Arcades have long provided home consoles with games, especially racers.  Arcades are where Ed Logg, the man behind N64’s Rush and other arcade classics got his start.  San Francisco Rush follows a tradition of arcade racers, light on reality, but heavy on adrenaline.  Just like Steve McQueen in "Bullitt," you get to fly down the streets of San Francisco.

When San Francisco Rush was first released, it was innovative in a few ways. It was one of the first racing games to put a city to good use in a racing setting.  That is, the city looked like a real city, and it had opposing traffic and the like.  San Francisco Rush also rewarded adventuring racers not only with short cuts that give you an edge on the competition, but with secrets that unlock various goodies.  Exploration in San Francisco Rush isn’t a chore either, the nature of the fully realized city invites gamers to go off the beaten path to try to get one over on the competition. 

Even when San Francisco Rush was originally released, the graphics weren’t particularly notable.  The visuals were not very flashy -- neither the models nor textures were particularly great -- but they did the job.  Therein lies the trick.  San Francisco Rush’s visual greatness lies in it’s representation of a cityscape.  The designers have modeled the city of San Francisco in a semi-realistic way.  It looks like the real city, but it’s been designed in such a way that it has secrets to find, and it’s still fun to race through.  The choice to go with this type of graphics rather than a flashy visual feast has served the game well in the long run, as it doesn’t lose it’s flavor with age.

Sound is the Achilles’ heel of San Francisco Rush.  The game's designers have given you the choice of several different music tracks to choose from, along with a random and silence track. There are a few interesting tracks, but the music definitely isn’t the high point.  The sound effects aren’t bad but they don’t really stand up to newer racing games. The engine revs and tire squeals are just about average. 

While sound is a definite weak point of Rush, gameplay is it’s strength.  Flying through a unique city like San Francisco in a variety of several different cars (including a Volkswagen Beetle and a hippie van that would be at home on Haight-Ashbury) is quite fun.  All of the game’s six tracks (seven including the secret Alcatraz track) are set in various areas of San Fran, and all have several short cuts and secrets.  The standard circuit mode takes you through each of the tracks in the game four times for a total of 24 individual races.  The six tracks actually amount to more than that since you race them normal, reverse, mirrored and mirrored reverse. It may sound like a gimmick, but the tracks take on a totally different feel in each of their modes. In addition many areas are only accessed through a certain mode. 

The control of each car is unique to each particular car.  The van is apt to tip over while the sports cars aren’t, but they have their own shortcomings.  In addition to driving the car, be ready for bouts of flying. The extreme drops and climbs in the San Franciscan topography make for some interesting ventures into applied physics, especially at 120mph. Track design, and the choice of San Francisco as a location for the game are definite pluses. 

San Francisco Rush was an instant arcade hit when it was released, and was released to critical acclaim when it originally hit the N64.  While a few years, and a sequel, have passed since it was released, the gameplay is still there.  Only the superficial features of the game have aged. The gameplay and the fun of ripping through mid-air in a Dodge viper are still as fun as when the game first saw release.