Also, check out the modern patch for playing NFS3 on current hardware:
- Need For Speed III Modern Patch v1.6.1 [2016/10/28] (HD + Widescreen + Portable)
Oh wow that takes me back. I used to love this game
It’s so neat to see the game still receiving mods and independent patches after all these years. I wonder how many new players discover this series, who are probably born well after its release.
Multi-generational fanfare is common among other multimedia such as books and movies, but I wonder what the breakdown is for video games, or how that percentage may be changing as the game publishing industry continues devolving.
Wow, the mods for NFS have really advanced since last I checked:
- Extra Options, but for NFS III: Hot Pursuit
- Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit - Limits Unlocker Mod Menu
A friend in high school was really into this game and got me into them. He was even creating a lot of custom skins for models. I played a lot of them until it turned into a more The Fast and the Furious-type game.
Yeah, I preferred when the franchise mostly centered around stock super and hyper cars, and performance tuning was done via the settings menu rather than mucking about with in game farming for aftermarket parts.
The voice over and picture show promos for vehicles in the selection menu was so hype for every model, even if you knew the car wasn’t even top tier in the game.
NFS 4 was the last one I thoroughly enjoyed. Porsche Unleashed was nice too but way different. But the series from NFSII-SE to PU was what I played with friends from elementary school after we got home so it’s a key memory for me and I might be biased.
Gaming back then was just different. The games from that era are the only ones I regularly come back to even after it’s been almost 30 years.
NFS PU was the first ever racing game I encountered with a career mode. It was brutal in that I couldn’t drive with the same skill using just a keyboard like I did with prior titles, and that kind of dead locked my progression until I figured how to use an analog controller on PC. It felt like driving on ice.
Split screen racing was so fun back in the day! Can’t remember the most recent racing title I’ve seen that supported that. I’d take a local LAN multiplayer or self hosted server option as a substitute.
Playing NFS III, split-screen on a Pentium MMX on a Zida board in a beige box from Taiwan…
Horizontal split screen worked rather well for racing games, given the split field of view on the old 4:3 displays are quite similar to widescreen gaming today.
This but keyboard one player and another on dad’s flight stick. My sister and I took turns. Keyboard isn’t much of a disadvantage in my opinion, kinda like in Trackmania actually.
One of the first games that went through my CD burner on its way to the seven seas.
Excellent game with and awesome soundtrack.
