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Battle Gear

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Battle Gear
The Battle Gear logo, used most recently with Battle Gear 4 Tuned in 2006
Genre(s)Racing
Sim racing
Developer(s)Taito
Publisher(s)Taito
Platform(s)Arcade, PlayStation, PlayStation 2
First releaseSide by Side
1996
Latest releaseBattle Gear 4 Tuned
2006

Battle Gear (バトル・ギア), previously known as Side by Side (サイド・バイ・サイド), is a series of racing video games developed and published by Taito, first released in arcades with Side by Side in 1996. The series was later released for various home consoles, such as the PlayStation and PlayStation 2.

History

The Side by Side games allows the player to select import sports cars from major Japanese automakers, namely Toyota, Nissan, Honda, and Mazda, with Mitsubishi and Subaru added in Side by Side 2. Tracks generally resemble Japanese mountain passes, known as touge.

While the first two Battle Gear games retain the same gameplay as Side by Side games, starting from Battle Gear 3, online features such as online leaderboards and vehicle customization are included through the NESYS network in both arcade and home versions; in the arcade versions, devices resembling an actual car key is used instead of a save card, in which the player turns the ignition key after inserting a coin to play with their saved data. Battle Gear 4 saw the inclusion of European and American makers for the first and only time, namely Renault, Peugeot, Citroën, Mini, Volkswagen and Ford. The NESYS service was closed on December 2005 for the original Battle Gear 3 (both arcade and home versions), March 2006 for Battle Gear 3 Tuned, and April 2019 for Battle Gear 4 Tuned.

The PlayStation 2 version of Battle Gear 2 was licensed by Midas Interactive and released as a budget game named Tokyo Road Race by various distributors in PAL territories. Online leaderboards, accessed using a dial-up modem in the Japanese release, were removed in the Tokyo Road Race version. North American arcade versions of Side by Side 2 and the first Battle Gear also had Honda cars removed due to licensing issues with American Honda Motor Company, but are featured in the North American version of Battle Gear 3.

Between Side by Side 2 to Battle Gear 3, the series features cars resembling those used by Initial D characters, usually as secret cars. In Battle Gear 4 Tuned, these (previously removed in the original Battle Gear 4) were replaced by a pair of real-life D1 Grand Prix cars. Certain cabinets of Battle Gear 4, branded as Battle Gear 4 Professional/Battle Gear 4 Tuned Professional, feature six-speed shifter and clutch pedal for immersive simulation-style gameplay, similar to those present in Ferrari F355 Challenge.

Series timeline

  • Side by Side (Taito JC System Type-C)
Released in August 1996 in Japan.
  • Side by Side 2 Evoluzione (Taito JC System Type-C)
Released in June 1997 in Japan. International versions were released without the Evoluzione subtitle. An update called Side by Side 2 Evoluzione RR was later released that year.
Released in December 1997; features content from both Side by Side games. Re-released in November 1999 as Side by Side Special 2000, which adds DualShock vibration support.
  • Battle Gear (Taito Type-Zero)
Released in June 1999 in Japan. Distributed in North America (with Honda cars disabled) by Innovative Concepts in Entertainment.
Released in July 2000 in Japanese arcades, with PlayStation 2 port (which features online leaderboards and adds the Toyota MR2 as a playable car) released in March 2001 in Japan and November 2002 in Europe under the title of Tokyo Road Race with online leaderboards support removed. An updated version of the arcade version named Battle Gear 2V was released in 2001 for export markets.
Released in Japanese arcades in November 2002, with a PlayStation 2 port (featuring some tracks and cars from Battle Gear 3 Tuned) in December 2003. The arcade version was distributed in North America by Betson Enterprises in 2004, with Honda cars present. The NESYS online service for both arcade and PlayStation 2 versions was closed on December 26, 2005.
Released in Japanese arcades in December 2003, as an update to the original Battle Gear 3. The NESYS online service for Battle Gear 3 Tuned closed on March 31, 2006.
Released in July 2005 in Japan.
Released in November 2006 in Japan as an update for Battle Gear 4; later re-released for export markets in 2010 without support for the NESYS service, but with additional tracks (previously NESYS exclusive content in the original release) enabled. The NESYS online service closed on March 31, 2019.
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