Kaidō Battle (series)

Kaidō Battle (街道バトル) is a racing video game series for the PlayStation 2 created by the Japanese video game developer Genki. They are focused on Touge racing and heavily centered on drifting. The franchise currently has three games, with one of them being released in North America under the Tokyo Xtreme Racer banner by Crave Entertainment, being called "Tokyo Xtreme Racer: DRIFT."

Gameplay
The game, like Genki's Shutokō Battle franchise, includes licensed cars and authentic Japanese mountain roads as courses. In Conquest Mode, the player competes during the day in drift contests, earning more points for holding a drift longer or for a quick combination of drifts, but earns no points if the player bumps against the wall or a guard rail. Doing this, the player earns money to buy new cars and modifications. Daytime racing also features racing for sponsors, which includes a kind of racing challenge determined by the sponsor. Beating a sponsor challenge earns the player a sponsor. Sponsors give the player better parts and extra bonuses for winning drift contests.

At night, the player can challenge rivals in the parking lot, and race them in a vein similar to Shutokou Battle/Tokyo Xtreme Racer: the first one to have their life bar depleted loses; however, the first racer to cross the finish line will win the race. Through the night, the player will face the "Trickers", a type of mini-bosses in the course. After all the Trickers have been beaten, the main boss of the course (called the "Slasher") will challenge the player through an in-game BBS system. After the Slasher has been beaten, the player may advance to the next stage. The final boss in the last course is called the "Emotion King."

Games in the Franchise

 * Kaidō Battle (2003, released in North America as Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift)
 * Kaidō Battle 2: Chain Reaction (2004, Released in Europe as Kaido Racer)
 * Kaidō Battle: Tōge no Densetsu (2006, released in North America as Tokyo Xtreme Racer: Drift 2; 2006, released in Europe as Kaido Racer 2)
 * Konami released second and third part in Europe. Kaidō Battle 2: Chain Reaction as Kaido Racer in November 2005, Kaidō: Tōge no Densetsu as Kaido Racer 2 in December 2006.