisfying, it is only a glimmer of what the actual arcade cabinet could offer.

If only Sega had done something with the game over these past 13 years.  I mean, insert all the obscenities you want.  Why???  I'm going to have to get a better computer for this.

I guess I should go back and try the Nebula model2 (Daytona USA) emulator which I presume will run faster than this.

God bless 'em.