Rush 2049 Remake
The time has come to find out if it's real or if it's Rush!
Summary
Rush 2049 Remake is a two part project that brings back San Francisco Rush 2049 front and center with a new fan-made trailer for its anniversary along with a modern quality-of-life multiplayer mode concept showcase that features free-roam and an in-game radio. The goal was to bring the old school arcade racer “up to date” by capturing new footage of it in 4K with remastered visuals and putting it in the context of the modern world and modern gaming environment. Being the direct competition to Nintendo’s Cruisin’ series and Sega’s Daytona USA series in the 90s, the Rush franchise was a name to know with its shortcut-heavy tracks and exciting gimmicks. Unfortunately as time went on and the gaming industry changed, the franchise faded into obscurity after its last ever entry, L.A. Rush, was released and received unfavorable reviews. Many of the titles of the franchise, if not all of them, have not been ported to any modern platforms. All of the components of this project can be viewed through the Rush 2049 Remake YouTube Playlist where Arcmaevotix is home to the original versions and Nehrpsyznet is home to the remade versions.
Process
Constructing the trailer and multiplayer concept started off with plenty of research and development that came in the form of project documents that revolved around detailing the structure of the trailer and the framework for synthesizing a multiplayer experience. After browsing through hours of game trailers and gameplay footage made for San Francisco Rush 2049 at the time of its release, I began to categorize which artifacts would be useful for replication and began drafting up sequences that would fit well for a “modern” showcase of the game. This is also when I started to consider what features I wanted to implement in the multiplayer concept project as well. For this I turned to racing and sports games of the early 2000s to see what features were the most praised or sought after (with some of those eventually becoming staples of modern day games). Once I had all of the necessary research materials on hand, refined planning documents, and a copy of the game in hand, I got to work designing, recording, and editing. Eventually after weeks of work, I was able to complete the production of both parts of the project with the trailer being finished shortly before the multiplayer concept.
Reflection
This project was one of the first ever attempts I had made at creating cinematic trailers. The original version of the trailer concept was inspired by a mix I had come across while listening through a crate of classic house mixes. Said mix was titled “Rushin (The Whole World Mix)” and produced from Bump vs Rhythm Foundation. I paired it with some of the default title demo footage of San Francisco Rush 2049 and thought it made for a cool trailer concept but never fully realized the scope of the project until years later when I remade the trailer and also took note of how much potential Rush 2049 had if it was ever remade to include quality of life features that modern games contain. Many of the strategies and techniques that I picked up from working on projects such as Sonic 1 Complete Collection and Vaporwave Vacation were carried over into this project.