Tamiya Racing 64

Tamiya Racing 64
Developer: Looking Glass Studios Platform: Nintendo 64 This game has unused areas. This game has unused graphics. This game has debugging material.

This game was never completed and/or given a public release. As a result of this, keep in mind that the developers might have used or deleted some of the content featured here, had the game actually been released.

Tamiya Racing 64 is a tech demo for a racing game (presumably the similarly unreleased Mini Racers) with licensed remote-controlled cars, featuring very sensitive controls and vacuum cleaner engine sounds. It was developed by Intermetrics, associated with Looking Glass Studios.

The cartridge containing this prototype surfaced as an eBay auction in early 2012 and was sold for $1,358. It was dumped and released by Team CARROT on April 5 of that year.

Download Tamiya Racing 64 ROM File: Tamiya Racing 64 (Unreleased Prototype).7z (1.68 MB) (info)

Debug Mode

Pressing L + R displays the following screen. Two options are selectable; pressing Start will confirm the action.

• Options: Opens a complex debug menu.
• Restart: Restarts the current race.

• 

  Selection screen.

• 

  Debugging options.

Accel Control

Defines whether the acceleration is controlled by the A and B buttons (Right) or the analog stick (Mid).

Steer Control

Defines whether steering is controlled by the Analog Stick (Mid) or the D-Pad (Left).

Control Type

Defines whether the controls are "Normal" or "Cardinal"-based. The latter relies on the cars' X- and Y-axes and is very messy.

Track

Allows you to pick between six similar paths, all taking place on the same course. Five of these go unused.

Number of Players

Self-explanatory.

Number of AIs

Tweaks the amount of CPU controlled players. Setting all of them to zero will start the game in Track 3, oddly enough.

Singleplayer Camera

Changes the way the camera is placed over the player. It has three options: Platform, Plat Zoom, and Chase.

• 

  Platform.

• 

  Plat Zoom.

• 

  Chase.

Multiplayer Camera

Apparently doesn't work. The following settings can be selected:

• ZoomULR.
• ZoomU.
• FocusSwitch.
• Focus.
• Plain.
• Fixed.

Car Select

Defines which car corresponds to each player.

Car Physics

Permits editing any of the vehicles' stats. You can make them extremely heavy or just launch them at ludicrous speeds away and off the map, among other hijinks.

Debug Text

Overlays some values on screen used by various resources in the game.

Unused Stages

The core game is permanently restricted to a single stage, both in the demo and gameplay. Courses 0-5 (excluding the first one), selectable in the debug menu, are not used. All of these have invisible boundaries, while the NPC racers use the first level's configuration.

Track 1 (Used)	Track 3 (Unused)

Track 3, however, does load with the missing structures if the number of players is set to four in the pause/main menu. It's also the only scrapped route which the AI recognizes.

Unused Graphics

Present among the game's textures.

Graphic	Description
	A red square that reads "DOUG".
	A license-plate that reads "AUDI" that is never seen in any of the vehicles.

Additionally, the debug menu's font has unused characters at offset 307F0 in the ROM.