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Apart from Continental Circus, there's only one other 3D race game - and that's Rad Racer. And unlike Sega games, you don't need to fork out a fortune on special 3D specs - the film-style blue and red specs supplied in the box are all you need to get quite a reasonable effect - if you don't like it you can always play it in normal 2D mode.

At the start of a game the player chooses either an F1 racing car or a 328 twin turbo sports car - they're both pretty fast and have negligible differences.

There are eight courses in all, each with four checkpoints; the objective is simply to race from one point to another within the allotted time limit to be granted extra time for the next stage - traditional stuff, really. Reach the final checkpoint on the course, the car skids to a halt and a points bonus is awarded before advancing to the next, more difficult track.

As with most Nintendo games, the gameplay is superb. There's a genuine feeling of speed, and the hills and road perspective are very realistic - in fact, I'd go so far to say that Rad Racer is superior to OutRun on the Sega!

The going is pretty tough - the first two tracks are relatively easy to complete, but from then on it becomes a real race to get to the finish line before the timer expires.

The graphics are excellent, the scrolling backdrops are extremely well drawn, and colour has been used thoughtfully to very good effect. The sprites are also high quality, and the update is smooth and convincing - just what a race game needs.

There are even two different soundtracks, or just sound effects if you wish!

So, if you're after a fast, exhilarating and challenging race game, look no further than Rad Racer.