Sega Rally Championship Plus Netlink Edition (USA)
Sega Saturn
🇬🇧
Reviewed in 1997
88
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✪ Reviewed on December 6, 2023
82
Netlink version of Sega Rally Plus, online functionality now defunct. Identical to the Plus version for solo gameplay. Historical curiosity documenting Sega's 1997 online gaming attempt. For collectors only.
Your verdict
Category
Racing1 player3+
Split screen
Description
American release of Sega Rally Championship Plus compatible with the Sega Net Link peripheral. Published by Sega, released in the USA in 1997. Content identical to the Plus version with its three circuits and modes, enriched by a Net Link online mode for remote rally duels. One of the first networked racing experiences on Saturn.
Sega Rally Championship Plus Netlink Edition review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
1/5
Story
★★★★★
"Anecdotal"
Sunlit off-road tracks, sprayed dirt and a sense of speed: the game unfurls a rally arcade of delightful readability and liveliness. The bold colours and the fluidity of the scrolling overflow with energy. This visual direction, dynamic and polished, stood as a benchmark of racing on the console.
Energetic and supercharged, the music blends rock and electro into an arcade groove that matches the mud and the slides of the rallies. The nervy, rousing themes spike the adrenaline of every bend, punctuated by the famous co-driver's calls. This infectious sonic punch remains inseparable from the game's immediate fun.
Gameplay
"Masterful"
Feeling the car change grip as it shifts from tarmac to dirt then gravel founds a driving style all about transfer and anticipation. The constant drift, generous and readable, delivers immediate sensations and a delicious learning curve. The content is thin, but this arcade handling feel, at once demanding and gleeful, remains a benchmark of rally racing.
Fun
"From the very first seconds"
Feeling tarmac give way to dirt and gravel, countering the drift and taking each bend by feel: this arcade rally makes shifting grip the heart of its fun. The sense of controlled slide and the merciless countdown deliver an exhilarating tension. Snappy, immediate and timeless, one of the greatest racing games of its generation.
Addictiveness
"Obsessive"
Taming the oversteer on dirt, snow and tarmac while scraping every last second turns each course into a challenge you want to redo to nail your ideal line. The enriched options and the score to beat revive the session. The content stays limited, but this off-road driving of rare precision keeps an immediate and lasting pull.
Complete: box, manual and disc/cart very clean. Lightly handled.
Q1 damagedQ6 completeQ10 new
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Collector interest
North American Saturn edition of Sega Rally Championship Plus Netlink Edition, distributed by Sega USA in September 1997 with native support for the Sega Saturn NetLink modem, enabling online multiplayer on Rally between American players via dial up telephony. That hardware specificity, never ported outside the US on the Saturn for Rally, makes it for the collector market a rare and technically singular object. Sega USA run was short, US identified clean complete with NetLink instructions particularly sought after.
Is Sega Rally Championship Plus Netlink Edition still worth playing in 2026?
A Saturn adaptation of the famous Sega arcade rally, Sega Rally Championship offers a rally race of exceptional technical fluidity with four iconic circuits and exhilarating drift system. The sunny art direction faithful to arcade, multiplayer mode and speed sensation make it an absolute arcade rally reference on Saturn. The Plus and Netlink Edition versions enrich the experience. For anyone fond of Sega arcade races, an absolutely essential recommendation today still truly here indeed.
