Need for Speed: Underground
Dive into the underground street racing scene with customizable rides and intense circuit races. Build your reputation through 21 unique events including drag races, drift challenges, and sprint races across 5 distinct city zones.
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Story
The game begins with a circuit race set in Olympic City (A fictional city based mainly on the city of Seattle and named after nearby Olympic National Park ), with the player driving a white Honda/Acura Integra Type R that sports a unique set of vinyl and a wide body kit . They dominantly win the race; only to be awakened from a daydream by a woman named Samantha. Samantha is the player's contact in Olympic City, touring them across the import culture scene and illegal street racing therein. Albeit poking fun at the player's choice of car, she helps the player buy their first car and kickstarts the player by introducing them to local street racers such as Jose (who offers circuit events), Klutch (who offers drag events ), and Dirt (who offers drift events ).
, a mechanic who rewards them with numerous performance upgrades and parts, provided they win their time trial challenges. Samantha also issues time trials to the player, her rewards being unique visual modifications instead. Eventually, the player draws the attention of The Eastsiders , after racing their members Chad, Kurt, and Todd to climb up the racing ranking boards. Eddie, the leader of the gang and his girlfriend Melissa take notice of the player.
Eddie is the current best underground racer in Olympic City - unimpressed by the player, he insults them for their racing skills, going as far as demanding they "take a taxi home so that he can get home faster" while throwing cash at their face, and signaling for a taxi cab to pick up the player in an event. In time, the player develops too much reputation and hype to be ignored by Eddie, who proceeds to challenge them to race Samantha to continue upward in the ranking boards. She gets infuriated by the player's acceptance and loses after she totals the engine of her Honda Civic Si during the race. J.
for himself thereafter. , Samantha distances herself from the player, but they continue receiving race offers nonetheless. J. in Samantha's vandalized Civic in a pink slip race.
They win the car back and return it to Samantha, rekindling their friendship. Samantha rewards the player with a unique body kit choice. Eddie then challenges the player to a sprint race and loses; before the player's crew can celebrate, an unidentified racer in a grey Nissan 350Z challenges the player to a final 4-lap circuit race; the driver of the 350Z is revealed to be Melissa. The player accepts her challenge and wins, solidifying their status as the best underground racer in Olympic City.
Gameplay Systems
) The game introduces nitrous oxide for the first time in the series which can be used to boost the acceleration of the car for maximum speed; however, it can only be used once and cannot be used again until the player restarts the race. Game modes There are several game modes present in Underground : Circuit is a standard race that involves racing with up to three opponents cars around a loop track for two or more laps. It is the main mode of the game. Knockout Mode is similar to previous Need for Speed titles.
It is played on the circuit tracks and involves "knocking out" the last racer who passes the finish line in each lap until the final leader of the race remains and wins the race. In Underground , Knockout sessions have a maximum of three laps for four racers. Sprint mode is a variation on the Circuit mode, where the contestants race in a point-to-point track instead of loop tracks. These races are typically shorter than "circuits" (with a maximum of 8 km in length), so players are required to be more cautious of any mistakes during racing, such as crashing into barriers or vehicles.
Drifting is the most challenging and technical aspect of the game. Drift mode consists of one player in a short loop track, where the objective is to collect as many points as possible by drifting along the track. The player competes with three other contestants, who appear to accumulate scores along with the player during the drift session. The player would be required to beat these scores to obtain top positions.
Bonuses are awarded for players who drift in the outer borders of the track, drift vertically, or perform chained-drifting (continuous drifting by constantly steering the vehicle during drifts to maintain speed); if the player succeeds in ending a drift without collisions onto the sides of the track, the collected points are added into the score, otherwise, the collected points are canceled. Drift mode is the only type of racing where time taken to complete the track does not matter, since players are given the freedom to complete the allocated number of laps at their own pace, hence there is no nitrous oxide in this mode. Drag racing is the second most technical form of race in the game. It involves racing against one or three cars on typically straight tracks and attempting to obtain top positions to win.
To master Drag mode, players must employ good timing and reflexes for gear shifting, redlining , overtaking, and the use of nitrous oxide boosts. Since players must use manual transmission, drag races place particular emphasis on monitoring the tachometer and the engine temperature during races, which is enlarged and displayed on the left side of the screen. Steering in this mode is simplified to simply allow for lane changes, while the computer handles the steering along the lanes, and the player focuses more on maintaining an optimum speed for the car. Two conditions will result in players being forfeited during a drag race: head-on collisions with an opponent, barriers, traffic cars, or dividers (being 'totaled'); or blown engines as a result from prolonged redlining and the subsequent overheating of the engine.
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About Need for Speed: Underground
Need for Speed: Underground is a classic video game released for the Game Boy Advance on January 1, 2004. This title has become a beloved entry in the retro gaming library.
This wiki entry provides comprehensive information about Need for Speed: Underground, including release details, gameplay information, and story synopsis. Whether you're looking to revisit a childhood favorite or discover classic games for the first time, Emulator Games Wiki has you covered.
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