Raw Thrills Ports Cruis’n Blast To The Nintendo Switch

I wondered whether or not I should cover this today, since I normally don’t get into console game news, but I figure that not everyone who reads this blog necessarily watches E3 coverage.

As the post headline says, the 2017 arcade title Cruis’n Blast is finally headed home, thanks to Raw Thrills developing a port. Eugene Jarvis personally directed this one, and the game was developed internally at Raw Thrills. The game was revealed during the Nintendo Direct earlier today, and Raw Thrills also posted this trailer a short time ago:

Raw Thrills also sent me a “fact sheet” that covers additional bases:

About Cruis’n Blast
▪ Cruis’n Blast was developed and released for the arcade by Raw Thrills in 2017 as the fourth installment in the iconic, beloved Cruis’n™ racing series, originally created by legendary game designer and Raw Thrills CEO Eugene Jarvis. Cruis’n Blast was preceded in the arcade and on Nintendo 64 by Cruis’n USA™ (1994), Cruis’n World™ (1996) and Cruis’n Exotica™ (1999).
▪ Cruis’n Blast for Nintendo Switch features a total of 29 thrilling tracks, including all five fan favorite tracks from the arcade version of the game (Death Valley, London, Madagascar, Rio deJaneiro and Singapore), as well as 23 upgradeable vehicles – from licensed supercars to unicorns. The game supports up to four players on the same console or separate consoles via
local play.
▪ Cruis’n Blast will be released on Nintendo Switch in Fall 2021, with a specific date to be announced soon.

If you’ve been following the blog here for a while, then you might recall that we broke the story about the arcade version on test back when it was then known as Cruis’n Adventure. The game went through some changes and another name change before settling on the final cabinet and name. I also interviewed Eugene Jarvis about it around the time of the game’s launch in 2017. The game has been a huge hit for Raw Thrills, selling over 10,000 units over its lifetime. Because of the Nintendo connection, it’s also been highly requested for a Switch port, which will now happen later this year.

It’s interesting to note that the port was designed by Raw Thrills, as opposed to being handed over to someone else to deal with. I think that should certainly please fans, but it’s also a change in direction for Raw Thrills, given that they normally have eschewed console developments or had a 3rd party work on titles that are intended for home use. It’s also unusual to find an arcade-to-console port happening, as those have become uncommon. It’s more common to find it the other way around these days.

I have been asked whether or not any of this content would be made available for arcades, but there is no comment on that so far, other than to say that Raw Thrills believes that it “will create increased recognition and plays for the arcade machines.” In some way, the announcement has already done that, as on my YouTube channel, the most recent Cruis’n video that I posted has jumped in views, becoming the most-watched video on the channel in the past 24 hours. It would be nice to see an update, or a sequel – only 5 tracks on the arcade version always felt a bit curt, although there are plenty of arcade racers out there with even less. With the Fast & Furious games, Raw Thrills ended up producing 3 of those, each with upgrade kit options. From an operator perspective, an update that adds stuff that isn’t found in the Switch version would be welcome, probably more so than just repeating what is found on the Switch.

Until the game hits the console, you can find it out there in arcades without having to look too hard. Also note that I will soon be recording an interview with Eugene Jarvis where we’re going to discuss one subject: Cruis’n. So stay tuned for that 🙂

What are your thoughts on this?