Halloween 2012: Something Wicked This Way Comes (Beetle Adventure Racing).

Beetle Adventure Racing is/was an absolutely incredible arcade-style racer released back in 1999 for the Nintendo 64. Living up to the title, the game’s 6 tracks featured awesome themes including everything from a tropical island (complete with a volcano that you get to drive through), an urban downtown city scape and of course my favorite, a haunted forest called “Wicked Woods“. These levels were so massive and filled with so many optional shortcuts that one lap alone could take up to 3 minutes and you could potentially complete an entire race without seeing all of the detours and side-roads. The overall experience has a feel not unlike that which a Rare game provided back during that time. The graphics are some of the best on the system, the controls are just right and the level design rewards exploration. Pretty much anything that crosses your mind as a “Wouldn’t it be cool if I could?” type of thought, turns out to more often that not indeed be possible. It’s really too bad that the rumor of this game’s impending release on the Wii’s virtual console never shook out because it truly is a lost gem and deserves to be played by a larger audience than it originally received (Also, I’d kill to play it with a WaveBird). In any case, if you happen to still have your Nintendo 64 kicking around somewhere and have never had a swing at this, the actual cartridge isn’t asking a whole lot on ebay. I’m gonna dust mine off, pop this thing in and tear through those creepy ass woods for a bit tonight. Here, have a look at the clip below to see what you’re missing out on: