"Great 1000 Miles Rally" and "Mille Miglia 2: Great 1000 Miles Rally"

In 1994, Kaneko created "Great 1000 Miles Rally" to give gamers a chance to experience the joy of racing the Mille Miglia. It is a trip back in time with beautiful classic cars that go very fast through Europe. This game is pretty tough while also being fast. Corners and dangers that come up are displayed with arrows and icons. Not as many people know about this series, which is a shame. Even fewer people have heard of or known that there was a sequel called "Mille Miglia 2," released in 1995. "Mille Miglia 2: Great 1000 Miles Rally" was a more aggressive racing game that was more about pack racing than a trip back in time in racing. There were still classic cars, but it... let's just say it didn't have the same classical character as the first game. Regardless, both of the games in the "Great 1000 Miles Rally" series are little-known or forgotten classics.

To shed light on both titles, allow me to blog to you about these two games. Videos are provided for educational purposes.

--- Great 1000 Miles Rally ---

Great 1000 Miles Rally was released in 1994 by Kaneko. Get ready for some of the most exciting racing you will ever see. There are 12 stages of racing for which you must complete. Your goal is to clear each stage to advance. You have one minute to clear each stage. If you fail to reach the finish, you must try again. You can either re-do the same stage or pick a new one. The American version of "Great 1000 Miles Rally" features a car called "Fireball," which is basically a Chevrolet Corvette that looks a lot like the Ferrari 250 GTO. Also in this version, your car catches fire if you fail to complete the stage in 60 seconds.

Cars.

Every car featured in this game are all classic automobiles. Beautiful classic cars are featured in this title from many established motor racing marques. Classic cars from the likes of companies like Ferrari, Porsche, Bugatti, Alfa Romeo, and more are featured in this game. Every car sounds beautiful with a sweet engine roar.

Graphics and Racing.

The graphics are absolutely beautiful. The sense of speed is incredibly scary for a 2D racing game. You blast through cities and country roads in your racing of the Mille Miglia. You need to be alert at all times. The turn(s) you need to make appear as an arrow, This arrow appears for about half a second, meaning you need to quickly remember what corner is coming up and take it on effectively. You need full concentration to make the most of each stage. Effects like rain, thunderstorms, clouds rolling by, and fires are all done amazingly well.

The first stage takes you from Brescia to Verona. The other 11 stages will all test your reflexes and racing skill. Don't be passive- go flat out and race hard!

This is a video demonstration of this challenging game (Evolution Model):


I told you that this game was crazy! Now you see WHY!

--- Mille Miglia 2: Great 1000 Miles Rally ---

Kaneko decided to make the racing a bit more furious. Rather than a traditional rally run, you are racing against other cars in your way. The graphics and sounds are much improved with more beautiful and expressive graphics. The arrows letting you know what corner is coming up next is now replaced with an on-screen map in the top-right corner showcasing the road ahead. Also, rather than 12 intense stages of racing, you are racing across only eight stages of racing. You must still complete each stage in sixty seconds like in the previous title. You don't have to finish first, but you DEFINITELY don't want to finish last or fail to finish the race! Otherwise... you'll have to try again.

I must personally say that while this new style of play makes this game exciting, the classic character of the original title was completely destroyed in this game. The game was taken from a traditional rally-style racing game and turned into a no-holds-barred racing game with plenty of radio comments. I think it just takes away from the classic character of the previous game. Even though the classic character of the first game is mostly destroyed with this title, this is still a fairly exciting game.

I must say I'm disappointed character-wise with this game as opposed to the previous title, but I'll leave that up to you to debate with this video. I STRONGLY recommend you check out the first video to understand what I'm talking about. If you have seen the first video, compare the experience in the previous video with the experience provided in THIS video:


So what do you think? Which is better?





Both games are little-known or forgotten. They are one of at least 80 or so games I've mentioned in an old blog post called "Little-Known or Forgotten Racing/Driving Games." See the MASSIVE list of titles I've felt are little-known or forgotten by checking out that blog post.

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