Head-on, Head-On N, Dodge-Em,

[Flojomojo]

I always liked the Atari VCS game, but never realized it was a little sub-genre of its own.

 

Crash by Exidy

 

Head-On by Sega

Head-On N by Nintendo

 

Dodge-Em for Atari VCS

 

Pacar by Sega

 

Dodge Racer for Atari 8Bit

 

Car Wars for TI

 

Car Chase for Spectrum

 

Fast Lane by Konami

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRHneGYYiB0

 

Burnout Paradise

[R.Cade]

IMO, Pacar doesn't belong because you can go any direction. If you allow that, then you have to allow a bunch of others (Thief, Crush Roller, etc).

[Eltigro]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_SwD7RveNE

[+save2600]

Yep, these are fun games to be sure. I grew up playing Car Wars on the TI (love the crash animation), while my friends had VCS Dodge 'Em. Never really saw the arcade games floating around much BITD, so I consider them somewhat rare or uncommon at least.

[mbd30]

Was Exidy's Crash the first dot collecting game? It preceded Pac-Man.

[R.Cade]

Was Exidy's Crash the first dot collecting game? It preceded Pac-Man.

Maybe, but it is not "free roaming".

[BrianC]

There's also

for the Gameboy, which was an official port of Head On in Japan.

[Flojomojo]

There's also

for the Gameboy, which was an official port of Head On in Japan.

 

That's super cute. Pure GB, annoying sounds and everything. Looks like it came out in the US, too -- I might want to collect that.

 

If I were the race organizer, I'd think about making the drivers go in the same direction.

[BrianC]

Definitely came out in the US. Power Racer in the US title. JP title is Head-On. Odd thing is that only the JP version has a sega copyright on the title screen, despite the games being nearly identical.

[fiddlepaddle]

For many years, one of my favorite games has been playing Head On 2 (Gremlin/Sega) on my Windows ME laptop...it's the main reason I still keep that computer around. This version allows you to change direction, greatly increasing the strategies available. It's a pretty quick game, but very challenging.

 

 

Fast Lane looks like an interesting update...and I think you're probably "picking up" those roller-skating girls, not running them over.

Edited April 26, 2018 by fiddlepaddle

[Jess Ragan]

There's also Raimais, which was at least inspired by Head On! (apply directly to forehead)

 

[NE146]

Was Exidy's Crash the first dot collecting game? It preceded Pac-Man.

 

 

Maybe, but it is not "free roaming".

 

I might be wrong but I think the first dot-collecting free-roaming game probably goes to Taito's Space Chaser

 

Edited June 19, 2018 by NE146

[The Usotsuki]

On the Apple ][ you had Fender Bender (a Japanese import) and Hyper Head-On.