Tokyo Xtreme Racer

Tokyo Xtreme Racer (Shutokō Battle in Nippon) is a racing game centered around driving various Tokyo expressways and challenging opponents to be named the fastest racer on the highways. Along the way you'll earn many silly names, credits, cars, and fans. Starting in 1999 with 2007 being the last year a game was released in the series, with two on the Dreamcast (only one of which is exclusive), five on the PS2, and one on the Xbox 360. While the games tended not to garner critics praise, what the hell do they know?

Dreamcast

Tokyo Xtreme Racer

Tokyo Xtreme racer hit North American soil on September 9th, 1999. This was the first (as it would come to be) in the series and sold Xtremely well on the Dreamcast. It set the ground work for series in that you drive around the highway and can challenge folk in a sprint race determined in a weird fighting game way, where the first bar empty loses. It has 101 challengers each with a bio to read when you beat them. Later games had the idea of "wanders", racers that can only be challenged in certain conditions but that idea is only in prototype here and it was used to unlock secret cars. It has a decent selection of cars, all designated by chassis codes(it did this till 3) rather then licensed names.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer 2

The popularity of Tokyo Xtreme Racer garnered a sequel, unsurprisingly. This dropped September 1, 2000 in limited quantity. The game put a fresh coat of paint and installed new speakers to Tokyo Xtreme Racer but not much else. Was apparently used as the physic basis for Daytona USA on the Dreamcast. Game features an M3, two Porsche, and first gen Viper.

Playstation 2

Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Zero

Originally developed for the Dreamcast as a sequel to TXR2, they ended up canning development for the Dreamcast version and moved it to the PS2 instead. This does show in the quality of the models. This was also the last title to make use of chassis codes, so some familiarity with the cars may be needed. The game features a rather robust car list with many cars returning from TXR2, one of the more notable features of TXR0 was how much the speed and general horsepower increased. The physics can be described as arcady at best, the cars either drift through corners like in Ridge Racer, or they understeer into a wall. If you're looking for Sanic speeds on the Wangan, then this should help that fix.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3

The last Highway racer on the PS2, later games were done on Mountain Passes. The game conceptually was the same but 3 was a huge jump from previous titles. Instead of just Tokyo, you can Race in Nagoya, and Osaka as well. It is also the first North American console game in the series to actually have the names of the cars instead of just chassis codes. Has more foreign cars then previous iterations. It features tire wear and engine temperatures having an effect on performance. Also has a Mario painting thing going on as a "vinyl" editor of sorts, which also allowed for custom logos. Introduced engine swaps to the series and hidden parts, but only in this title. Features 600 rivals to chase down and then read about their life story. And while the tire wear could be seen as just a gimmick to interrupt you from completely destroying an area, that's the only valid complaint about this game. It would be the best in the series and the most recommended to buy. If not for Speeding Fanfare. A translation error makes challenging her impossible, due to them converting the money system to the American dollar from yen. They did that properly but forgot about two wanders who require Xtreme amounts of money. Using a Game Shark to pass them is required. The Japanese release is fine.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift/Kaido Battle

This was the first game to be full dedicated to Kaido racing, it was the first in a series of 3. Unforturantly this game is overshadowed by its sequals. But it did start of trend of the Kaido Battle games. Otherwise there's very little opinion on this game as TXR:D2 just did everything better.

Kaido Racer/Kaidō Battle 2: Chain Reaction

The second game in the Kaido Battle series was only released in Europe & Japan, whereas they never got Kaido Battle 1. Guess that worked out for everyone since we have emulators these days. The European version of the game features more European cars, even a RUF. There seems to be very little in terms of opinion on this title as, you guessed it. Everyone played TXR:D2 instead. But if you're looking for more European cars and want to tear up the mountains in a RUF. Then give this one a shot.

Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2/Kaidō Battle: Tōge no Densetsu

TL;DR GET THIS ONE! If you really like the concept.

If not for the TXR 3 issue, this would be the second best. But TXR 3 HAS that issue, so this wins by default. But that's not saying that getting this one is settling. TXR: D2 is fantastic featuring a wide selection of cars, tuning, courses that run during the day officially and street race at night (except short courses) and great attention to details. Like an entirely simulated BBS (think 4chan but less shit). It may have traded the "Mario Itasha" of 3 with a more conventional default stickers at varying layers, but it allows for sponsor stickers (you can get sponsors in the game too, details) which can break the game, in a good way this time. You can set up stickers so that when you do a official race you rake in 1.5+ Million Credits per race no matter how short (the only stipulation is that you win). While Drifting take as much talent to actually do it in real life with any skill so drift races will be a pain (you can cheese them by using, counter intuitively, a FWD car), the good out weights it.

Xbox 360

Import Tuner Challenge

TL;DR GET THIS ONE! If you're not sure about the concept

Real talk, Import Tuner Challenge is probably the weakest in the series. So why start with this one to see if you like the concept of TXR? Because it's the most accessible to new players. The wanders have helpful tips (provided you go through the Parking Areas to talk to people to get said tips) which early installments didn't really have (TXR 0 had cryptic hints), the AI is slow for the most part, there's only 7 customizable cars. But the easy AI won't make getting use to arcade physics so demeaning, said physics are really forgiving in this one, there are no game breaking bugs, delivers the best looking Highway battle racing (over 0), and only Euro Truck simulator 2 is comfier. The only convenient thing not at hand is a portable Rival guide (3) or on-demand tuning (Zero, but the PA's allow you to adjust things and refill nitrous, which can help out). So while starting with the blandest version of the game may seem stupid, it will just prepare you for the exotic flavors of the other games.

Moon-rune Specials

Not all games made it to English. Two note worthy ones come up.

Shutokō Battle Online

ARE YOU A BAD ENOUGH DUDE TO TRANSLATE MOON, CRACK, AND SET UP A SERVER FOR LONELY PEOPLE ON 4CHAN? DON'T FORGET THE PART ABOUT RECONSTRUCTING ALL THE GAME DATA LOST, LIKE ALL THE CARS, STAGES AND MUCH MORE

WELL HERE YOU GO: http://www.mediafire.com/download/tunmjkgo2yn/Shutokou_Battle_Online.exe

Seriously though if you could that would be great. Also this is the first game to use licensed names for cars.

Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix

While the English rankings for this goes ITC>TXR:D2>TXR 3 (Or TXR: D2>TXR 3>ITC if you like the games), The Jap rankings go TXR 3>TXR:D2> This game. You can drive a Kei truck with a rotary swap and a Cow in the tray with an 16-bit Itasha paint job (this uses a refined version "Mario Itasha" from TXR 3). Then you have an issue, dirty Gaijin, no English. While there is translation book (Link 1 has a copy, need file combiner) It's a hassle to use unless you don't mind flipping from game to booklet or have two monitors.

TL;DR

ITC>TXR:D2>TXR 3 (Or TXR:D2>TXR 3>ITC if you like the games)

See also

Wangan Midnight, it's just TXR with a licence.

Fast and Furious: Tokyo drift, it's just TXR with a budget from Namco.

Links

1: Racing Battle: C1 Grand Prix
2: Tokyo Xtreme Racer 3 ISO (MEGA)