Do you remember the original wipEout? An absolute classic racer originally released 1995 for Sony PlayStation, DOS and later the SEGA Saturn. Now there's a modern cross-platform remake available to try out.
This wipEout Remaster comes thanks to developer Dominic Szablewski, who used the code leak from 2022. This does mean it's something of a legal uncertainty because leaked code could be nuked by rights holders at any time. Although, we are talking about a really old game no longer sold and supported.
Some of the benefits of this remake include cross-platform support with SDL2, better memory management, better performance along with high FPS support, rewritten and upgraded physics and much more. There's still work to be done though with some features missing but it's very playable.
I have some really fond memories of playing the original on an actual PlayStation. Seeing it run in my browser, on a laptop is just - wow. I love how technology moves on and enables things like this, and I especially love seeing classics remade in such a way so more people can experience them and learn from them.
Check out the writeup from the developer here, the code is on GitHub and you can play it in your browser.
There's also the Phantom Edition, but it doesn't have native Linux support and source code isn't available. It apparently runs great in WINE though.
All these games replicating the PS1 era wipeouts are sadly not for me.
Somehow, wipeout hd/fury for PS3 has become my wipeout of choice. Is any of the available clones close to that gameplay feel?
Last edited by const on 14 August 2023 at 2:24 pm UTC
All these games replicating the PS1 era wipeouts are sadly not for me.
Somehow, wipeout hd/fury for PS3 has become my wipeout of choice. Is any of the available clones close to that gameplay feel?
I wasn't that good at Wipeout on the PS3, and I also wasn't that good at BallisticNG, but they were both fun. The nitty-gritty of the feel with expert play, I couldn't tell you about.
All these games replicating the PS1 era wipeouts are sadly not for me.
Somehow, wipeout hd/fury for PS3 has become my wipeout of choice. Is any of the available clones close to that gameplay feel?
Check out BallisticNG on Steam! This game is a passion project, spiritual successor of WipeOut and it definitely slaps! And costs almost nothing (I have got it for free - it was free game in beta years ago and stayed on my account). And the best part is, it's still updated regularly. Amazing project. I'm telling this, because I don't see a point in reverse engineering WipeOut, when we have BallisticNG, seriously :D It has even cockpit view and VR support. Crazy! And you can choose gameplay style, like old WipeOuts, or these modern. But still, it definitely feels more like the older iterations. Aaand, it has modding support with steam workshop, so (i think) you can change this game into WipeOut Fury if you need and know how ;) Pure labor of love. Devs like these should be supported. Period.
Last edited by Avikarr on 14 August 2023 at 4:04 pm UTC
Oh and of course One Must Fall 2097.
I loved this two games so much.
Last edited by Dana Souly on 14 August 2023 at 5:31 pm UTC
[...]Check out BallisticNG on Steam! This game is a passion project, spiritual successor of WipeOut and it definitely slaps! [...] Pure labor of love. Devs like these should be supported. Period.Can confirm! Whenever I fire up wipEout or wipEout 2097 (wipEout XL in the USA) I usually end up switching to BallisticNG after 10 minutes or so once the nostalgia starts wearing off. BallisticNG is just everything I love about the early wipEout games plus so many more conveniences that it really has become the golden standard for anti-grav racing games at this point
but it doesn't have native Linux support and source code isn't available.I'm not a huge fan of people using github to host something without any source code.
What's interesting is that the linked article even mentions
I'm not the only one who embarked on a path to restore the game. To my knowledge, there are two other efforts ongoing: WipEout Phantom Edition and a yet unnamed project by XProger. Both offer more features than my rewrite. If you're on Windows and you just want to enjoy the game, these are the better option.
There's also the Phantom Edition, but it doesn't have native Linux support and source code isn't available. It apparently runs great in WINE though.
All these games replicating the PS1 era wipeouts are sadly not for me.
Somehow, wipeout hd/fury for PS3 has become my wipeout of choice. Is any of the available clones close to that gameplay feel?
I'll admit I haven't played any wipEout, but Redout is pretty good, it's on steam and has a demo :)
Reminds me of Safari Biathlon Racer
I had some flashbacks about old games I played when I got my ATI RAGE 128 Ultra 16MB AGP card, and among those, was this one, I just had forgotten it's name.
I also remember Ballistics (developed by GRiN), Bandits Phoenix Racing, damn! the early 2000s had a lot of futuristic racing/combat games. Sadly, looks like the genre is almost dead.
[...]Check out BallisticNG on Steam! This game is a passion project, spiritual successor of WipeOut and it definitely slaps! [...] Pure labor of love. Devs like these should be supported. Period.Can confirm! Whenever I fire up wipEout or wipEout 2097 (wipEout XL in the USA) I usually end up switching to BallisticNG after 10 minutes or so once the nostalgia starts wearing off. BallisticNG is just everything I love about the early wipEout games plus so many more conveniences that it really has become the golden standard for anti-grav racing games at this point
For some reason I also have it, but never played, maybe it's time to check it out.
Hopefully Sony won't interfere with this one.
wipeout hd/fury for PS3 has become my wipeout of choice. Is any of the available clones close to that gameplay feel?
Nope, none. BallisticNG, Pacer, Redout, none of them even come close to how great Pulse/HD feels. Not even with BallisticNG's other handling types.
I've been playing every game in the WipEout series since the first game as a kid, and HD/2048's feel are my favourites. They just improved with every entry.
RIP Psygnosis 🫡 Sony did em dirty.
Last edited by ridge on 18 August 2023 at 7:41 am UTC
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