Way back before the likes of modern racers in their refined glory, the Daytona series with its prominent polygons, or even the likes of the classic Pole Position, top-down and isometric racers were the height of the racing genre in the arcades. One of the most well known were the Super Sprint and later Championship Sprint units, complete with their steering wheels and pretty satisfying racing fun. As has happened with many other Atari titles this generation, they’ve gone back to this series and have attempted to freshen it up a bit while retaining the majority of its classic look and feel.

In at least some of the areas, I’d say there are some moderate successes. I suppose to some degree the spirit of the classic tracks has been realized, though since I was always a huge fan of some of the included high-risk shortcuts, I’ll note not everything made it over in translation either. To back up the track side of the equation, certainly the included track editor, with the ability to build, download, and share with others is at least a potential big plus, theoretically keeping the content coming. Then throw in some alternative ways to race, including things like the obstacle course mode that tries to change things up, and there’s the potential for longevity here.

The problem with so much of that potential though, is that it all relies on you being satisfied with the controls and gameplay that they’ll help prolong. While I suppose the controls work reasonably well for the isometric view, I wouldn’t say they’re perfect either, or at least your car’s performance and behavior in relation to them isn’t always ideal. The physics are almost comically flawed in certain situations, particularly how you’ll outright bounce off of walls like they’re rubber, or the weird dead collisions you’ll have with your competition. Granted, in classic arcade racers how collisions behaved was a common problem, but how they’re handled here simply feels off. Then throw in the almost comical behavior of the car’s physics on hills and when they catch air, and it’s hard not to feel like there are some real problems here. Also, if you were considering this to play handheld I’m concerned some people could have difficulties, as the scale of everything can be quite small. That isn’t an unusual problem, but I’d say I have more concerns than usual with this specific title in that area.

Put that all together and you have an experience that feels like its doing its best to swing for the fences in some areas, providing the potential for plenty of longevity, but then fails to come through in some fundamentally vital areas. I’ve absolutely played retro-styled racers of this kind on Switch that have fared worse than this, but I’ve also definitely played better. If you have a particular love for the classic Super Sprint series, this could give you a little added feeling of nostalgia, just be aware that through the process of changing to accommodate play on consoles it lost some of its luster along the way.