HOT ROD REBELS

This is my latest find. It's the unreleased sequel to San Francisco Rush 2049. It's called 'Hot Rod Rebels'. The game was cancelled before it was finished.

There are 8 tracks to choose from. Only three of the tracks are complete. Three of the tracks are incomplete. You can race those tracks, but there are no textures. It's like Hard Drivin 2000! The last two tracks are unplayable. The music and sound effects are unfinished. The drone car logic is not complete- they get lost while driving.

The cabinet is a standard 2049 cabinet with lots of modifications. There is a new Quad Stereo amp in the unit to power the new speakers in the tail pipes. Inside each tail pipe is a speaker and an LED light array. There are also real 'taillights' built into the base of the seat. The shifter ball is supposed to be a mini 8-Ball. The gas pedal is a throwback to the 70's pedals that were shaped like a 'cave man' foot. To the right of the monitor bezel is a light tree that signals when you should stomp on the gas. It only works at the beginning of the game. The monitor bezel and marquee bezel are black, instead of the 2049 blue. The seat looks like it is a new design, although it may be the same as Crusin Exotica.

The hardware is very different from the 2049 design. This game runs on a PC- a Pentium III 933mhz with a Geforce 2 card. It uses a special security board to keep the game from being bootlegged. The security board connects via the USB port. If the board is not present, the game will not boot. You cannot run this sofware in a 2049 cabinet.

This prototype gives you a good idea of what the sequel to 2049 might have been. The tracks are very cool, and the graphics are much improved. It's too bad Midway did not see this through to completion. This would have been an awesome chapter in the Rush series. I guess we will just have to wait for the new Playstation 2 Sequel to 2049..