Arcade racers like Daytona 2 have physics which loosely follow real-world driving physics, requiring proper cornering, braking, etc. * Daytona 2 (and most of the arcade racing genre in general) is in a weird no-man's land with no real demographic to thrive off of. Daytona 2 can't make a comeback if there's no arcades to play them in. SEGA sold off their Gameworks and Joypolis arcades. One of SEGA's best strength was in their arcade games, and those went away with public trends. As for the XB1/PSN ports, those were done because the original Daytona 1 arcade cabinets were dying off and SEGA could profit off the nostalgia.Īs you know, arcades have made a steady decline since the 00's. SEGA was also poking around with releasing PC games at the time, forging a relationship with Microsoft, hence a Daytona 1 PC release too. SEGA's Model 1/2 arcade games, especially Virtua Fighter, spurred a need for 3D graphics in the 90's gaming market, hence Daytona 1 got a Saturn port. However, there were multiple reasons that merited Daytona 1 getting multiple ports: Daytona 1 was just that damn popular. Daytona Championship USA demonstrates this fact. * SEGA wanted to keep the Daytona games arcade-only as much as possible. They didn't have the same team to remake Daytona 2 even if they wanted to. Also consider the brain drain from SEGA at the time. Since rebuilding games from scratch takes more time than using existing source code, SEGA didn't think the effort of rebuilding Daytona 2 was worth it. SEGA won't say which games, so it's a complete mystery if they still have it. * SEGA lost the source code to many games during the post-Dreamcast fallout, perhaps including Daytona 2. SEGA hasn't been kind to game series that have made less money than projected-the Shenmue games being the most obvious example. This is why Daytona 2 had exorbitant production value to exceed Daytona 1's level, including network play with up to 16 players. No kidding right? It's hard for any sequel to out-do the level of success that Daytona 1 had. * SEGA secretly hated Daytona 2 because it was less profitable than the immensely successful Daytona 1. Popular video games have dumbed down their general difficulty over time, preferring to help aid the player to victory rather than demand practice and payoff over numerous playthroughs. Players would rather just stomp the gas pedal and bounce off walls harmlessly than play a racing game that punished them for crashing. Consider the popularity of shallow Midway/Raw Thrills racers like Cruis'n World and Fast & Furious. * Daytona 2 was too difficult for the arcade crowd. NASCAR is especially disliked among non-NASCAR fans for "being redneck" and "turning left again and again" and "only popular because of wrecks." A lot of arcade goers didn't give it a chance for that reason. Sega still trots out Daytona 1 every now and then for its memes (mainly thanks to Takenobu Mitsuyoshi's vocals) and popularity among old arcade diehards who still remember playing it and but that's about it. Combine that with the death of the Dreamcast, SEGA's ensuing panic and financial losses, and waning interest of "Americana" culture (rock music, fast cars, etc.) and you have a perfect storm of Daytona 2 being buried and forgotten. However, NASCAR just straight up went off a cliff in the 00's with NASCAR leaving Japan, Dale Sr's death, rule changes (particularly the Chase "playoff" format), the disdain for the Car of Tomorrow, and dwindling ratings. SEGA game designers traveled to Florida to visit Daytona International Speedway and Orlando's theme parks (particularly Universal Studios) for inspiration for two of the game's courses. Almost all NASCAR fans consider the late 90's to be the Golden Age of the sport. In Daytona 2, the driver model was clearly meant to resemble Dale Earnhardt Sr., considered to be the GOAT driver of NASCAR. See the Coca-Cola 500 of '90, taking place at Twin Ring Motegi oval course. They were released primarily to celebrate NASCAR's brief stint in Japan during the late 90's. * Daytona 1 and 2 were the Japanese take on NASCAR. I have many theories that resulted in Daytona USA 2 being screwed over, starting with the most prominent one:
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