Play Rally - Emulator Online
All the Best Rally Racing Games Are Right Here (and Free!)
First up is Thrash Rally, originally released for Neo Geo in late 1991. Hold up, did we say Neo Geo? We sure did. That’s the way we roll here at MyEmulator; if we don’t bring wonderful, albeit niche, systems to you for free, who will?
Thrash Rally features an over-the-top camera that makes the whole thing feel a bit like Micro Machines, but then, there’s a real charm to that. All sorts of famous cars from the late 80s and early 90s are represented here in all their miniature glory.
In 1994, it was all but unheard of for even racing games to alter the degree of friction that drivers experience per road types. That was just too plain complicated for most programmers to aspire toward, and with the limitations of technology at the time, who can blame them? But the talented folks behind Sega Rally Championship didn’t let that dissuade them. You can practically feel the difference between slick roads, icy roads, dirt roads… you name it.
Neo Drift Out: New Technology has a funny title. All the better for it, then, as it will help you remember to give it a whirl. A Neo Geo and Neo Geo CD racer with an isometric view featuring three Japanese rally-spec vehicles, players must race not only against virtual opponents but the clock itself. If it hits zero, that’s it! What exactly happens to the player if they run out of time? The car stalls out, petering off the track. Ouch.
Many of the Rally games at MyEmulator are for the Nintendo 64, and for good reason. The N64 era was something of a golden age for these games, coming just before big-ticket names like Gran Turismo took over the genre for good. Developer creativity was in full swing.
Top Gear Rally and Top Gear Rally 2 both boast some of the best visuals in their era. The great thing about this is that, while one might assume the graphics have aged like milk, the truth is closer to fine wine. How so? Well, it’s easy to look at, say, a PS3 game and see the cracks around the edges where contemporary consoles were hamstrung. Back when Top Gear Rally was all the rage, companies weren’t looking to represent the real deal yet. This leads to some charmingly blocky car designs and smooth (if inaccurate) peaks and valleys.
A whopping 19 opponents must be outsped in the duology, and you’ll find yourself hard-pressed to beat them all. Indeed, the CPU can be pretty cheap, rounding corners with nearly-impossible alacrity, but that just makes victory taste all the sweeter.
In the late 90s, Nintendo took a big risk with a perennial favorite adult comedy that was just in its infancy. South Park isn’t exactly kid-friendly, and the N64 isn’t exactly known for its mature catalog, but that didn’t stop Acclaim Entertainment from releasing a trilogy of games that collectively tell a story set across not one, not two, but three different genres.
The last entry, South Park Rally, is a kart-racer that revels in the series’ trademark absurdity. Just how absurd? Rumor has it Saddam Hussein appears in power-up form…
We’ve even got Rally Challenge 2000, a racing game that slipped almost completely under the radar as a very late Nintendo 64 title. Nine tracks, nine real-world cars, and realistic mud and snow separate it from many of its predecessors as the sun began to set on the anything-goes era called Rally.