As long as you’re not looking for online multi-player, it’s hard to beat the Capcom Arcade Stadium collections in terms of Quarterhole experience. Capcom was one of the best arcade creators of the ‘80s and ‘90s, potentially the best depending on how you’re rating them. Heck, they packed arcades for what would be the last time with Street Fighter II.

The (currently) two Capcom Arcade Stadium games contain excellent mixes of the company’s best games, as well as more obscure titles. You have the comfort zones of Final Fight and Street Fighter II, the raw sex appeal of Darkstalkers and Mike Haggar, while also having a lot to explore. The Speed Rumbler is one title that I had not previously heard of (featured on 2nd Stadium), but it quickly became a favourite of mine.

And, no, I’m not sure what “The Speed Rumbler” is supposed to mean. I would guess it’s just a very Japanese name created by stitching two cool words together, but it was actually called Rush ‘N Crash in Japan, so the English localizers are the ones responsible for the strange moniker.

I can scarcely believe The Speed Rumbler came out in 1986. It’s so slick. The main giveaway for me was that the text has no transparency, so it comes up in black boxes. Okay, sure, its closest analogue is probably Spy Hunter, which was 1983, so I’m not saying it’s technically impressive, but in terms of gameplay, it feels pretty advanced and ahead of its time.

As I mentioned, it’s not far off from Spy Hunter. You mostly chase the top of the screen in an armed and armored car. That’s generally where the similarities end. The Speed Rambler isn’t an auto-scroller. You’re free to turn your car around, but you can’t backtrack much because the screen anchors behind you. There’s a lot more movement laterally, as you need to steer around obstacles, even if your primary motion is upward. You can fire in eight directions, but your car still steers like a car, so you can’t just pivot in place; you need to put the accelerator down and steer.

Most importantly, however, is the fact that you can get out of the car. If your vehicle takes too much damage, it doesn’t just explode. It first catches fire, which gives you a few seconds to dive out to safety. Once on foot, it controls more like Commando but with a dodge roll that would make a Dark Souls character jealous. You’re not harmless in only your sneakers. Your gun actually fires more rapidly (though, it does less damage, I believe). The major downside is that you can only take one hit, and you’re severely allergic to everything. If you even brush up against an enemy, you die.

You can still make considerable progress with just your gams, and can even complete a level. Though another downside is that you’re much slower, which makes it impossible to jog through a full level. If you survive for long enough, a new car will be delivered for you.

Yet another downside to having your car destroyed, even if you bail out, is that your upgrades explode with it. You can beef up your car by freeing people from their tiny cages. You can increase your speed and health, but the weapon power-ups are the most important. By default, you can only have one projectile on screen at a time. One. And this is a TATE oriented game, so if you miss, you might be waiting for a while before your next shot is loaded. 

The story involves terrorists from Zap Town attacking Peace Village and taking its inhabitants hostage. I think this is sort of a Mad Max sort of society, so they likely want the people for slaves, hood ornaments, and soup bowls. Your goal is to drive through six levels to save everyone.

Interestingly, you supposedly play as Super Joe, which makes the previous Commando comparison feel apt. Unfortunately, the Capcom Wiki cites Capcom 30th Anniversary Character Encyclopedia in saying that the relation might be contrived. That’s no fun, but I understand that continuity is really important when it comes to Capcom games. That was sarcasm.

The Speed Rumbler is not an easy game. Even when you’re in your armored car, there’s plenty of instant death. Some of it feels unfair, but it’s unfair in a Spelunker sort of way, where the rules might be a bit obscure and frustrating, but once you adapt to them, you’ll find more success. Still, I’m glad I didn’t have to throw my lunch money at it, since I died quite a lot on my way to Zap Town.

What makes it really interesting from a modern perspective is the fact that each level has to be completed in four minutes. Every time you die, it advances the clock an extra five seconds. If you hit the four-minute mark, you have to start the level over again. Brutal, but it adds value in an era when we can play arcade games without fueling them with quarters. You can see the ending of Final Fight easily these days, because you can just endlessly continue, so there isn’t the same challenge. The time limit in The Speed Rumbler re-injects that challenge, since, even though checkpoints are abundant, you still have to bring your A-game if you want to finish a level.

As I said, it isn’t easy. There are spots where I got stuck, and repeating those sections would cost me a lot of time. Conversely, it felt great when things went smoothly. There was one level where I dropped a lot of time in the early sections, but then got on a roll and cleared half the level in a single car. It’s a game that just feels great. The car has a good sense of momentum to it, and squeezing it through tight gaps or pulling a tight turn and getting out of danger feels satisfying.

There’s a diverse set of enemies, and they all act pretty dynamically. Dudes will sometimes get out of their cars to try to fight you, and will try to get out of your way when you try to run them over. Some bigger vehicles are on tracks where they try to cut you off, and it can require some careful driving to get by them. There are a few vehicles where, if you ram into the side of them, they’ll do a barrel roll. It’s a lot more lively than, say, Gun.Smoke or Commando.

I’m only now learning that, excluding direct ports as part of arcade collections, The Speed Rumbler was only ported once, and that was to the Commodore 64. Having never played it, I can’t speak to its quality. I’ll have to dig through my floppies to see if I have it.

The Speed Rumbler has a dynamic feel that makes it so great. It’s a difficult game, but, somehow, it feels like you get more bang for your buck than you would with Spy Hunter. Speeding through obstacles, dodging bullets and spike-covered tractor-trailers, jumping from a burning car; it’s so chaotic but still manageable. It’s almost surprising that we didn’t get any sort of follow-up, but then, it would be pretty difficult to top such a uniquely thrilling experience.

8/10

This review was conduced using a digital Steam version of Capcom Arcade 2nd Stadium. It was provided by the publisher.