The King of Route 66 (Game)

The King of Route 66

GAME » on February 2002

Arcade (Platform)PlayStation 2 (Platform)

A sequel to Sega's over-the-top truck racing game 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker, now with deliveries along the historic Route 66.

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Overview

The King of Route 66 is an over-the-top truck racing game developed by Sega-AM2 and released by Sega (Company) for arcades (using their Dreamcast (Platform)-based NAOMI 2 hardware) in Japan on February 2002, with a North American release sometime after.

A sequel to 18 Wheeler: American Pro Trucker, The King of Route 66 puts players in control of one of five truckers along the titular U.S. Route 66 highway between Chicago (Location) and Los Angeles (Location) as they make cargo deliveries while fending off a pair of rival truckers (known as the Tornado Boys).

Like 18 Wheeler, the game tasks players with delivering cargo in time while fending off a rival trucker and making sure the cargo itself doesn't get too damaged (for score). New features include a Nitro system and support for head-to-head multiplayer (via linked cabinets).

Along with updated hardware, one of the main features of the arcade cabinet is its attached CB Radio handset, where players can use voice commands to both activate Nitro and answering radio transmissions from other truckers (in order to form a "convoy", increasing speed while shielding against the rival). This functionality is optional, and operators can choose to use buttons instead.

It later received a home conversion (by both Sega-AM2 and TOSE) for the PlayStation 2 (Platform), released in North America on March 18, 2003 and in Europe on September 5, 2003. This version features a reworked story mode, where the trucker now has to fend off against an evil corporation known as Tornado (who have forced a monopoly on the route), along with several bonus modes (including the career-based "Queen of Route 66" mode, the mini-game collection "Route 66 Challenge", and Versus modes for both single-player and split-screen multiplayer).

Courses (Arcade)

Arcade

The arcade version is split into three "Areas", each with five deliveries to make:

Area 1 (Easy), set throughout the route between Illinois and Oklahoma, features more urban driving, with plenty of shortcuts and mayhem to boost time with.
Area 2 (Normal), set throughout the route between Texas and Arizona, features a lot of open road.
Area 3 (Hard), set throughout the route between Arizona and California, features a lot of mountainous road and winding paths.

Modes & Courses (Home)

King of Route 66

The main story mode of the PS2 version splits each delivery from the Arcade version into their own separate stage, each with a new rival from the Tornado corporation. In addition, players now choose different deliveries for most stages, changing their destination (which can be easier or harder, at the cost of less score).

Queen of Route 66

The game's "career" mode has players participating in the Queen of Route 66 rally, where they must partake in events throughout the route by the Queen of each State. Along the way, they earn money that can be used to upgrade and fine-tune their truck, and can upgrade their "Disco" (where the Queens dance) by collecting emblems throughout the game.

Illinois - Collecting stolen jewels.
Missouri - Collecting boxes of cardinals.
Kansas - Reaching the goal while avoiding rocks being dumped by a rival truck.
Oklahoma - Reaching the goal without destroying too many obstacles.
Texas - Destroying all rival trucks.
New Mexico - Reaching the goal without taking too much damage.
Arizona - Racing to the goal in a truck cab.
California - Racing rival trucks to the goal.

After clearing the game, players earn a bonus "Route 66" course with three special events (a speed trial in an oval course, a five-truck race in the same oval course, and a Rival Chase against an imposter truck).

Route 66 Challenge

This mode features a variety of unique mini-games, similar to the "Crazy Box" mode in the Crazy Taxi (Franchise) series.

Emblem Catch - Collect emblems along the route.
Emblem Catch 2 - Collect emblems along the route, while avoiding red barrels.
Convoy Golf - Slam a tee'd up car and send it flying a long distance.
Moving Targets - Bump into traffic along the route.
Destroy the Cars - Bump into parked cars along the route.
Long Haul Slam - Collect emblems, smash cars, and use Nitro to jump large gaps along the route.
Protect Annie - Escort a pickup truck to the goal by ramming against traffic.
Sooner the Better - Reach the goal without letting the speed dip below 45 mph for too long.

Each of them have bronze, silver, and gold medals based on performance, and earning Gold in all eight unlocks a special bonus in the Queen of Route 66 mode.

Rival Chase

A single-player Versus mode where players battle the Tornado Boys (Bigfoot and Lizard Tail) in six stages.

Completing the mode unlocks rival trucks from throughout the game for use in VS Battle mode.

VS Battle

The game's multiplayer mode.

Trucks

Texas Hawk has the game's well-balanced truck.
Highway Cat (Character) has a faster truck, at the cost of being easier to push around.
Iron Bull has a truck that's harder to push around, despite its slow speed.
Soul Man also has a faster truck, although its slower acceleration makes it harder to recover from.
Ichiban has the truck with the fastest acceleration, despite its slow speed.

Stats

Truck	Speed	Torque	Weight
Texas Hawk	3	3	3
Highway Cat	4	3	2
Iron Bull	2	3	4
Soul Man	4	2	3
Ichiban	2	4	3

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