Category:Final Lap

Final Lap
Developer(s)	Namco, Arc System Works, Nova Games
Publisher(s)	Namco, Atari Games, NEC Avenue
Year introduced	1987
Genre(s)	Racing, RPG

Final Lap is a series of four racing arcade games that were released by Namco between 1987 and 1993; the first three run on the company's System 2 hardware, while the fourth one runs on their System FL hardware, and all four games allow up to eight players to race simultaneously when a maximum of four two-player sitdown cabinets have been linked together. Four Trax and Suzuka 8 Hours also feature similar gameplay to the series, but with quad bikes and motorcycles instead of racing cars - and the latter title got a sequel with three new tracks in addition to the Suzuka Circuit, Suzuka 8 Hours 2.

• Final Lap (1987): The inceptive title was released towards the end of Namco's first 16-bit year, and licensed to Atari Games for US manufacture and distribution; the players had to take control of the Williams, McLaren, March, and Lotus cars as they competed in a Formula One race on the Suzuka Circuit. A one-player upright-cabinet version of the game, entitled Final Lap UR (the two-player sitdown cabinet was their standard model), was also released at the start of 1988 - and a Famicom version of it developed by Arc System Works, with different gameplay, was released in the same year.
• Final Lap 2 (1990): The second title was released directly by Namco three years after the original, and featured four different tracks to choose from, instead of just one; they were set in the game's home country of Japan, Italy, Monaco, and the United States. The player cars were also redesigned.
• Final Lap 3 (1992): The third title was released directly by Namco two years after their second one; as with its predecessor, it featured four different tracks to choose from, but these ones were set in England, France, San Marino and Spain. The player cars were also redesigned for a second time.
• Final Lap R (1993): The fourth and final title was released by Namco one year after its predecessor (and licensed by FOCA to Fuji Television); once again, it featured four different tracks to choose from, based in Germany, Hungary, Belgium and Brazil. The players' cars were also redesigned for a third and final time (one with a green colour scheme), and the colours of the CPU-controlled cars were changed to blue and black as a result of this.