Bring back Racing Destruction Set

Submitted by Shane on July 19, 2005 – 5:15 am10 Comments

It was 1986. I was about 10 years old and the games around those days were on the Atari, Commodore 64 and the young Nintendo. A school friend had a Commodore 64 with hundreds of games. He had so many because he was on the “BBS” or the Bulletin Board System. Back then there was only one BBS as I recall, only one network. I guess you could say that the internet now is a glorified BBS. Regardless this friend would get any game he wanted from a small solitary network of computers on his Commodore and one of those particular games was “Racing Destruction Set”

This had to be the avant-garde game for it’s time. To sum up RDS’s features, it had split screen multiplayer, gravity and the ability to customize or build your own track. Then, get the computer to test your track, save your tracks on disk and take it over to your friends. There’s also the joy of racing on it. You had your “racing” and you had the “destruction” which involved laying mines and oil or destroying your opponent. My friend and I were about as awestruck as any 10 year old boy could get. We spent hours upon hours building our cars looks, tires and paint job. We then spent more hours refashioning the race tracks until we were ready to go head to head. The object of the game was simply to beat your opponent or computer player around the track, but it was all the other aspects of the game that made our Mothers discontent because we weren’t outside or home in time for dinner.

I was ever so excited when I discovered that a fellow by the name of Mark Rosten decided to rewrite the game using Blitz 3D back in 2002 with a fresh look. However based on reading his build entries, to my anguish, has stated that the development is abandoned.

So, the opportunity to revitalize the joy that is RDS with a new face is still up for grabs. Perhaps this classic should just be laid to rest? Racing Destruction Set on the Playstation 3?

Created in 1985 by Rick Koenig, Connie Goldman & Dave Warhol and published by the now super-colossal Electronic Arts.

Tags: atari, commodore, Racing Destruction Set, Retro

http://starfire.drheinous.com Will Gore

Hey, I remember that game. I was a few years older, but my experience was much the same. Ah, that was a good one.
http://aeropause.com Shane

Yeah, as a kid it was quite exciting. You have the cars, racing, the competition, the customizing. All things young boys love! I’ve had many fond memories of games like that one. I remember I once had a new babysitter when I was about 5 and when I showed up at their place with my parents I said – “ok, so wheres your Atari? I don’t want to stay here without one”.
http://www.topofcool.com Finster

I also miss Pinball Construction Set and Adventure Construction Set. However, EA being what it is, there will never be remakes or even re-releases of these games. I hate you, EA!
Shane

Pinball and Adventure? Hmm I hadn’t heard of those ones. I’ll have to Google ‘em. Could I have missed out on these gems as a kid? Beh – I had my fill, can’t be greedy.
http://cathodetan.blogspot.com Josh

Thanks for this one. I had forgotten about that gem, and I had almost an identical experinece with it.

And I pretty much blame ACS for my still wanting to create games. That thing was brilliant.
Shane

Hey no prob Josh. Either my brain isn’t working right now or I don’t know the acronym ACS?
http://www.videolamer.com jay

Rock on, RDS is awesome. It may sound odd, but I really like how unfriendly the game could be to players. I remember hours of rocking back and forth in a ditch, desperately trying to get up enough speed to make it over a ramp. This was a game that didn’t coddle you.

I’d read a little about the attempted remake and was also bummed to hear the guy stopped working. Hey, Lucas Arts remade Archon so there’s always a chance we’ll see a new version of Racing Destruction Set.
Stephen

Yep, I remember that one, and Pinball Construction Set.

The thing I hated about Racing Destruction Set was having to wait while it drew every section of track, one at a time, before every race, all the while making ear-splitting sound effects. God only knows what they were thinking there.

Remember Mail Order Monsters? That was another killer title. That, and Crush Crumble and Chomp.
Chad

I miss that game, It was one of my favorites. I too spent hours apon hours, building n racing, when we got tired of it we just started over. It was a classic, I'd love to see it brought back…
Chad

I miss that game, It was one of my favorites. I too spent hours apon hours, building n racing, when we got tired of it we just started over. It was a classic, I'd love to see it brought back…