Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition

Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition is a racing game by Sega, specifically designed for the Sega Saturn. Released in 1996, it is a reworked and extended version of the original Daytona USA, and was developed by the same team that oversaw the Saturn port of Sega Rally Championship, by using a modified version of the Sega Saturn engine of Sega Rally Championship.

This version was originally released in Europe and North America, with some modifications done in the subsequent Japanese release. Improvements over the original Sega Saturn version of Daytona USA include a drastic reduction in popup, increased framerate (now a consistent thirty frames per second), a new selection of cars, two new courses, a 2-player mode, compatibility with the Saturn's 3D analogue control pad and Arcade Racer steering wheel, and a ghost mode. The European release does not feature the "black bars" at the top and bottom of the screen that are present in the majority of PAL games of the era - the box boasts "slick new full screen graphics".

It was also separately released for the Saturn as a Netlink-compatible title, entitled Daytona USA: CCE Netlink Edition.

Courses
This is the first version of Daytona USA to name the three tracks present in the original game, rather than using Beginner, Advanced, and Expert. "Three Seven Speedway" (beginner track), "Dinosaur Canyon" (advanced track) and "Seaside Street Galaxy" (expert track). The game also features two brand new circuits, "National Park Speedway" and "Desert City". Daytona USA Deluxe for PC also adds a sixth course, "Silver Ocean Causeway".

Cars
The racing team featured in the Daytona USA arcade version and Saturn port is called Team Hornet. Although the team is not explicitly mentioned in the games, their car features a recognizable hornet logo stamped on the front of the car. From Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition onwards, however, Team Hornet's available garage was reduced to one playable car alongside other racing teams' cars.

Team Hornet and their car do not appear in the game. Instead, there are a number of individual cars selectable, each named after their respective racing team:
 * Hornet (Normal, car number 19) - The Hornet car has a grip rating of 3/5, an acceleration rating of 3/5, and a top speed rating of 2/5, making it an all-rounder.
 * Gallop (Normal, car number 27) - The Gallop car has identical statistics to the Hornet car, making it another all-rounder.
 * Max (Beginner, car number 2) - The Max car has a grip rating of 5/5, an acceleration rating of 5/5, but a top speed of 1/5. This makes it an ideal car for a course with plenty of corners, such as Desert City. It also has the ability to run well on grass and sand areas.
 * Phoenix (Expert, car number 8) - The Phoenix car has a grip rating of 1/5, but is rated 5/5 for its acceleration and top speed capabilities.
 * Oriole (Expert, car number 16) - The Oriole car is a toned-down version of the Phoenix car, with a grip rating of 2/5, and an acceleration & top speed rating of 4/5.
 * Magic (Expert, car number 33) - The Magic car has a grip rating of 3/5, an acceleration rating of 2/5, and a top speed rating of 3/5, making it a cross between the Hornet car and the Oriole car.
 * Wolf (Beginner, car number 41) - This car has a grip rating of 4/5, an acceleration rating of 5/5, but a top speed of 1/5, making this car identical to the Max car apart from having weaker grip.
 * Balance (Normal, car number 99) - The Balance car has a grip rating of 5/5, an acceleration rating of 1/5, and a top speed rating of 4/5. This car performs well on long, straight courses such as Seaside Street Galaxy or National Park Speedway.

There is a 9th car called Daytona which can be unlocked either by finishing in first place on all five tracks, or via a cheat code. The Daytona car uses the body style, paint scheme and car number of the featured car in the original Daytona USA. It is rated 5/5 in the grip, acceleration and top speed categories, however, meaning it will not handle the same as the classic car. There are also two horses that are unlockable and playable, named Uma and Uma 2.

All of the cars have sponsor stickers on the side that read "Sega Rally Championship" as the game was made from the same department. Daytona USA: Circuit Edition also features fictional specifications for the Hornet car as part of the CD case artwork. The car is 4903 mm long, 1273 mm high, and 1730 mm wide. It weighs 1600 kg, and is capable of speeds up to 329 km/h. Its engine's power output is 812ps/5800rpm.

Soundtrack
The soundtrack by Richard Jacques and Jun Senoue, while featuring remixes of the original tunes and several new ones, did not feature the original tunes themselves.

Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition's track list is as follows:


 * Sons of Angels - "Intro theme" Composed by Jun Senoue (guitar) and with Eric Martin (vocals).
 * The King Of Speed - Course: "Three Seven Speedway" a remix made by Richard Jacques of the original Daytona USA theme composed by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (keyboards, vocals).
 * Pounding Pavement - Course: "Desert City" a remix performed by Jun Senoue of the original Daytona USA theme composed by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (keyboards, vocals).
 * Let's Go Away - Course: "Dinosaur Canyon" a remix performed by Jun Senoue of the original Daytona USA theme composed by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi.
 * Sky High - Course: "Seaside Street Galaxy" a remix of the original Daytona USA theme composed by Takenobu Mitsuyoshi.
 * The Noisy Roars of Wilderness - "Ending theme" Course: "National Park Speedway".
 * Race to the Bass - "Exclusive theme" removed of Daytona USA CCE composed by Richard Jacques.
 * The American Dream - "Replay & Intro Theme" composed by Jun Senoue (guitar) and with Eric Martin (vocals).
 * Daytona USA Medley - "Japanese Circuit Edition and PC version only".
 * Funk Fair - "Exclusive theme" composed by Richard Jacques.
 * Gentlemen Start Your Engines - "Main Menu and Options theme" composed by Tomonori Sawada.

Any of the course themes can be mapped to another course through the options menu. Daytona USA: Circuit Edition also features the original Daytona USA arcade themes, which could also be mapped to courses.

Development
After finishing the Saturn version of Sega Rally Championship, the development team were planning to do a Saturn conversion of Indy 500, but due to fan demand they undertook Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition instead. Work on the game began in March 1996.

In response to numerous fan complaints that the original Daytona USA soundtrack was inappropriate for a racing game, Sega Europe's in-house composer, Richard Jacques, was tasked with remixing the original songs, along with musicians from both Sega Japan and Sega America.

The game retained the "Dancing Jeffry" feature from the Seaside Street Galaxy from the original Daytona USA. Jeffry is one of the main characters from Virtua Fighter; a statue of him was created in the course as a secondary feature.

Reception
Reviewing the Saturn version in GameSpot, Tom Ham called Championship Circuit Edition "a very impressive sequel that greatly improves upon the original." He particularly praised the two-player mode, high frame rate, near absence of pop up, and dramatic crash sequences. Rich Leadbetter of Sega Saturn Magazine was also impressed with the graphical features, but strongly objected to the fact that the cars do not handle the same as they did in the arcade and Saturn versions of Daytona USA. He found the music uneven and the two-player mode plagued by clipping on the three original tracks, and concluded, "Take away the Daytona baggage and essentially you have a different racing game that is very enjoyable to play, looks absolutely fantastic, has five ace tracks, two-player capabilities and loads of lastability. ... It's just a shame that the genius gameplay that made Saturn Daytona USA so great (despite its graphical frailties) isn't here in any way, shape or form." GamePro's Johnny Ballgame judged it "a solid sequel" and a strong racer in absolute terms, but concluded that Saturn owners should instead get Andretti Racing, since the Saturn version was being released in stores at the same time and has a much larger number of tracks.