Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition

Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition is a racing arcade game by Sega, specifically designed for the Sega Saturn. Released in 1996, it is a reworked and extended version of the original Daytona USA, developed by Sega-AM3, the second-party developer that oversaw the mostly arcade-perfect Saturn port of Sega Rally Championship, by using a modified version of the Sega Saturn engine of Sega Rally Championship.

This version was originally released in Europe and North America (with some modifications done in the subsequent Japanese release), and drastically reduced the popup that was prevalent in the original Sega Saturn version of Daytona USA. With the increased framerate (now a solid thirty frames per second) came a new selection of cars, two new courses and a 2-player mode. Daytona USA: CCE is compatible with the Saturn's 3D analogue control pad, in addition to the Arcade Racer steering wheel and the Virtua Stick accessories. The European release is notable as the game did not feature the "black bars" at the top and bottom of the screen that are usually associated with the majority of PAL games of the era - the box even boasts "slick new full screen graphics".

The game also sported a soundtrack by Richard Jacques and Jun Senoue which, while featuring remixes of the original tunes and several new ones, did not feature the original tunes themselves.

It was also separately released for the Saturn as a Netlink-compatible title, entitled Daytona USA: CCE Netlink Edition. Although commonly thought to be Panzer Dragoon Saga, this NetLink version of Daytona USA: CCE is in fact the rarest North American Sega Saturn game. It was available only through Sega's online store, and making it even more rare is its almost total indistinguishability from the regular version of Daytona USA: CCE. The only notable differences found are a black & white NetLink booklet with the standard booklet and the disc has a small NetLink logo. It fetches up to US $1,100 (March 2010) on eBay, in the rare instances it does pop up.

The game retained the "Dancing Jeffry" feature from the Seaside Street Galaxy from the original Daytona USA. Jeffry is actually one of the main characters from Virtua Fighter, but a statue of him was created in the course as a secondary feature. Just like the original Daytona USA, you have to press X while being in front of Jeffry to make him dance

Daytona USA: Circuit Edition (Sega Saturn) (Japan)
After the release of Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition to the Western Saturn market, a further-updated version was later released in Japan as Daytona USA: Circuit Edition.

This version has the soundtracks from both the original Daytona USA arcade game and the remixes from Championship Circuit Edition, in addition to an eight-minute-long medley of all three original track themes (called 'Daytona Medley').

It also allows players to alter the drift mechanic by choosing between slow, normal and quick in the options menu - quick allows the cars to drift more easily while slow lends them a weightier handling. It also added the ability to play at night, dusk, or morning (by holding X, Y or Z on the controller as the 'START YOUR ENGINES' screen was displayed).

Aside from these differences, it is identical to Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition.

Daytona USA Deluxe (PC)
Daytona USA: Deluxe is a PC port of the Japanese Sega Saturn Daytona: Circuit Edition, being the only western appearance of this modified version of the original Championship Circuit Edition.

It also has an improved draw distance and supports more memory, and features an exclusive race course: Silver Ocean Causeway. A Direct3D patch for this version was also later released.

Daytona USA Deluxe was released as Daytona USA Evolution in Korea and Japan.

Courses
This is the first version of Daytona USA to name the three tracks present in the original Daytona USA game, rather than simply using Beginner, Intermediate and Expert:


 * Three Seven Speedway (Beginner track, also known as 777 Speedway)


 * Dinosaur Canyon (Intermediate track)


 * Seaside Street Galaxy (Expert track)

The game also features two brand new circuits:


 * National Park Speedway


 * Desert City

Daytona USA Deluxe for PC also adds an exclusive sixth course:


 * Silver Ocean Causeway

This track features the most difficult turn in the game.

Available cars
The racing team featured in the Daytona USA arcade game and Saturn port is called Team Hornet. Although the team is never explicitly mentioned in the games, their car features an easily-recognisable hornet logo stamped on the front of the car. From Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition and onwards, however, Team Hornet's available garage was reduced to one playable car alongside other racing teams' cars.

Team Hornet and their car do not appear in the game. Instead, there are a number of individual cars selectable, each named after their respective racing team:
 * Hornet '  (Normal, car number 19) - The Hornet car has a grip rating of 3/5, an acceleration rating of 3/5, and a top speed rating of 2/5, making it an ideal all-rounder.
 * Gallop (Normal, car number 27) - The Gallop car has identical statistics to the Hornet car, making it another all-rounder, ideal for two-player races.
 * Max (Beginner, car number 2) - The Max car has a grip rating of 5/5, an acceleration rating of 5/5, but a top speed of 1/5. This makes it an ideal car for a course with plenty of corners, such as Dinosaur Canyon. It also has the ability to run well on grass and sand ares.
 * Phoenix (Expert, car number 8) - The Phoenix car has a grip rating of 1/5, but is rated 5/5 for its acceleration and top speed capabilities.
 * Oriole (Expert, car number 16) - The Oriole car is a toned-down version of the Phoenix car, with a grip rating of 2/5, and an acceleration & top speed rating of 4/5.
 * Magic (Expert, car number 33) - The Magic car has a grip rating of 3/5, an acceleration rating of 2/5, and a top speed rating of 3/5, maing it the ideal cross between the Hornet car and the Oriole car.
 * Wolf (Beginner, car number 41) - This car has a grip rating of 4/5, an acceleration rating of 5/5, but a top speed of 1/5, making this car an excellent choice for those new to the game.
 * Balance (Normal, car number 99) - The Balance car has a grip rating of 5, an acceleration rating of 1/5, and a top speed rating of 4/5. This car performs well on long, straight courses such as Seaside Street Galaxy or National Park Speedway.

There is 9th car called Daytona which can be unlocked either by finishing in first place on all five tracks, or via a cheat code. The Daytona car uses the body style, paint scheme and car number of the featured car in the original Daytona USA game. It is rated 5/5 in the grip, acceleration and top speed categories, however, meaning it will not handle the same as the classic car.

There are also two horses that are unlockable and playable, named Ura and Ura 2.

All of the cars have sponsor stickerers on the side that read "Sega Rally Championship" as the game was made from the same department.

Daytona USA: Circuit Edition also featured fictional specifications for the Hornet car as part of the CD case artwork. The car is 4903 mm long, 1273 mm high, and 1730 mm wide. It weighs 1600 kg, and is capable of speeds up to 329 km/h. Its engine's power output is 812ps/5800rpm.

Soundtrack
Daytona USA: Championship Circuit Edition's main soundtrack is as follows:


 * Sons of Angels (Introduction)
 * The King Of Speed (Three Seven Speedway; a remix of the original Daytona USA theme)
 * Pounding Pavement (Desert City; a remix of the original Daytona USA theme)
 * Let's Go Away (Dinosaur Canyon; a remix of the original Daytona USA theme)
 * Sky High (Seaside Street Galaxy; a remix of the original Daytona USA theme)
 * Funk Fair
 * The Noisy Roars of Wilderness (National Park Speedway)
 * Race to the Bass (removed in Daytona USA: Circuit Edition)
 * The American Dream (Replay)
 * Daytona USA Medley (Japanese Circuit Edition and PC version only)

Any of the course themes can be mapped to another course through the Options menu - The King of Speed can be mapped to Dinosaur Canyon, for example.

Daytona USA: Circuit Edition also featured the original Daytona USA arcade themes, which could be mapped to courses.